The Allyn & Bacon Cultural Survival Series

Cultural Survival Studies in Ethnicity and Change

The Cultural Survival Studies in Ethnicity and Change series, edited by David Maybury-Lewis and Theodore MacDonald, Jr. of Cultural Survival, Inc., Harvard University, sharply focuses on key issues affecting indigenous and ethnic groups worldwide. Concise and accessible, this series of ethnographies builds on introductory material by going further in-depth and allowing students to explore, virtually first-hand, a particular issue and its impact on a culture.

Ethnicity and Culture Amidst New "Neighbors": The Runa of Ecuador's Amazon Region

Theodore Macdonald Jr., Harvard University

This new ethnography chronicles the recent history of the Runa, a Quichua-speaking Indian population in Ecuador's amazon region. The author has been following the Runa's adaptation to continuous changes around and amongst them since 1974. When Macdonald first met the Runa they were practicing swidden horticulture, hunting, fishing, and living their created culture while also reacting to external pressures imposed on them by newly arrived colonists and changing national legislation. The book follows the development of the Runa from a passive accommodating society to an indigenous ethnic federation.

Ariaal Pastoralists of Kenya: Surviving Drought and Development in Africa's Arid Lands

Elliot Fratkin, Smith College

This is the story of how one society of livestock herders in northern Kenya has adapted to and survived both natural and human induced disasters of recent times, including drought and famine, interpastoralist warfare, and the wide scale intervention of international development and relief organizations. The Ariaal's determination to maintain their pastoral lifestyle while taking advantage of new health, employment, marketing, and education opportunities offered in the growing Kenyan towns provides a fascinating study of the dynamics of cultural change and the threat to cultural survival among East African pastoralists. The book begins with an overview of pastoralism, and then describes the author's field work experiences as well as the problems of drought and development in northern Kenya. It moves to a discussion of Ariaal history and cultural identity, animal production in arid lands, Ariaal community organization, and problems of age and gender differences within Ariaal society. The final chapters describe social change among the Ariaal and compare their situation to that of other pastoralists in Kenya including the Maasai, Turkana, and Boran.

Defending the Land: Sovereignty and Forest Life in James Bay Cree Society

Ronald W. Niezen, Harvard University

This concise ethnography provides an account not only of the social forces that are destructive to native society but also of the ways native leaders are trying to overcome them. Many have already heard of the campaign of the Cree people to protect their forest way of life from the impact of hydro-electric development in northern Quebec; few have heard in any detail the outcome of this campaign and what it means for the future of indigenous societies. Readers will find in these pages a systematic method for documenting the social impact of large-scale development on village communities. More-over, by giving equal attention to the Cree leadership's strategies for dealing with major social and environmental pressures on the forest way of life and describing the successful outcome of some of these efforts, this study serves to balance the more common theme that focuses exclusively on the forces of acculturation and social destruction of native communities. This difference in approach will give students a greater sense of the practical value of social research.

Gaining Ground? Evenkis, Land, and Reform in Southeastern Siberia

Gail A. Fondahl, University of Northern British Columbia

This book provides an assessment of how land reform in the Russian Federation is affecting indigenous peoples. Based on fieldwork in thirteen native (Evenki) villages in Southeastern Siberia, it contrasts the intent of legislation passed in Moscow with the real-life experiences of indigenous persons who are trying to gain greater control over their lives and historic homelands. Gaining Ground? situates the current reforms‹and their implementation‹in the historical geography land alienation experienced by the Evenkis since the coming of the Russians to this part of Siberia. The book offers information on "traditional" land tenure systems, the persistence of these during various reforms, and the gradual erosion of access to resources which the Evenkis experienced under Soviet rule. It catalogues the hurdles Evenkis face today in trying to realize new opportunities provided by the federal government in terms of gaining rights to land.

Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Groups, and the State

David Maybury-Lewis, Harvard University

Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Groups and the State provides a concise introduction to the general issues that will be the focus of the individual ethnographies in the series. This book examines the process of modernization and its effect on tribalism and ethnic parochialism. Ethnic conflicts proliferate throughout the world as indigenous peoples are becoming increasingly vocal in demanding their rights, including the right to be different. We are invited to reexamine our ideas about the state, the role of ethnicity in it and the peculiar situation of indigenous peoples, who are ethnic minorities alien to the states in which they live.

Forest Dwellers, Forest Protectors: Indigenous Models for International Development

Richard Reed, Trinity University

This ethnography focuses on the Guarani of Paraguay. It describes Guarani demographics, leadership, religion and kinship, and how these are adapted to Paraguay's subtropical forest ecosystem. The book gives special attention to Guarani agroforestry, which integrates subsistence hunting and gardening with commercial collection. Recently, developers have begun clearing the Guarani forests for cattle ranches and soybean fields. The study analyzes anthropologists' work with international conservat ion groups to promote agroforestry among recent settlers in the forests. This would provide profit from the standing trees, while protecting the region's environment.

Malaysia and the "Original People": A Case Study of the Impact of Development on Indigenous Peoples

Robert Knox Dentan, SUNY, Buffalo
Kirk Endicott, Dartmouth College
Alberto G. Gomes, Latrobe University
M.B. Hooker, University of Singapore

The Orang Asli are the "Original People" of the Malay Peninsula. Nineteen culturally distinct peoples, with a combined population of 90,000, the Orang Asli are a small minority of Malaysia's 19 million people. Until about 1970 most Orang Asli lived in the rain forests which still covered more than half the Peninsula. Subsisting by varying combinations of hunting, gathering, fishing, shifting and permanent field cultivation, and small-scale trade, most were economically self-sufficient, polit ically independent, and socially egalitarian. Their deep attachments to their land and its natural resources were reflected in rich mythologies and complex religions.

This book describes how some representative Orang Asli groups lived before development and assimilation pressures, how these forces have affected them, and how they have reacted. It also examines the reasons behind the government's policies and methods. It concludes with a discussion of Orang Asli aspirations for their future.