Mbuti
Eulogy for a Mythic Hero [magazine article review]
In one of the most famous passages of anthropological literature, Colin Turnbull describes how he found his young Mbuti assistant Kenge dancing alone one night in a patch of moonlight. Turnbull asks Kenge why he was dancing alone. The Mbuti youth replies, “But I’m not dancing alone … I am dancing with the forest, dancing […]
Imminent Congo Elections and the Mbuti
Perhaps the most significant national election this year will be held in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, July 30, the first in that country since independence in 1960. Counteracting 46 years of dictatorships, wars, terrorism, militia violence, and human rights abuses, the United Nations and the government of South Africa have been working […]
Anne Eisner Paintings and Mbuti Art [book review]
The paintings by Anne Eisner at Epulu as well as the bark-cloth paintings of the local Mbuti provide insights into the Ituri Forest world of the Congo Pygmies after World War II. A new art book, Images of Congo: Anne Eisner’s Art and Ethnography, 1946-1958, explores the human relationships and artistic achievements in the village […]
Mbuti Help a Forest Research Facility Survive [magazine article review]
The July/August issue of Wildlife Conservation magazine highlights the dedicated work of the Congolese people, with the assistance of the Mbuti, in preserving a scientific research facility in the Ituri forest. Twenty-five years ago, Terese Hart and her husband John Hart, field scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, began studying the rare […]
The Mbuti and Their Neighbors: Differing Interpretations [journal article review]
In 1946 Anne Eisner, a promising New York painter, married Patrick Putnam and followed him to the Ituri forest of the Belgian Congo to live with his African wives. An amateur anthropologist seven years older than she was, Putnam soon became physically and mentally ill, so Eisner cared for him while he degenerated and finally […]
Violence Continues in Ituri Region of Congo.
A few faint rays of hope may be on the horizon for the situation in the Ituri District of northeastern Congo and the fate of the Mbuti people living—and dying—there. Hope, that is, if the events reported this week lead to effective actions that will curb the violence. The week opened with a New York […]
New Report Details Crimes Against the Mbuti [book review]
Colin Turnbull’s The Forest People describes the Ituri Forest and the Mbuti who live there. But how well has the forest protected them during the recent wars in Eastern Congo? This question should haunt anyone fascinated by the forest-dwelling peoples that Turnbull portrayed over 40 years ago in his international best seller, plus his other, […]
