traditional ways
Yanadi Abandon Traditions, Modernize
The schoolmaster in the Yanadi hamlet of Pamulametta, portrayed in news stories a year ago, continues to lead the community into changing their lives. A news story last week in The Hindu describes the work that Chilukuri Srinivasa Rao has been doing with the children in his school. The hamlet, located in the Indian state […]
Preserving Lepcha Culture
The Digital Journal, an Internet news service based in Canada, published an opinion piece last week about a British Library project to archive in digital format the artifacts of written Lepcha culture. Fortunately, the story provides a link to the British Library website where one can find more information about the project and the actual […]
Rural Thai Culture of Rice Farming
The role of rice in the diet, culture, economy, and politics of Thailand received renewed attention in recent weeks as the country prepared for its national elections. The current political dispute in Thailand, though mostly peaceful, has garnered international news for several months focusing on the rural/urban divide in the nation. The Khaleej Times, a […]
Ju/’hoan Society: Growth, Change, and Preservation of Values [book review]
The Nyae Nyae Conservancy in northeastern Namibia, run by the Ju/’hoan San, is a highly successful development project, one of the best in southern Africa, according to the authors of a new book. The conservancy is not without serious problems, however. The invasion of the Herero farmers from Gam in 2009 is still not resolved, […]
Mainwaring Celebrated the Lepchas
“Lepcha was the language spoken in the Garden of Eden,” thought G. B. Mainwaring, the British general and scholar who published in 1876 a comprehensive grammar of the Lepcha language. Geoffrey Gorer provided that quote on page 39 of his book Himalayan Village: An Account of the Lepchas of Sikkim. Gorer criticized Mainwaring’s Lepcha grammar […]
Cockfighting in Rural Thailand
Last week, a young American posted on his travel blog numerous pictures, a video, and an interesting narrative describing a cockfight he attended in rural Thailand. Bradley, who describes himself as “a 25 year old dude from California,” lives and teaches English in the rural northeastern part of the country. He explains that he was […]
Buid Traditions Taught in Mangyan School
Allan Agaw, a 16 year old student, clearly cherishes the sharing tradition of his society—he hopes to give back to his Buid community in the Philippines after he completes his education. The spirit of giving and sharing, an outstanding characteristic of the Buid, was noted in the scholarly works of Thomas Gibson and, more recently, […]
Thatching Traditions on Tristan da Cunha
The people of Tristan da Cunha have a lot they could teach the rest of the world—more than just their skills at defusing conflicts and getting along peacefully. Some retired Tristanians are building a replica of a traditional thatched-roof dwelling on the east side of their settlement as a museum for visitors and as a […]
Visitors to Ifaluk
According to some entries posted last week on a blog by the skipper of the yacht “Jennifer,” which has been sailing through the Outer Islands of Yap State in Micronesia, the culture of Ifaluk Island appears to be resisting changes and modernization. But Lars Hässler, the captain of the yacht and author of the blog […]
Traditions and Changes
The Semai, like many peaceful societies, are trying to preserve the best of their traditional culture while they seek various approaches to modernizing their lives. A crew from the China Central Television (CCTV), the national TV station of the People’s Republic of China, visited Ulu Geroh in Malaysia last week to prepare a story on […]
