traditional ways
Lepcha Magazine Provides a Cultural Feast [online magazine review]
Erudite and scholarly, yet charming and fun, the online publication Lepcha Aachulay Magazine provides a wonderful voice for an ancient culture and a still peaceful society. On April 1, the magazine posted three folksongs. The third, “Who Says the Lepchas Are Vanishing,” is especially enjoyable. “The beloved children of Nazanognyoo,” it begins, “the able and […]
Nubian Elders Still Miss the Old Life
Al-Masry Al-Youm, an independent Egyptian daily paper, published two stories last Friday about the Nubian people and their forced move out of the Nile Valley when the Aswan High Dam was completed. One, titled “Old Nubia, Paradise Lost,” consists of an interview with Sharaf Abdel Karim, head of the Nubian Heritage Association. It took place […]
Nubian Connections to the Nile Remembered
Haggag Ouddul, the famous Nubian writer, published an article last week that describes some traditional customs connecting his people to the Nile River. He provides an evocative opening for his essay in Al-Ahram, a prominent Egyptian weekly magazine: “ Nubia is as soft as the Nile’s mud, dark as the Nile’s water and powerful as […]
Most Nomadic Batek Still Cling to their Traditions
A recent Reuters dispatch provides a brief update about the Batek, a peaceful society that still manages to hold on to its nomadic ways despite encroachments by outsiders. Major challenges faced by the Batek, according to the article, are development and deforestation. However, the Batek may soon have no other option than to abandon a […]
Ladakhi Movies
Ladakhis have gotten into making films, about their own society of course, and everyone seems to be getting into the act. Buddhist monks are writing screenplays, cops and taxi drivers are playing key roles, and crowds are pouring into opening night showings in Leh, the district capital. Bollywood is being banished. Ladakhis are determined to […]
The Badass Governor General
An international controversy is finally dying down over the way the Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean, showed respect for Inuit traditional ways during a visit to Nunavut a couple weeks ago. On the first day of her trip to Canada’s Arctic, May 25, she visited the community of Rankin Inlet, on Hudson Bay, to […]
Rural Thailand Featured in Recent Blog Posts
Sometimes very simple, homespun blog entries give very fine portraits of people and places. Recent posts by a New Zealand man about his adopted home in Rural Thailand provide a good example. The blogger, who goes by MeMock, was traveling in Australia and New Zealand with his Thai wife and daughters last week when his […]
Traditions and Changes in a Small Ladakhi Village [magazine article review]
The village of Likir is nestled in the foothills of the Ladakh Range about 30 miles northwest of Leh, north of the Indus River and the main Leh to Kargil highway. The Lonely Planet guide to India (7th edition) describes the 150 monks in the magnificent Likir monastery as “friendly”—they “offer free tea to visitors […]
Ethnography of Ifaluk Atoll [review of anthology chapter in preparation]
A current article by Richard Sosis, an anthropologist at the University of Connecticut and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discusses the traditional culture and values of the Ifaluk Islanders. His article is to appear in an edited volume, though apparently that work is not far enough along in the publication process to merit listings in […]
A Buid School Makes Significant Progress
Most peaceful peoples focus on raising their children to adopt their nonviolence, much as more violent societies emphasize the importance of teaching aggressiveness and the inevitability of warfare. Some of the small-scale, peaceful groups have problems, however, melding their traditional socialization strategies, which teach their youth to uphold proper moral and social values, with the […]
