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Summary: An hilarious clash of reality
Review: A real funny ground work diary. From shock to shock, the author discovers that services and activities considered as granted are not so in other places. Bureaucracy to the most absurd limits, supposed to be modern culture imposed to a tribal mood (as a beauty miss election almost in the forest) and even the return to the civilization are oportunities for amazing and funny histories. It is a real way to discover "the others" that are, at bottom, so close to us (as when the boss of the tribe excused for not accompanying him back to U.K. because as every one knows it is afreezing weather, there are dangerous animals as the dogs in the catholic mision and cannibals abound (exactly the same told by his mother in U.K.) All in all, I was expecting for some conclusions on the disaster of imposing our way of development on tribal and undeveloped countries and other way of doing it but maybe this was not the book for such kind of thoughts.
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Summary: Humor and wonder
Review: An entertaining serious book. Mr. Barley's understated tone is a powerful tool in the rendition of amazement and humor. Those of us who have had the pleasure of an African sojourn can relate to his continuous sense of wonder and surprise which rightfully and at every turn challenge our daily assumptions. This is a very humorous often hilarious book, whose last chapter, Mr. Barley's return to England, is a must read for anyone trying to understand the fascination foreign travel and foreign experiences can exert. The clash of cultures on the reverse is as powerful a discovery as his entire life in the bush was. A great book on all accounts!
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Summary: What a find
Review: I had the good fortune to discover this book when it was first printed, and have since read it more than once. It is both informative and painfully hilarious. Mr. Barley's books are some of the few which I always retrieve, after loaning them away.
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Summary: The best anthopology book ever wrote!!!
Review: It shows the true about anthropology. The best book since Malinowski's Journal... Even better than the nuers by Evans-Pritchard... Is what antropology needs to be, a hilarious review of field experiencies which doesn't forgets the exotic things expected by the public...
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Summary: My favorite read of the last 8 yrs!!
Review: This book re-affirmed why I'm not an ethnographer! Wonderfully written, with great humor.
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Summary: A delightful mix of cultural awareness and non-PC sarcasm!
Review: Those who have experinced it first-hand know that life in rural Africa is at the same time seductively alluring and monumentally frustrating. Barley captures the essence of African village life with a delicate balance of acid wit and utter transparency. A must read for anyone headed for the bush!!
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Summary: What about the women?
Review: While I enjoyed this book very much, and found it both humorous and enlightening, I was left with some curiosity and concern about the female tribespeople. Barley never delves into the lives of the women, nor comments on the fact that the women are treated as commodities and excluded from most ceremonies and celebrations. I couldn't help but think that a female anthropologist would have come away with an entirely different view of the Dowayo. Barley's hilarious description of Cameroonian dentistry, however, was enjoyable enough to outweigh the whiff of sexism which put a slight damper on my enjoyment of the book.
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Summary: Accesible anthropology
Review: You've got to love this book. I'm an anthro type anyway, but if I wasn't this book would still be highly entertaining and a great experience. It's about a self-deprecating British anthropologist who goes to Cameroon to do fieldwork among a little-known tribe called the Dowayo. While he's there, he encounters strange foods, a crazy old missionary, an impossible French-speaking Dowayo assistant, illness, personal injury, beer parties in the fields, paranoid Dowayo men, and a host of other things that will alternately make you wince and laugh out loud. For anthropologists, this is an amusing look at what it's REALLY like in the field, with none of the "blood and guts" left out. For the lay reader, it's a look at what anthropologists actually do, and a highly educational one at that. If you think anthropology is all about dead white men condescending to attend a "native" ceremony now and then, this book's a kick in the head. I loved it.
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Summary: Accesible anthropology
Review: You've got to love this book. I'm an anthro type anyway, but if I wasn't this book would still be highly entertaining and a great experience. It's about a self-deprecating British anthropologist who goes to Cameroon to do fieldwork among a little-known tribe called the Dowayo. While he's there, he encounters strange foods, a crazy old missionary, an impossible French-speaking Dowayo assistant, illness, personal injury, beer parties in the fields, paranoid Dowayo men, and a host of other things that will alternately make you wince and laugh out loud. For anthropologists, this is an amusing look at what it's REALLY like in the field, with none of the "blood and guts" left out. For the lay reader, it's a look at what anthropologists actually do, and a highly educational one at that. If you think anthropology is all about dead white men condescending to attend a "native" ceremony now and then, this book's a kick in the head. I loved it.
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