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Summary: Entertainment Not Scholarship!
Review: I received this book as a gift and was greatly dissapointed and offended. It was patronizing and exploitative. Moreover, it treated anceint cultures in a shallow and irresponsible manner --typically eurocentric!
Rating: 
Summary: Worth Buying
Review: Informative, Vivid in Images, and a good Discussion subject when you have friends over
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Summary: An Africa that *does* exist, but that is vanishing
Review: The "concise edition" of AFRICAN CEREMONIES opens with a preface by Dr. Malidoma Some, president of "Echoes of the Ancestors" and author of his autobiography OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT and THE HEALING WISDOM OF AFRICA. Malidoma is from the Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso. His name means "make friends with the stranger/enemy," and that is why he now lives in the West.I have met Malidoma on a few occasions (participating in some of his rituals) and I corresponded with him for a time. He has been incredibly helpful and supportive in my own spiritual journey (he is an initiated shaman of his tribe and has recently become the youngest initiated elder), and therefore I trust what he says. Malidoma's preface makes it clear that, sadly, AFRICAN CEREMONIES documents a world that - unlike the claims of some - is not entirely gone, but that is quickly vanishing. Malidoma comments that these photographs are very important because they show the last time that some of these ceremonies will be performed in such elaborate nature, and perhaps they will never be performed again at all. AFRICAN CEREMONIES continues the tradition of these well respected photographers by providing a beautiful volume of beautiful peoples.
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Summary: Finally!A Nonethnocentric Perspective on African Traditions!
Review: The New York Times Sunday Book Review section today had a wonderful review of this book (2 volumes in a slipcase). The documentation of ritual and people performing rituals as the seasons change in Nature and life cycles turn for People is a sacred task. The photographers appear to have embraced their subjects with care and respect - perhaps others will follow in this way in the future. What strikes me most about the book and the reviews is the genuine approach of the authors to the dignity, honor and respect of the African People they have photographed and documented. This alone makes the book a winner for me. Regarding the book, I am particularly impressed by their treatment of sacredness without judgment and jaded lens. Indeed the art and form of ritual itself creates tradition. The music of these images is at once visual and alive celebrating the sacred as timeless expressions of culture and community.
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Summary: African Ceremonies
Review: The photos alone make these volumes a treasure. The text is clear and brings new understanding to any reader.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful but narrow vision of Africa
Review: These photos are simply stunning, and I've always been impressed with the artistic quality of Beckwith and Fisher's photos (their other books, their spreads in National Geographic, etc.). My problem with what they do--not just this title but their entire body of work--is that it purports to represent an Africa that doesn't really exist. The Africa of Beckwith and Fisher is lovely to look at, full of color and motion and vibrancy. Its residents are splendid in their traditional attire, dancing their traditional dances and observing their traditional rituals. These images have a timeless quality to them; one comes away with the impression that African societies are little changed since the pre-industrial, pre-colonial era. And this is precisely what's wrong with these presentations. Africa HAS changed, and immeasurably so. From Dakar to Dar es Salaam and from Cairo to Cape Town, Africans are living in the 21st century just like the rest of us. Many of them are going to work in the morning, coming home and watching TV at night, and wearing Adidas track suits. But you wouldn't know that from AFRICAN CEREMONIES or any of the other Beckwith/Fisher books, because that's not the Africa they're trying to sell. Their Africa is "traditional," "pure," and "authentic," whatever those words mean, and it bothers me that they've taken it upon themselves to determine what does and doesn't make the cut. I would never suggest that the creators of this book somehow staged their scenes so as to filter out all vestiges of modern life. But they must have selected their photos very carefully to have the same effect. You have to look pretty hard in this collection to see so much as a wristwatch, even though the vast majority of Africans wear wristwatches nowadays. I spent a few years in Africa, including among some of the peoples whose ceremonies are "recorded" here. But looking at AFRICAN CEREMONIES, I had a hard time recognizing the same places I'd been and the people I'd known. What you get with this package is a carefully screened presentation of African life. Admire its beauty, which is genuine, but don't be trapped into believing that these images represent some kind of ageless African truth. They don't, because Africa is not stuck in the past.
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Summary: A beautiful set of bookd
Review: This two volume set contains beautiful, wonderful, photographs, showing some of the diversity of Africa and the beauty of the African people. As another reviewer mentioned, I would also love to see another book by these photographer/authors on daily life. For anyone interested in Africa, I cannot recommend this book too strongly.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful set of bookd
Review: This two volume set contains beautiful, wonderful, photographs, showing some of the diversity of Africa and the beauty of the African people. As another reviewer mentioned, I would also love to see another book by these photographer/authors on daily life. For anyone interested in Africa, I cannot recommend this book too strongly.
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