A compendium of selected posts written about the Ituri Forest, the Efe Pygmies, and other folks and other things in the region:
In the matter of insects:
- No Place to Sit Down
- The reason the Efe won't normally kill an insect ...
- "Excuse me, there's some food in my bugs!"
- Day of the locust. Yum!
- "We Live In Little Houses Made of Beans"
- The curious world of bugs
Life in the forest
- How to kill a monkey
- How to carry your monkey home once you've killed it
- A story of my friend Kobou
- Camp life
Cultural Wanderings
- A look at some traditional medicine, cross culturally
- Total eclipse of the sun and/or moon
- Child safety devices
- Shamans, Surgery, and the Driveway of Doom
- Mail order brides and hypergyny
Odds and ends
More like this
The Lese people practice swidden horticulture in the Ituri Forest, Congo (formerly Zaire). Living in the same area are the Efe people, sometimes known as Pygmies (but that may be an inappropriate term).
“First, we’re going to collect our data,” Jack, the archaeologist, was telling me as we slogged down the narrow overgrown path. He seemed annoyed. “Then, we’ll leave. Until we leave, they won’t leave. They think it would be rude.
When I studied the Efe Pygmies of the Congo, I discovered (and yes, it was me who discovered this amazing fact everyone now knows) that the Efe organize their space in elongated linear trails.
that has wandered into their camp if they don't know anything about it a priori is ... according to what they told me when that happened once ... is ...
Greg, thanks for the window to the Efe world.
Yes, the Efe and Congo memoirs are quite a trip. Truly amazing in many respects.
So, is the Efe fellow in the image making a chair? Or perhaps a bow.
Yes I completely agree, a moving and deep piece of writing. Well done.