"[The book] will undoubtedly prove to be an exceptionally valuable
resource for those scholars researching the still poorly udnerstood
peoples of Central America's Caribbean shore, and it should attract
attention among anthropologists working in similar frontier
contexts who might be looking for insightful comparative materials.
Finally, it is also a sensitive and rather personal account of an
anthropologist feeling his way back into a community that he left
behind twenty years previously and which has changed considerably.
Students wishing to get a sense of how anthropologists really
experience and do fieldwork will, therefore, also find it
particularly valuable." -- The Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Institute
"Most anthropologists who have lived among other people . . .
feel a periodic need to go back," writes Philip A. Dennis in the
introduction to this book. "Fieldwork gives you a stake in the
people themselves, a set of relationships that last the rest of
your life . . . and when the time is right, it is important to go
back."
Dennis first journeyed to Awastara, a village on the
northeastern coast of Nicaragua, during 1978-1979 as a postdoctoral
student. He had come to study a culture-bound syndrome in which
young women are possessed by devils. In the process, he became
fascinated by other aspects of Miskitu culture-- turtle fishing,
Miskitu Christianity, community development efforts-- the whole
pattern of Miskitu community life. He also formed deep friendships
to carry into the future.
Twenty years later he was able to return and continue his
ethnographic work. Utilizing ideas from recent interpretive
anthropology and a vivid writing style, Dennisdescribes food
habits, language, health practices, religious beliefs, and
storytelling, inviting the reader to experience life in Awastara
along with him. Building upon earlier work by Mary Helms, Bernard
Nietschmann, Edmund Gordon, and Charles Hale, The Miskitu People of
Awastara makes its own original contribution. It is the first
full-length study of a coastal Miskitu community north of Puerto
Cabezas, contrasting life before and after the war years of the
1980s. It will be a valuable addition to the literature on this
indigenous group and should appeal to anthropologists and other
social scientists, as well as all readers interested in peoples of
the Caribbean coast.
General
Imprint: |
University Of Texas Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
LLILAS New Interpretations of Latin America Series |
Release date: |
August 2004 |
First published: |
2004 |
Authors: |
Philip A. Dennis
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 25mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
320 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-292-70281-3 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
General
|
LSN: |
0-292-70281-7 |
Barcode: |
9780292702813 |
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