the forest people

In his book, The Forest People, Colin Turnbull achieves the taste and feel of life inside a Mbuti community, but in doing so offers a skewed anthropological look at the peoples of the African Congo. When reading the book, I did truly feel a part of the Mbuti world, but I also noticed a lack of anthropological accuracy when it came to portraying effect had on Pygmies by the lives and cultures of surrounding natives. …

…way of life, because that is what they have always done and what is right for them. Herein lies the biggest error made by Turnbull in The Forest People: he doesn't give the Pygmy culture enough credit for what it is. The Mbutis are changing, dynamic piece of humanity being fueled by not only age-old traditions and customs, but also the very real beliefs and values of the tribes that they share the Congo with.