Status
Available
Call number
Publication
London: Penguin, 1988 (158 p., 18 b/w ill., map; 20 cm)
Description
When local contacts tipped off Nigel Barley that the Dowayocircumcision ceremony was about to take place, he immediately left London for thevillage in northern Cameroon where he had lived as a field anthropologist for 18months. The Dowayos are a mountain people that perform their elaborate, fascinatingand fearsome ceremony at six or seven year intervals. It was an opportunity thatwas too good to miss, a key moment to test the balance of tradition and modernity.Yet, like much else in this hilarious book, the circumcision ceremony was to provefrustratingly elusive. This very failure, compounded by the plague of caterpillarsof the book's title allows Nigel Barley to concentrate on everyday life in Dowayolandand the tattered remnants of an overripe French colonial legacy. Witchcraft fillsthe Cameroonian air; add an earnest German traveller showing explicit birth‐control propaganda to the respectable Dowayos, an interestin the nipple‐mutilatingpractices of highlanders, unanswered questions of the link between infertility andcircumcision and you have the ingredients of a comic masterpiece. But beneath allthe joy and shared laughter there is a skilful and wise reflection on the problemsof different cultures ever understanding one another. … (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member nandadevi
Barley grew on me very slowly in his earlier account ('The Innocent Anthropologist') of his first field expedition to the Dawayo people of Cameroon - his studied incompetence in finding his way to their homeland was tiresome, the pratt-falls landed too heavily and too often, and the overblown blurb
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on the cover promised hilarity, a sure sign that there was none to be had on the inside. But in that story, and in this, his second book, he shines in his account of living among the Dawayo. He is a much better anthropologist, and writer and traveller, than those first chapters in that previous volume promised. Consequently it's a bit of a disappointment that his editors have chosen again (on my edition) of his second book to extol its hilarious qualities, when really it is a very well told story of an interesting people and gives a good insight into some of the character of our own society. The real virtue of this second volume is that there is no laborious introduction, it's straight into Cameroon culture and the voice of the author tells the story with confidence, and humility and just a touch of self-deprecation. As a story of what fieldwork in anthropology is like I'd recommend this very highly, and suggest that it possibly the one (of Barley's two) that you should read first. It bears comparison with Beach's 'A Year in Lapland' and with Davidson's 'Desert Places' which also achieve that truthful quality - 'Here I am looking at another society, but I bring my own prejudices, and I affect and am affected by their lives and I will relate how it was and not just how I wished it to be.' Show Less
LibraryThing member starbox
A trip to the remote North of Cameroon, February 21, 2015
This review is from: A plague of caterpillars: a return to the African bush (Paperback)
An account of the author's return to Cameroon for a second anthropological study. He has come to study the rare circumcision ceremony, which only occurs
Most of the book is a waiting game, during which time the author mixes with the locals, giving a picture of a very alien culture:
"There, disappearing at speed into the scrub, was a bizarre, bulky figure. At first sight it was approximately conical and about six feet tall. A tall cone of wickerwork, covered with leaves and creeper, possessed of two arms and two feet, it swayed perilously as it rusehed into the bush...It was a boy, circumciosed some months previously and moving round shielded from the gaze of women by this head to foot covering."
The light, humorous style of writing put me in mind of Gerald Durrell's lesser works. I got a picture of Cameroon but didn't find it 'grabbed me' particularly.
This review is from: A plague of caterpillars: a return to the African bush (Paperback)
An account of the author's return to Cameroon for a second anthropological study. He has come to study the rare circumcision ceremony, which only occurs
Show More
every seven years or so.Most of the book is a waiting game, during which time the author mixes with the locals, giving a picture of a very alien culture:
"There, disappearing at speed into the scrub, was a bizarre, bulky figure. At first sight it was approximately conical and about six feet tall. A tall cone of wickerwork, covered with leaves and creeper, possessed of two arms and two feet, it swayed perilously as it rusehed into the bush...It was a boy, circumciosed some months previously and moving round shielded from the gaze of women by this head to foot covering."
The light, humorous style of writing put me in mind of Gerald Durrell's lesser works. I got a picture of Cameroon but didn't find it 'grabbed me' particularly.
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LibraryThing member ritaer
Mildly amusing tale of anthropologist returning to a tribe in the Camerons to witness the circumcision rite which he has theorized is a key to the culture's entire ritual cycle. His initial investigation of the tribe and the reasons for his theory are laid out in an earlier book, _The Innocent
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Anthropologist_. His investigations are frustrated by bureaucracy, cultural differences and the land itself. Show Less
LibraryThing member PDCRead
Having failed to see the circumcision ceremony which marks the men of the Dowayo tribe transition from child to adulthood when he was there previously, Barley hears that it is due shortly to take place. Hot-footing it out to Cameroon again, he heads back to the village to see if he can witness this
However, details on the wince-inducing process of circumcision, like where it was going to take place and when, are very elusive so whilst waiting for the nod that it was on, he finds other things to do to fill the time. One on the list to do was a visit to the neighbouring Ninga tribe. It was said that the men did not have any nipples, but he felt that he needed to see this for himself and to endeavour to elicit some of the reasons behind this practice. However, his assistant, Matthieu continued to advise against travelling to this other village, but he persisted and finally got to meet the chief. He understood Barley’s desire to learn the customs of the village, but payment would be required; perhaps a large sum of francs for a goat?
This mini-adventure along with taking a primate to the cinema, the possibilities of solar power, a novel repair to his teeth, seeing the response of the village when the UN showed a short film about the perils of malaria and the influx of insects that gave the book its title. It has the same sharp wit of the previous book where we were first introduced to the Dowayo, but with a few more funny anecdotes and is a Thoroughly enjoyable sequel to his first book Like with all societies, what seems barbarous and cruel to us, is a way of life to another people. In the same way, a lot of our routines and habits are equally strange and mysterious to them and the humour that lies in the cracks and fissures of misunderstanding.
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first hand. Re-installed in his square hut, that has been carefully ‘guarded’ by Zuuldibo, he picks up life there once again. It was almost like he had never been away, the friendly familiar faces popped by hoping for him to be a generous as he was the first time he visited…However, details on the wince-inducing process of circumcision, like where it was going to take place and when, are very elusive so whilst waiting for the nod that it was on, he finds other things to do to fill the time. One on the list to do was a visit to the neighbouring Ninga tribe. It was said that the men did not have any nipples, but he felt that he needed to see this for himself and to endeavour to elicit some of the reasons behind this practice. However, his assistant, Matthieu continued to advise against travelling to this other village, but he persisted and finally got to meet the chief. He understood Barley’s desire to learn the customs of the village, but payment would be required; perhaps a large sum of francs for a goat?
This mini-adventure along with taking a primate to the cinema, the possibilities of solar power, a novel repair to his teeth, seeing the response of the village when the UN showed a short film about the perils of malaria and the influx of insects that gave the book its title. It has the same sharp wit of the previous book where we were first introduced to the Dowayo, but with a few more funny anecdotes and is a Thoroughly enjoyable sequel to his first book Like with all societies, what seems barbarous and cruel to us, is a way of life to another people. In the same way, a lot of our routines and habits are equally strange and mysterious to them and the humour that lies in the cracks and fissures of misunderstanding.
Show Less
LibraryThing member melsmarsh
Interesting read about an anthropologist's trip to try to witness a circumcision ritual and all the problems and stories along the way.
Language
Original publication date
1986
Physical description
158 p.; 20 cm
ISBN
014009556X / 9780140095562
Local notes
From the back cover:
"The chance to witness a rare circumcision ceremony
was an opportunity not to be missed.
Nigel Barley's return to Cameroon promised much. The
Dowayos, a pagan mountain tribe, were due to perform their
fearsome ancient ritual for the first time in six or seven years.
Armed with Christmas pudding and Cheddar cheese,
Dr Barley embarked on his quest to witness this unusual
anthropological phenomenon, only to find his way strewn
with difficulties — not least an extraordinary plague of black,
hairy caterpillars.
The author of The Innocent Anthropologist has again produced
a catalogue of hilarious anecdotes, as well as a skilful
reflection on the problems of different cultures
understanding one another.
`He does for anthropology what Gerald Durrell did for animal
collecting' — Daily Telegraph
`They have the greatest charm and interest: they are both
touching and hilarious. I strongly recommend them ' -
Richard Adams reviewing this book and The Innocent
Anthropologist."
___________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
I Duala Revisited 7
2 To the Hills 20
3 Rendering unto Caesar ... 30
4 Once More unto the Breach 37
5 The Missing Mastectomy 46
6 Veal, Vidi, Visa 54
7 Of Simians and Cinemas 64
8 When in Doubt — Charge! 71
9 Light and Shade 88
10 Thrills of the Chase 98
11 The Black—White Man 123
12 An Extraordinary Plague of Black, Hairy Caterpillars 135
13 Ends and Beginnings 150
"The chance to witness a rare circumcision ceremony
was an opportunity not to be missed.
Nigel Barley's return to Cameroon promised much. The
Dowayos, a pagan mountain tribe, were due to perform their
fearsome ancient ritual for the first time in six or seven years.
Armed with Christmas pudding and Cheddar cheese,
Dr Barley embarked on his quest to witness this unusual
anthropological phenomenon, only to find his way strewn
with difficulties — not least an extraordinary plague of black,
hairy caterpillars.
The author of The Innocent Anthropologist has again produced
a catalogue of hilarious anecdotes, as well as a skilful
reflection on the problems of different cultures
understanding one another.
`He does for anthropology what Gerald Durrell did for animal
collecting' — Daily Telegraph
`They have the greatest charm and interest: they are both
touching and hilarious. I strongly recommend them ' -
Richard Adams reviewing this book and The Innocent
Anthropologist."
___________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
I Duala Revisited 7
2 To the Hills 20
3 Rendering unto Caesar ... 30
4 Once More unto the Breach 37
5 The Missing Mastectomy 46
6 Veal, Vidi, Visa 54
7 Of Simians and Cinemas 64
8 When in Doubt — Charge! 71
9 Light and Shade 88
10 Thrills of the Chase 98
11 The Black—White Man 123
12 An Extraordinary Plague of Black, Hairy Caterpillars 135
13 Ends and Beginnings 150