Mon, 11/19/2007: A LOW FOG ENVELOPES the steep and remote valleys of southwestern Uganda most mornings, as birds found only in this small corner of the continent rise in chorus and the great apes drink from clear streams. Days in the dense montane forest are quiet and steamy. Nights are an exaltation of insects and primate howling. For thousands of years the Batwa people thrived in this soundscape, in such close harmony with the forest that early-twentieth-century wildlife biologists who studied the flora and fauna of the region barely noticed their existence.

Mon, 07/30/2007 - Indigenous peoples living in the tropical rainforests of Central Africa are widely dispersed and identify their groups by a variety of names. Numbering a total of 300,000 to 500,000 people, those members of communities from several ethnic groups characterized by their small stature are identified under the generic name of “pygmies” (see WRM Bulletin Nº 119).

For the last 15 years my family and I have been close to the Ayoreo in the Paraguayan Chaco. I wrote my thesis on their learning and knowledge-sharing practices, my brother is currently writing on their concept of territory and maps and my dad is working full time supporting the life projects of the Ayoreo Peoples as ethnical collectivity to be self-reliant in the context of modern society. More information here: www.iniciativa-amotocodie.org

A short, German narrated, film about the life of the Hadzabe bushman, of East Africa.

This film can be bought from us, in DVD or PAL VHS, or high res MPEG. See our Media Order form under the Films section.

Being hunters and gatherers, the Hadzabe need an intact, natural area to live in, unlike nomads or farmers. Over hundreds of thousands of years, living in tribes, without the restraints of anonymous hierarchic societies or the laws of religion, has proven to be the
best way to live.