(bison on a hill above the road, elk island national park, last week)
(grazing mama bison with calf, by the roadside, elk island)
(milk time for the baby one, elk island)
Speaking of large land mammals, I just finished reading 'Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia', by the anthropologist Piers Vitebsky, and I adored it. It was such a gorgeous book, not only as anthropological writing, but as honest and poetic storytelling... and as a gift, a tribute to the Eveny people (and reindeer) who shared their lives & migrations with him, who taught him so much. It was tremendously compelling, and made me cry. (and also want to go to the Sakha Republic even more...)
I hope that someday I can write a book about my own future fieldwork & experiences that is so generous & well-crafted & eloquent. He lets the subjects of his book speak for themselves & weaves histories and personal narratives together in a way that is so refreshing.
My other inspiring book-writing anthropologists:
Julie Cruikshank -- Live Lived Like A Story-- Life Stories of Three Yukon Native Elders; Do Glaciers Listen? -- Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination
Andie Palmer -- Maps of Experience -- The Anchoring of Land to Story in Secwepemc Discourse
Keith Basso -- Wisdom Sits In Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache
The book is not my favourite, but I do give points for the title of 'Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers' by Edward Schiefflin.
2 comments:
Every time you write, my life is improved. Thank you!
(I assume I've told you many times that you are a reason I read poetry, and don't give up on anthropology, but in case you've forgotten, or I haven't I repeat it today. Thank you!)
val,
thank you so much. i am not sure what else to say, other than your words make me very, very happy. :)
j.
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