Author: Janette FortePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Indians of South America
Languages : en
Pages : 24
Book Description
A Selective Reading List on Guyanese Amerindians
Author: Janette FortePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Indians of South America
Languages : en
Pages : 24
Book Description
Annotated Bibliography on Natural Resources and the Environment in Guyana
Author: Publisher: IICA Biblioteca Venezuela
ISBN:
Category : Guyana
Languages : en
Pages : 78
Book Description
Guyana, Fragile Frontier
Author: Marcus ColchesterPublisher: Latin America Bureau (Lab)
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Examines three environmental issues in Guyana: gold mining, logging of tropical forests, and abuse of the indigenous people, the Amerindians. Describes the role of foreign enterprises in exploiting the country's natural resources.
Guyana Legends
Author: Odeen IshmaelPublisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1465356703
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
Guyana Legends—Folk Tales of the Indigenous Amerindians By Odeen Ishmael G uyana Legends—Folk Tales of the Indigenous Amerindians is a collection of fifty folk tales of the first people to inhabit Guyana and the contiguous regions of the north coast of the South American continent. Very little is known of Amerindian history in Guyana before the arrival of European settlers in the early seventeenth century and, actually, no written form of their languages existed until about seventy years ago. Indeed, much of the history of the Amerindians people is based on oral traditions which are not quite clear because the periods when important events occurred are difficult to place. Still, native oral traditions are very rich in folk stories of the ancestral heroes and heroines of these indigenous people. Some of these folk stories have varying versions among the nine different language groups—or tribes— that comprise the Amerindian population of Guyana. Such a difference is illustrated in this book which presents two different tales of how fire was acquired and various versions of the legend of two immortal folk heroes, the bothers Makonaima and Pia. This present collection of Amerindian legends was compiled over a lengthy period of many years during which I listened to and collected versions of these tales from elderly Amerindians in various regions of Guyana, and more recently from Amerindian residents of the Delta Amacuro region of Venezuela, on the frontier with Guyana. Significantly, most of these legends were also summarised since the late nineteenth century by a succession of writers, including Everard F. im Thurn, W.H. Brett, Walter Roth and Leonard Lambert. But it is significant to note that those versions—by no means original—which were related by those writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have undergone some changes with the passing years, and new characters have been added to them. Since Amerindians of the North West District of Guyana are ethnologically and culturally related to those in the eastern regions of Venezuela, particularly the Delta Amacuro region, it is noteworthy that the myths and legends of those Venezuelan Amerindians bear close similarities to those of their Guyanese counterparts. Interestingly, the Guajiro people—Amerindians of Arawak background living in north-west Venezuela near to Lake Maracaibo—also have some folk-tales that closely resemble those of their “relatives” living in the North-West District of Guyana and the Delta Amacuro region of Venezuela. For further information, the writings of Venezuelan researchers, Cesaréo de Armellada, Maria Manuela de Cora and Michel Perrin are recommended. It is essential to note too that an important character in Amerindian legend is “Tiger”. While there are a number of tigers in the stories—and generally they are all villains—these animals, however, are not part of the fauna in Guyana or the entire American continent. What is generally referred to as a “tiger” is the large spotted jaguar. And the “black tiger”, mentioned in one of the stories in this book, is the large South American puma. Twenty of the folk tales included in this collection appear in my earlier book, Amerindian Legends of Guyana, published in 1995. However, they have now been revised and, in some cases, retitled. Among the thirty other stories are those of two clever tricksters in Amerindian folklore, the lazy but sly Konehu and the wily rabbit, Koneso. Readers will find these legends of the original inhabitants of Guyana informative in the anthropological sense, in addition to being interesting and entertaining at the same time.
Bibliographic Index
Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bibliographical literature
Languages : en
Pages : 1110
Book Description
Wild Coast
Author: John GimlettePublisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307596656
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 452
Book Description
Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana are among the least-known places in South America: nine hundred miles of muddy coastline giving way to a forest so dense that even today there are virtually no roads through it; a string of rickety coastal towns situated between the mouths of the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers, where living is so difficult that as many Guianese live abroad as in their homelands; an interior of watery, green anarchy where border disputes are often based on ancient Elizabethan maps, where flora and fauna are still being discovered, where thousands of rivers remain mostly impassable. And under the lens of John Gimlette—brilliantly offbeat, irreverent, and canny—these three small countries are among the most wildly intriguing places on earth. On an expedition that will last three months, he takes us deep into a remarkable world of swamp and jungle, from the hideouts of runaway slaves to the vegetation-strangled remnants of penal colonies and forts, from “Little Paris” to a settlement built around a satellite launch pad. He recounts the complicated, often surprisingly bloody, history of the region—including the infamous 1978 cult suicide at Jonestown—and introduces us to its inhabitants: from the world’s largest ants to fluorescent purple frogs to head-crushing jaguars; from indigenous tribes who still live by sorcery to descendants of African slaves, Dutch conquerors, Hmong refugees, Irish adventurers, and Scottish outlaws; from high-tech pirates to hapless pioneers for whom this stunning, strangely beautiful world (“a sort of X-rated Garden of Eden”) has become home by choice or by force. In Wild Coast, John Gimlette guides us through a fabulously entertaining, eye-opening—and sometimes jaw-dropping—journey.
Walk Wit’ Me...
Author: Helena MartinPublisher: BalboaPress
ISBN: 1452503109
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 477
Book Description
My memoir is laced with nostalgia and at the same time it is my sincere intention to portray the true essence of the Guyanese culture without offence. Keep in mind that this is not based on the experience of every Guyanese. This was the way I saw and experienced things back then. The use of colloquialism is of utmost importance; it is the vernacular we understand. It may sound like another language so unless you were born and bred in Guyana you will need to refer to the glossary provided. Folklore and mothers preaching life lessons through proverbs played a large part in Guyanese life. This is not only an account of the first twenty-one years of my life in Guyana; it also contains anecdotes of visits back to my homeland. You will also find a sprinkling of information pertaining to my new life in Australia. Before immigrating to Australia I believed the sun only rose and set in Guyana; I never imagined another paradise existed on the planet. There is a saying that most Guyanese use to identify their roots after they have voluntarily immigrated or simply fled to another country. When we say, My navel string is buried in Guyana, we simply mean: My roots are there. Its a place where true and enduring friendships were formed forever. We will meet one another decades later and feel as if it was yesterday, reminiscing about our beloved land; lapsing into the language only a fellow Guyanese can understand. A famous Australian crooner said I still call Australia home, and I can assure you that saying applies to Guyanese who have immigrated to every corner of the globe. Navigating the labyrinth of family secrets was my one mission in life; I just had to know.
G.K. Hall Bibliographic Guide to Latin American Studies
Author: Benson Latin American CollectionPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Latin America
Languages : en
Pages : 778
Book Description
The Guyana Story
Author: Odeen IshmaelPublisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1479795909
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 691
Book Description
The Guyana StoryFrom Earliest Times to Independence traces the countrys history from thousands of years ago when the first Amerindian groups began to settle on the Guyana territory. It examines the period of early European exploration leading to Dutch colonization, the forcible introduction of African slaves to work on cotton and sugar plantations, the effects of European wars, and the final ceding of the territory to the British who ruled it as their colony until they finally granted it independence in 1966. The book also tells of Indian, Chinese, and Portuguese indentured immigration and shows how the cultural interrelationships among the various ethnic groups introduced newer forms of conflict, but also brought about cooperation in the struggles of the workers for better working and living conditions. The final part describes the roles of the political leaders who arose from among these ethnic groups from the late 1940s and began the political struggle against colonialism and the demand for independence. This struggle led to political turbulence in the 1950s and early 1960s when the country was caught in the crosshairs of the cold war resulting in joint British-American devious actions that undermined a democratically elected pro-socialist government and deliberately delayed independence for the country until a government friendly to their international interests came to power.
Dark Shamans
Author: Neil L. WhiteheadPublisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822384302
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
On the little-known and darker side of shamanism there exists an ancient form of sorcery called kanaimà, a practice still observed among the Amerindians of the highlands of Guyana, Venezuela, and Brazil that involves the ritual stalking, mutilation, lingering death, and consumption of human victims. At once a memoir of cultural encounter and an ethnographic and historical investigation, this book offers a sustained, intimate look at kanaimà, its practitioners, their victims, and the reasons they give for their actions. Neil L. Whitehead tells of his own involvement with kanaimà—including an attempt to kill him with poison—and relates the personal testimonies of kanaimà shamans, their potential victims, and the victims’ families. He then goes on to discuss the historical emergence of kanaimà, describing how, in the face of successive modern colonizing forces—missionaries, rubber gatherers, miners, and development agencies—the practice has become an assertion of native autonomy. His analysis explores the ways in which kanaimà mediates both national and international impacts on native peoples in the region and considers the significance of kanaimà for current accounts of shamanism and religious belief and for theories of war and violence. Kanaimà appears here as part of the wider lexicon of rebellious terror and exotic horror—alongside the cannibal, vampire, and zombie—that haunts the western imagination. Dark Shamans broadens discussions of violence and of the representation of primitive savagery by recasting both in the light of current debates on modernity and globalization.