"This book chronicles the last days of the purity of what has been for three centuries one of the world's most unusual cultural enclaves."--Alex Haley"The two scientists made a personal discovery in Suriname.... As a social anthropologist, I was fascinated by their story."--Colin M. Turnbull"I Sought My Brother" is a unique history of a black people living deep within the jungles of South America who not only survived attempts to enslave them but who have triumphed with their original African culture intact. It also ...
Read More
"This book chronicles the last days of the purity of what has been for three centuries one of the world's most unusual cultural enclaves."--Alex Haley"The two scientists made a personal discovery in Suriname.... As a social anthropologist, I was fascinated by their story."--Colin M. Turnbull"I Sought My Brother" is a unique history of a black people living deep within the jungles of South America who not only survived attempts to enslave them but who have triumphed with their original African culture intact. It also provides the only permanent record of a way of life that may soon vanish as new technologies are brought to this remote area.The story of a meeting between Allen Counter, a neurobiologist, David Evans, an electrical engineer, and the African-descended people of the Suriname rain forest was first told in the film, "I Sought My Brother," which appeared on National Public Television and in countries throughout the world. Now, in this pictorial essay Counter and Evans condense their experiences over and eight-year period into one long reunion with the bush tribes whose African ancestors escaped into the jungle after being transported to Suriname by 17th-century Dutch slave ships. They were victorious over the colonialists during a century of guerrilla warfare, winning their independence by formal treaties before North Americans won theirs from the British. Since then, they have carried on their traditional way of life with freedom and dignity.The book traces Counter and Evans's discovery of this well-preserved African presence in the New World and their dangerous journey over river waters filled with rapids, rocks, and piranha that took them several hundred miles into the interior and centuries backward in time to thatched-roof villages and an exciting and highly emotional meeting with the Bush Afro-Americans. They are greeted by the headman who asks them if they are still "bakra schlaffra, " or "white man's slaves," and who wants to know if they have won their fight. "The battle is still being fought," the authors reply.The text and hundreds of illustrations document their participation in village life--hunting and fishing, childbirth, medical practices, religious rituals, dance, building a house and a canoe--and in unfamiliar, "primitive," and holistic customs. In turn, the authors delight their hosts with cassette recordings of Otis Redding, Lightnin' Hopkins, Aretha Franklin, and Stevie Wonder, and eventually with their own film of the reunion.
Read Less
Add this copy of I Sought My Brother: an Afro-American Reunion to cart. $32.82, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by MIT Press (MA).
Add this copy of I Sought My Brother to cart. $75.00, very good condition, Sold by Books Again Georgia rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Atlanta, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by The MIT Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Near fine in good jacket. An Afro-American Reunion. Hardcover, illustrated with b/w and color photos, 276 pp. A lightly used near fine copy with clean text and tight binding in a good dust jacket (abrasion and rubbing to front and rear panels, edge worn with several closed tears. Now protected in an archival cover.
Add this copy of I Sought My Brother: an Afro-American Reunion to cart. $82.76, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Mit Pr.
Add this copy of I Sought My Brother: an Afro-American Reunion to cart. $195.09, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Mit Pr.
Add this copy of I Sought My Brother: an Afro-American Reunion to cart. $250.00, like new condition, Sold by Burnside Rare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Portland, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by MIT Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine in Near Fine jacket. First edition. Signed by Allen Counter and inscribed to biologist Stephen Jay Gould on front paste down, calling him "a great friend and colleague. I really enjoyed teaching Nat Sci 36 with you. Good reading and Warmest regards, [signed] Allen Counter." Dated 1982. Fine in Near Fine unclipped dust jacket, spine panel a little sunned. Samuel Allen Counter (1944-2017) was an African American professor of neurology and founder of Harvard's Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations. In this book he and engineer David Evans discuss meeting in the rainforest of Suriname, South America amongst the natives, also of African descent. This event was covered in a 1978 PBS TV documentary.
I am humbled and full of overwhelming joy at
what I read in this beautifully writen book, and
the pictures were very helpful in telling the
story. I recommend this book be read by all
who would like to hear and understand the truth of what really happened during the slave
trade of Aficans during that period.