Lords and Lemurs

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In the extreme south of Madagascar is a place called Berenty, where Tandroy tribesmen, French lords, mad scientists, and two or three species of lemurs may be found gathered peacefully under a tamarind tree Forty years ago Alison Jolly went to Berenty to study lemurs, and she has been enthralled by it ever since In Lords and Lemurs she tells the story of the place, its people, and its other animals The owner of Berenty, Jean de Heaulme, arrived there in 1928 as a six month old baby, riding with his mother in the sidecar of his father s Harley Davidson motorcycle The de Heaulme family has lived at Berenty ever since, supporting Madagascar s fight for independence from France, serving in the government, and enduring economic turmoil, civil war, and even imprisonment Although they are relics of a colonial system that seized land and tortured dissidents, the de Heaulmes also epitomize noblesse oblige in the best sense of the phrase, showing a remarkable sense of responsibility for both the people and the ecosystem of Berenty Early on they set aside a large portion of their estate as a nature preserve, where lemurs and other animals have thrived over the years Jean de Heaulme became a blood brother to one of the local Tandroy nobles the kings with spears Traditionally the Tandroy were warriors who raided for women, cattle, and slaves Now those who live at Berenty can take what they need from the modern world medical care, education, and a cash income without giving up their own customs and way of life Many Tandroy still live in traditional villages surrounded by walls of thorn, and even the men who hold salaried jobs work hard so they can return to their clan with enough cattle to buy a bride or two When a clan elder dies, the family offers a grandiose funeral where, amid gunfire and dancing and merrymaking and sex, a whole herd of zebu cattle is sacrificed to honor the new Ancestor even if he happens to be a Christian Alison Jolly and her husband were honored to be invited to attend a Tandroy funeral Poignant and colorful, tragic and funny, Lords and Lemurs is a remarkable tale of one of the last great places on earth and the extraordinary people who live there, a tale of marriage, birth, and death, of spear fights and stink fights and dancing It shows how human warmth and dignity can reach out beyond any social system. New Read [ Lords and Lemurs ] Author [ Alison Jolly ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr The second half was muchinteresting than the first The first half should have been condensed greatly It s a great way to learn about a land that most people don t know anything about, but there wasn t enough talk about the lemurs But there never really is, is therewasabout the lords and less about the lemurs3I stopped reading this last May after reading 107 pages As I recall, I was really enjoying it, but I guess I bought got something that waspressing The author first came to Madagascar to study lemurs in 1963, she s been studying there ever since One of the lords of the title is the de Heaulme family who came to southern Madagascar, Berenty to be exact, in 1928 and resolved immediately they would leave part of their land as a reserve Each kilometer has over a thousand lemurs Jolly says I stopped reading this last May after reading 107 pages As I recall, I was really enjoying it, but I guess I bought got something that waspressing The author first came to Madagascar to study lemurs i...Although I did not find every single page of this book to be fascinating, I deeply appreciated Alison Jolly s perspective on Madagascar s economic, political, and environmental history after years of working in the Androy region As a lemur researcher, it must have been so difficult to remain balanced when discussing a period of 40 years in which the forests of Madagascar have rapidly eroded Framing Madagascar s history of political unrest, poverty, and famines through stories some her own, so Although I did not find every single page of this book to be fascinating, I deeply appreciated Alison Jolly s perspective on Madagascar s economic, political, and environmental history after years of working in the Androy region As a lemur researcher, it...Although this book was classified as about lemurs, it s reallya combination of a personal memoir and a social and economic history of modern Madagascar, especially in the extreme south of the island The focus is on the Berenty reserve where the author did most of her famous research on lemurs, and the de Heaulme family which established it, but she puts it in the context of the history of the region and its Tandroy as well as French inhabitants from the 1600s through the various conquests Although this book was classifi...just started this book, as we prepare, hopefully, for a trip to Madagascar from our home in Mozambique i love the author s dense and somewhat surprising juxtaposition of words, lending the text a desirable non fiction description of the land of the lemurs and an almost fantasy like storyto come.More of a history of Madagascar from the perspective of the South where the Tandroy live and the de Heaulme s Berenty Nature Reserve exists than a book about lemurs A fascinating history of an incredible biodiverse country I learned a lotInteresting, but not the most well written thing I ve read Reads a bit like something you d have to read for a college class, rather than pleasure reading It s the author s background as a scientist paired with the fact that she s trying to do some amateur anthropology here.Fascinating tidbits of infoabout the Tandroy than about lemurs

Lords and Lemurs
  • English
  • 22 March 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 320 pages
  • 0618367519
  • Alison Jolly
  • Lords and Lemurs