science · 23 November 1924 · 100 years ago
birth
Born 23 Nov 1924; died 28 Jul 1994 at age 69.
Colin Macmillan Turnbull was an English-American anthropologist who is notable for his book The Forest People (1962), a detailed study of the tribe of Mbuti Pygmies in Zaire, with whom he lived in affectionate intimacy for several years. In 1972, he wrote his most controversial book, The Mountain People, describing the Ik, an obscure nomadic tribe of hunters on the Kenya-Uganda border. They were living on the brink of starvation and cultural extinction, surviving (in diminishing numbers). Within one generation they had changed to a gross ethic of selfishness, having discarded love and morality. After the death of his African-American partner of 30 years, Turnbull retreated to a Buddhist monastery where he lived out his remaining years.
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