description: In "The Mountain People," Colin The Forest People" - describes the dehumanization of the Ik, African tribesmen who in less than three generations have deteriorated from being once-prosperous hunters to scattered bands of hostile, starving people whose only goal is individual survival. Forbidden by the Ugandan government to hunt game in the Kidepo National Park, the Ik are compelled to farm and forage for food in the barren mountain heights adjoining the park. Drought and starvation have made them a strange and heartless people, mistrustful of their own kind - their days occupied with constant competition and the search for food. Isolated from one another, each family is separated in its own compound within the village's fortress walls. And each family is itself husbands, wives, and children remorselessly avoid helping one another find food. Sad, disturbing, and eloquently written, "The Mountain People" is a moving meditation on human nature, our capacity for goodness, and the fragility of human society. It is a brilliant, modern classic of anthropology.
language: English
title: Mountain People
titlecomplete: Mountain People
genres: Sociology, 20th Century, History, Ethnography, Anthropology, Science, Society, Cultural, Africa, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 637
places: Africa, Uganda
awards: awardedAt: 94723200000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Contemporary Affairs
publisher: Peter Smith Pub Inc