A01=Brian Morris
African Honey Bee
Author_Brian Morris
Brachystegia Woodland
Category=JBCC
Category=JBFU
Category=JHMC
Category=PSVA2
Category=WNCN
Cotton Stainer
cultural anthropology insects
ecological adaptation
entomophagy practices
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
eq_society-politics
ethnoentomology
Family Coreidae
folk classification
Folk Generics
Frame Hives
Human Insect Interactions
human-insect relations
insect roles in African societies
insect worlds
Lake Chilwa
Lake Chilwa Basin
Life Form Categories
Locust Outbreaks
Locust Swarms
Long Horned Grasshopper
Longicorn Beetle
Migratory Locusts
Red Locust
Red Spider
Red Spider Mite
Sleeping Sickness
Southern Lakeshore
Stalk Borer
Stingless Bees
Termite Mounds
traditional ecological knowledge
tribal communities insects
Tsetse Fly
vector-borne disease ecology
Young Men
Product details
- ISBN 9781845200756
- Weight: 620g
- Dimensions: 138 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jan 2006
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
This pioneering book looks at the importance of insects to culture. While in the developed West a good deal of time and money may be spent trying to exterminate insects, in other cultures human-insect relations can be far more subtle and multi-faceted. Like animals, insects may be revered or reviled - and in some tribal communities insects may be the only source of food available. How people respond to, make use of, and relate to insects speaks volumes about their culture. In an effort to get to the bottom of our vexed relationship with the insect world, Brian Morris spent years in Malawi, a country where insects proliferate and people contend. In Malawi as in many tropical regions, insects have a profound impact on agriculture, the household, disease and medicine, and hence on oral literature, music, art, folklore, recreation and religion. Much of the complexity of human-insect relations rests on paradox: insects may represent the source of contagion, but they are also integral to many folk remedies for a wide range of illnesses. They may be at the root of catastrophic crop failure, but they can also be a form of sustenance.Weaving science with personal observations, Morris demonstrates a profound and intimate knowledge of virtually every aspect of human-insect relations. Not only is this book extraordinarily useful in terms of the more practical side of entomology, it also provides a wealth of information on the role of insects in cultural production. Malawian proverbs alone provide many such delightful examples - 'Bemberezi adziwa nyumba yake' ('The carpenter bee knows his own home'). This final volume in Morris' trilogy on Malawi's animal and insect worlds is certain to become a classic study of uncharted territory - the insect world that surrounds us and how we relate to it. Praise for The Power of Animals:Although based upon examination of a single culture, Morris incorporates ecological and anthropological concepts that expand this study of
Brian Morris is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Goldsmiths College, University of London
