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We are part of nature not set apart from it.
Professor Peterson believes that:
1)The commercialized use, more than indigenous peoples' use of the forest lies at the root of Africa's environmental problems.
2)Central African traditional ecological knowledge suggests that we would do better to try to control the market forces that lead to overexploitation of the environment rather than unjustly restrict the subsistence practices of people who have lived in these forests much longer than ourselves.
3)The environmental wisdom of Central African forest peoples stems from the knowledge and belief that nature and humans are never separate entities but parts of one system.
4)We are part of nature not set apart from it.
5)Nature and culture, humans and environment, social ethics and environmental ethics, ecology and justice go hand in hand.
6)It is not humans or nature that are central; rather it is life that is primary, and that includes the entire community of life, for all of life is important, all of life is bonded, all of life is sacred. ... Read more

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For the Yaka of Southwestern Zaire, infertility is a tear in the fabric of life, and the Khita fertility ritual is a trusted way of reweaving the damaged strands.In Weaving the Threads of Life Rene Devisch offers an extended analysis of the Khita cult, which leads to an original account of the workings of ritual healing.

Drawing on many years among urban and rural Yaka, Devisch analyzes their understanding of existence as a fabric of firmly but delicately interwoven threads of nature, body, and society.The fertility healing ritual calls forth forces, feelings, and meanings that allow women to rejoin themselves to the complex pattern of social and cosmic life.These elaborate rites--whether simulating mortal agony and rebirth, gestation and delivery, or flowering and decay; using music and dance, steambath or massage, dream messages or scarification--are not based on symbols of traditional beliefs.Rather, Devisch shows, the rites themselves generate forces and meaning, creating and shaping the cosmic, physical, and social world of their participants.

In contrast to current theoretical methods such as postmodern or symbolical interpretation, Devisch's praxiological approach is unique in also using phenomenological insights into the intent and results of anthropological fieldwork. This innovative work will have ramifications beyond African studies, reaching into the anthropology of medicine and the body, comparative religious history, and women's studies. ... Read more

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Who invents masks, and why? Such questions have rarely been asked, due to stereotypes of anonymous African artists locked into the reproduction of "traditional" models of representation. Rather than accept this view of African art as timeless and unchanging, Z. S. Strother spent nearly three years in Zaire studying Pende sculpture. Her research reveals the rich history and lively contemporary practice of Central Pende masquerade. She describes the intensive collaboration among sculptors and dancers that is crucial to inventing masks. Sculptors revealed that a central theme in their work is the representation of perceived differences between men and women. Far from being unchanging, Pende masquerades promote unceasing innovation within genres and invention of new genres. Inventing Masks demonstrates, through first hand accounts and lavish illustrations, how Central Pende masquerading is a contemporary art form fully responsive to twentieth-century experience. ... Read more

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A modern art form
In the country then known as Zaire, and now as the Congo, Strother spent some time studying the Central Pende ethnic group. Specifically, she analysed the role that masks played in their society. The book has many photos of intricately designed masks. Pretty!

But the book is more than just nice pictures. Strother has conducted a serious anthropological study of what the masks represent and their history. Essentially, she shows that the construction and symbology are not some age old ritual. Rather, a virtue of her study is that she places the Pende masquerade as an active, modern art form. As legitimate as any contemporary art movement in a developed country. Too often, African art is only studied in retrospective mode. Strother shows otherwise. ... Read more

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This travel book is part of a series inviting young readers to explore the six continents. Each title includes a survey of the country's history, geography, culture, government, industry, agriculture, place in the world and a suggestion of what the future may hold. ... Read more

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This report focuses on the non-woody components of tropical forests, such as herbaceous plants. It is the result of a project carried out in several forests in Western Uganda and Eastern Zaire from 1994 to 1996. The project was carried out by the Danish Centre for Tropical Biodiversity (The Botanical Museum, Copenhagen) in collaboration with several institutions in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). Tropical forests are objects of increasing interest for their importance to the global environment. Forestry studies have so far solely been focused on trees, despite the fact that forest floor plants have the advantage of easy access. The aim of the project was to assess patterns of botanical diversity within and between forests in Western Uganda. The main emphasis was on the ground herbs, especially the ferns. The most significant output at this stage is the documentation of species. Appendices list the diversity of species for each Ugandan site. ... Read more