Nigel Barley > Quotes

“Much has been written on the excellence of bats' navigation equipment. It is all false. Tropical bats spend their entire time flying into obstacles with a horrible thudding noise. They specialize in slamming into walls and falling, fluttering onto your face. As my own 'piece of equipment essential for the field' I would strongly recommend a tennis racket; it is devastatingly effective in clearing a room of bats.”
― Nigel Barley, The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut

“I had made an early policy decision to drink the native beer despite the undoubted horrors of the process of fabrication. On my very first visit to a Dowayo beer party, this was put severely to the test. "Will you have beer?" I was asked. "Beer is furrowed," I replied, having got the tones wrong. "He said 'yes' ", my assistant replied in a tired voice. They were amazed. No white man, at this time, had ever been known to touch beer. Seizing a calabash, they proceeded to wash it out in deference to my exotic sensibilities. They did this by offering it to a dog to lick out. Dowayo dogs are not beautiful at the best of times; this one was particularly loathsome, emaciated, open wounds on its ears where flies feasted, huge distended ticks hanging from its belly. It licked the calabash with relish. It was refilled and passed to me. Everyone regarded me, beaming expectantly. There was nothing to be done; I drained it and gasped out my enjoyment. Several more calabashes followed.”
― Nigel Barley, The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut

“Der Punkt ist, dass Feldexkursionen häufig eher ein Versuch des Forschers sind, eigene, sehr persönliche Probleme zu lösen, als dass sie dem Bemühen entspringen andere Kulturen zu verstehen.”
― Nigel Barley, Not a Hazardous Sport

“Anthropology largely neglects the individual to deal in generalizations. Generalizations always tell a little lie in the service of a greater truth.”
― Nigel Barley, Torajan Ricebarn