The Elder Brothers

by Alan Ereira

The Kogi, members of an isolated tribe in the mountains of Colombia, speak out about the consequences of modern living in a keen portrait of a culture that has survived unchanged for more than a thousand years. 10,000 first printing.

Genres: Anthropology, Travel, Indigenous, History, Nonfiction

241 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 1992

Reviews

[JohnGrant · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

There's a paradox that every outsider has to face when describing a new people group. On one hand, judging every difference as "backwards" or "wrong" must be avoided to really paint an accurate picture of this unknown group. The other camp, which this book falls into frequently, is to accept the new culture as blameless and edenic.

To be fair to the author, the Kogi people described here are hostile to outsiders. A less sympathetic reporter probably would not have been allowed in. Even with that, the pervasive belief that the Kogi way of life is massively superior to anyone else began to irritate me throughout the book. I do think a couple of pages critically comparing a more naturalistic framework to the second-reality "aluna" described here would have added some necessary seasoning.

From a writing standpoint, the book can be a bit unstructured at times with unnecessary drag - not enough to make it a difficult read, but enough to make a slightly tiring one at points.

[Scott Young]

Accidentally left on the plane at DFW airport.

[Paul Dien · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love it

[Kami · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book out due to my curiosity that you hear lots about the Inca, Maya, and Aztec societies, but almost nothing of the tribes that settled elsewhere in Central and South America. In particular, Colombia (okay my husband is from there and he's told me of large city ruins, offerings of gold that he saw in the Museo del Oro, etc.) which you never hear of. Granted, it's particularly difficult to do research in Colombia, but back to the book. The author who is a filmmaker for BBC went to Colombia on another assignment, heard of the Lost City and decided it would make a good movie and after approval from BBC preceded to make a movie on the generally named Tairona Indians. He is not an anthropologist, but had anthropologists working with him. The Kogi Tribe (the main focus of his movie/book) are as he puts it "the last surviving high civilisation of pre-Columbian America". In fact, the Natives routinely refer to any non-Native as Columbus, and it's amazing Ereira was able to talk with them at all, because most people that reappear after trying to see them are often beaten and sent back, that is if they survive the jungle, narcos, paramilitaries, banditos, regular military, etc. What's really amazing is that their heartland in the Sierra Nevadas is only 20 miles inland from Santa Marta, a large city on the coast that's been around since Columbus. But again, back to the book--it was fascinating...at first. The descriptions of the tribe and their social systems, along with Colombia's society, is really the best part. However, Ereira is not an anthropologist (I wish he was) and the Kogi only agreed to make the film if he would relay the message they had for the rest of the world. Their message is that the world is heating up, the water drying up, the lifeblood going out, we are taking out to much petrol, coal, minerals, gold, etc, and soon the world will end because of it. (The Kogi believe they are the caretakers of the world and we their less responsible younger brothers.) While rather amazing for it's close approximation to global warming , repeated over and over for 200+ pages it gets rather dull. I believe the National Geographic did a similar report from them two or so years ago in a much more succint fashion. I would recommend that article after the first couple chapters are over that describe the tribe's society to save yourself some time.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Traditional Kogi religion is closely related to Kogi ideas about the structure and functioning of the Universe, and Kogi cosmology is ... a model for survival in that it moulds individual behaviour into a plan of actions or avoidances that are oriented toward the maintenance of a viable equilibrium between Man’s demands and Nature’s resources. In this manner the individual and society at large must both carry the burden of great responsibilities which, in the Kogi view, extend not only to their society but to the whole of mankind.


The message and moral authority of the Kogi deserve 5 stars, whatever the book's literary merits.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Crawler
This is an amazing book about the Tairona Kogi, their history and about the making of the documentary of the same name. A must read for anyone with an interest in the environment, anthropology, aboriginal people's history in South America and the rights of aboriginal people and cultural preservation.

[Davina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Heartbreaking awakening of the Kogi indians of Colombia, whose mission and beliefs is to protect our planet from the ecological holocaust caused by modern civilization. It makes you think about the hard beatings done to the indigenous people in America

[Esauis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned after reading about half of it. The writing just isn't very good and the author doesn't seem to be a very informed person in general... He's a tv producer who forwards his career with a book deal. Maybe the doc this book is based on is better

[Clivemichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredible story, not well written but compelling none the less.