AMERINDIAN TESTIMONIES

edited by Janette Forte and Ian Melville
(1989)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD:
While research among indigenous South American peoples has increased dramatically in the past two decades, Guyana remains little known to many scholars. In Amerindian Testimonies Janette Forte and Ian Melville provide a unique collection of ethnographic vignettes, documented through interviews of 22 Amerindian school teachers from the interior of Guyana. The accounts demonstrate the diversity and richness of the Amerindian experience. Seen through the eyes of those caught up in the rapid transformation of Amerindian lifeways, the book provides a non-traditional rendering of the geography, ethnography and history of the region. Important and previously unpublished ethnobiological data are presented in the volume.

The publication of Amerindian Testimonies is supported by the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs. It represents an ongoing interaction between researchers at the University of Guyana and the Anthropology program at Boise State University. These efforts support the continuing development of anthropological research in Guyana and preservation of the Amerindian cultural heritage. We believe that Forte and Melville's work significantly contributes to that end.