Frances S. Herskovits

Rebel Destiny: Among The Bush Negroes Of Dutch Guiana is a non-fiction book written by Melville Jean Herskovits. The book describes the author's experiences and observations during his travels to Dutch Guiana (now known as Suriname) in the 1920s. Specifically, the book focuses on the author's interactions with the Bush Negroes, a group of people who had escaped from slavery and established their own communities in the remote interior of the country. Herskovits provides a detailed account of the Bush Negroes' culture, customs, and way of life. He describes their religious beliefs, social organization, and economic practices, as well as their history of resistance against colonialism and slavery. The author also explores the role of music and dance in the Bush Negroes' culture, and provides a detailed analysis of their unique musical traditions. Throughout the book, Herskovits emphasizes the resilience and determination of the Bush Negroes, and highlights their ongoing struggle for freedom and autonomy. He also reflects on the broader implications of their experiences for the study of African diaspora cultures and the history of slavery and colonialism. Overall, Rebel Destiny: Among The Bush Negroes Of Dutch Guiana is a fascinating and insightful exploration of a little-known community and their rich cultural heritage. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Bringing together for the first time selected articles by the distinguished anthropologist, this volume presents a comprehensive survey of Herskovits' exhaustive study of the Negro in the Western Hemisphere. The author came to perceive the Afroamerican field as a laboratory in which hypotheses of the widest scope in the study of acculturation could be tested, with ethnohistory as the control factor. Moreover, he regarded acculturation as a process of mutual exchange rather than a matter of members of minority groups taking over the cultural elements of a dominant majority. Herskovits also insisted that the study of culture be holisitc, and that the arts and values of a people be given full weight. The volume is divided into eight major sections entitled The Afroamerican Field—A Laboratory for the Study of Man; Theory and Method; Ethnohistory—The Laboratory Control in Studies of Acculturation; Ethno-psychology; The Arts; Cult Life in Brazil; The World View of an Urban Community—Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana; and Reinterpretations.