Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley: WITH Custom and Ceremony AND Face and Body Decoration v. 1-2

I was rather disappointed with the book. There are two quite hefty volumes, very nicely bound and presented in a cardboard box. While the first edition has some photographs of actual ceremonies such as donga fighting and bull jumping, the second (and in my opinion, unnecessary) volume simply has a number of photographs of tribesmen's painted faces. Visually, these photographs are very good, but having been to the Omo Valley, I do not believe they are at all representrative of the tribes. I get the impression that the photographer has been content to simply photographs someone who has applied some face paint despite it having no tribal significance. Today, some tribesmen will do anything to get photographed for money and will add various non-tradtional embelishments to attract attention. Photographing such people and touting them as typical Omo inhabitants is not particularly ethical.
My second criticism of the books is that there is no descriptions of the photographs. Usually, books such as this have a few pages at the end, at least listing which tribe each person belongs to. Apart from a few paragraphs at the start which are not particularly descriptive, there is no writing at all.
In terms of the very high cost of this book, it does not represent good value for money at all.

the tribes of the omo valley in ethiopia (8/9 people found this helpful)

This book is a major dis appointment.while the pictures are very good the downsideincludes 1. there is no table ocontents or index 2.there is no map of southern Ethopia or the Omo valley with the tribal distributions 3.
the text is virtually non existant (there is none in vol.2)the text that does exist describes multiple pictures and is valueless.4.eighteen of the 82tribes of Ethiopia live in the Ommo valley each with their own culture,facial characteristics,hair styles etc.but all are jumbled together as pictures in this book without identification.Asthe book is so expesive Iam surprised the abovehave not been considered by the publisher One last thought -there are far to many pictures of tribesmen with rifles ,this a misrepresentation.(Ireturned from the Omo valley on Dec 2 ,2006)

Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley: WITH Custom and Ceremony AND Face and Body Decoration v. 1-2

Hans Silvester

Reader Reviews:

My review (3/3 people found this helpful)

the tribes of the omo valley in ethiopia (8/9 people found this helpful)

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