MANILA, Philippines - Recent significant advances in research are completely changing our understanding of the prehistory of Southeast Asia, particularly that of the Sunda — the “lost continent” — and its various populations of which the Negritos of the Philippines are an integral and important part.
Paris-based Réginald Zell (art historian, designer and artist) has combed worldwide through vast quantities of research materials on the Negritos and in 2000 published a bibliography comprising 569 titles. In recent years he took the challenge of writing their history resulting in this new book.
Zell’s book is not a dry review of “scientific facts”; rather it is a vivid and colourful description of the Negritos’ material culture and their intangible heritage, and attempts to show that although theirs is a complex culture, their approach to life is based on Cartesian reasoning. This is manifested in just two of many examples treated in the book: their abandonment of lithic tool-making in exchange for an innovative bamboo technology that they practiced long before the emergence of cultures in China; and their encyclopedic knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs and their rational ways in applying their use to everyday life.
Their fun side is also shown in this book: their music and songs and particularly their food which is mainly about the use of slow cooking methods and the concoction of “smoothies.”
Reg Zell’s Negritos of the Philippines: The People of the Bamboo Age – a Socio-Ecological Model will be launched tomorrow at the Alliance Française Total Gallery of the Alliance Française de Manille, with cocktails at 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. For details, call 895-7441/895-7585, e-mail cultural@alliance.ph, or visit www.alliance.ph.
Alliance Française de Manille is at 209 Nicanor Garcia St. formerly Reposo St.) Bel-Air 2, Makati City.