Negritos of the Philippines book launched at Alliance Française

MANILA, Philippines - Reg Zell’s book launch “NEGRITOS OF THE PHILIPPINES – the people of the Bamboo Age – a Socio-Ecological model “ recently launched at the Alliance Française Total Gallery of the Alliance Française de Manille. 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.