New publication: Peaceful Societies: Alternatives to Violence and War

by Lye Tuck-Po

14/12/12

I'm happy to report that Peaceful Societies: Alternatives to Violence and War by the late Bruce Bonta came out in June 2023. (And thanks to Dave Bonta for alerting me to it.) I never really knew Bruce in a non-virtual world; we only met once in person at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting. But I was the lucky recipient of a host of warm notices about my blogs on the Batek on his Peaceful Societies site (for example, here), for which I'm grateful.

The book listed here contains a chapter on the Batek. I quickly did a search on my work, and I think Bruce got the ethnographic details right. (He also draws on the Endicotts' excellent work, especially on gender egalitarianism.)

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Peaceful Societies: Alternatives to Violence and War

by Bruce D. Bonta

Honolulu: Center for Global Nonkilling

ISBN 9798395472823

The Center for Global Nonkilling is pleased to announce the publication of its latest book Peaceful Societies: Alternatives to Violence and War. The book was carefuly prepared by Bruce D. Bonta (1941-2021) during his many years as editor and curator of the online Encyclopedia of Peaceful Societies and associated website at the Univerity of North Carolina Greensboro. The book can be downloaded for free in PDF at this website and printed copies can be ordered here.

Summary: Is it possible to draw conclusions about the possibilities of building a more peaceful world by studying peaceful societies? In response, this book attempts to demonstrate that peaceful societies are inspiring and that they frequently shed light on difficult aspects of the paths to peacefulness; but there are no good, easy, or obvious answers. These groups of people provide inspiration about possibilities, however. The careful reader should be inspired to look for ways forward on many different issues related to building a more peaceful world by studying societies featured in this book: Lepchas, Ifaluk, Semai, Piaroa, Batek, Buid, Ladakh, Kadar, Chewong, Paliyan and others.