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Editorial Review Product Description
Nafanua is the author's account of the year he spent in a remote Samoan village researching medicinal plants. An eminent ethnobotanist, Cox succeeded in making some vital discoveries, including one that led to a drug now being tested for treatment of hepatitis and AIDS. He also launched an international campaign to save lowland rainforest from logging, and was honoured by village leaders with the title of the legendary Samoan goddess Nafanua. For his work in Samoa, Cox was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, considered to be the Nobel Prize for the Environment. ... Read more Customer Reviews (8) 
Important implications for conservation-with-development
This unique and fascinating book by Dr. Cox has important implications for development practitioners and academics interested in political ecology as well as ethnobotanists.The challenges faced by the people of Falealupo village in choosing between preserving their forest or building a school for their children are typical of the environmental trade-offs that many people in developing countries feel compelled to make simply to achieve, by our standards, a minimally acceptable standard of living.The solution presented by Dr. Cox, in which social networks are built such that people willing to invest in the preservation of ecosystems are put into direct contact with those people overseeing these ecosystems (without government or NGO intervention) has important lessons for people interested in promoting "Conservation-with-Development" approaches to economic development.This text also illustrates the complex ways that the human imprint on ecosystems is embedded in power-laden social networks and that change involves contestation and negotiation of power within these networks.This book thus holds important insights for those interested in political ecology.(For those interested in these topics, Dr. Cox's contribution to People, Plants and Justice - Charles Zerner, ed., Cambridge University Press, 2000 - makes an informative companion-piece to Nafanua.)
Finally, as a person who has lived in Samoa for several years as a volunteer teacher and as someone who conducts ecological research there, I find Dr. Cox's presentation of the people of Samoa, shown from a more personalized perspective rather than an academic one, to be open, honest and fair.He avoids falling into the trap of romanticizing or essentializing the people as "ecologically noble savages" that live in perfect harmony with their environment that has become so common in depictions of indigenous peoples in the popular media.When I read the book, I often saw the Samoa that I knew from my own personal experience.
Not a boring ethnobotanical work
First I must say that I am not saying that ethnobotany is boring.I am just saying it seems boring to me and it might to others, but even if you know nothing of botany and have little interest in it you will find great interest in this book.It is a fascinating narrative and Paul brings you into the Samoan world as well as a palagi really can.
I had a chance to hear Paul Cox speak and he talked about how the rainforest became his mother.The book starts with the death of his mother by cancer.He travels to Samoa to search for a possible cure in the rain forest, his quest however becomes to save the rainforest from the forces of globalization.I think the most compelling issue of this book is the positive and negative aspects of western scholarship when it comes in touch with another land and culture. Paul is a very good storyteller and makes you want to continue reading.
Married to a Hamo (Samoan)
This was an outstanding work.I am a palagi who has been married to a Samoan woman for 9 years and have had extensive dealings with Samoans for 14 years. We visited Western Samoa in 1988, so I have seen the culture first-hand, as well as my state-side exposure with Samoan American organizations. I could almost see myself interacting with the people as he related his accounts... although my 50 or so word Samoan vocabulary can't be compared with the author. He truly captures the essence of Samoa and its people.
Great Book!
This is a most interesting book, the story of how the author came to live in Samoa,and fell in love with the people and their tropical forest environment. When faced with a seemingly hopeless situation, namely thedestruction of a huge area of tropical forest, the author recounts hisexperience in helping to save these sacred lands--through purchasing thelogging rights from the outsiders who were beginning to bulldoze theforests, and turning the control of the forests over to the localcommunity. The book is filled with fascinating stories, and the people andtheir forests come alive in its pages. I was particularly moved by Cox'saccount of living through a typhoon and barely managing to save his familyand Samoan friends as the waves continued to pound apart each of theshelters that they took refuge in. A wonderful narrative of live on thisremote Pacific Island, of botanical studies, conservation and committmentto a cause. Truely this book will be an inspiration for people who arelooking for real life heroes--in this case the lineage of elderly healerswho have been the guardians of their sacred traditions for thousands ofyears, who worked with Paul Cox to ensure that their plants, many withprofoundly important uses, would be preserved for future generations. Igave this book to several friends. It is, quite simply, a wonderful read.
Great Book!
This is a most interesting book, the stody of how the author came to live in Samoa,and fell in love with the people and their tropical forest environment. When faced with a seemingly hopeless situation, namely thedestruction of a huge area of tropical forest, the author recounts hisexperience in helping to save these sacred lands--through purchasing thelogging rights from the outsiders who were beginning to bulldoze theforests, and turning the control of the forests over to the localcommunity. The book is filled with fascinating stories, and the people andtheir forests come alive in its pages. I was particularly moved by Cox'saccount of living through a typhoon and barely managing to save his familyand Samoan friends as the waves continued to pound apart each of theshelters that they took refuge in. A wonderful narrative of live on thisremote Pacific Island, of botanical studies, conservation and committmentto a cause. Truely this book will be an inspiration for people who arelooking for real life heroes--in this case the lineage of elderly healerswho have been the guardians of their sacred traditions for thousands ofyears, who worked with Paul Cox to ensure that their plants, many withprofoundly important uses, would be preserved for future generations. Igave this book to several friends. It is, quite simply, a wonderful read.
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