'Tambo: Life in an Andean Village | 
 enlarge | Author: Julia Meyerson
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 785434
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 297
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.9 x 0.9
ISBN: 0292780788
Dewey Decimal Number: 985.37
EAN: 9780292780781
ASIN: 0292780788
Publication Date: 1990
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Condition: Softcover, same edition as shown, some wear and notations.
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Product Description
Perhaps the best way to sharpen one's power's of observation is to be a stranger in a strange land. Julia Meyerson was one such stranger during a year in the village of 'Tambo, Peru, where her husband was conducting anthropological fieldwork. Though sometimes overwhelmed by the differences between Quechua and North American culture, she still sought eagerly to understand the lifeways of 'Tambo and to find her place in the village. Her vivid observations, recorded in this field journal, admirably follow Henry James's advice: "Try to be one of the people upon whom nothing is lost."
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| Customer Reviews:
 Interesting both as a travel memoir and an anthropological study September 4, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchased this book after returning from traveling in Peru, wanting to get more of a perspective on the daily lives of villagers that I had only glimpsed from the window of a tourist van. I was mostly satisfied with the level of detail provided by the author - she is honest both about her own misconceptions and missteps, and those of the campesinos whom she lived with for one year. The narrative is told in the present tense, as though we are living through the events with her, and she tries to capture what she was thinking and feeling at each moment that significant events occur. This is a bit more detailed than your average travel book, and probably a lot less technical than your average anthropological text. For me it was a good balance.
 No Index. Without an index the book is reduced to a pleasure read. September 29, 2005
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I live in the Andes, three hours from Cusco, among the Quechua. This book is Julia's diary that she wrote after spending a year in the Andean town of Tambo (`corn planting', `my birthday', `barley planting'). The text has an abundance of words, but bringing the reader little anthropological insight into the life of the Quechua people. It is one thing to say "the men continued to plant corn," and another to explain how and why.
The author states up front, "I am an artist, not an anthropologist," and she details the lives of Andean men and women from this perspective. What Julia accomplished, as an artist, is akin to an anthropologist trying to paint an accomplished landscape. The results will probably be a lot of color, with little definition.
Though the back cover touts the book as having "a wealth of ethnographic detail," without an index, and written from an artist's vantage point, what you get is a pleasant read.
Not only suitable for students.. a beautiful read for anyone July 3, 2000
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book is not only suitable for a student of anthropology, it can be and should be read for pure pleasure. Basically a diary about Julia's experiences living with (and as) the Quechua for 1 year in a small village called Tambo. The book is filled with rich descriptions of the land, the people, their work and habits, the festivities, the surroundings and the life of these people, and in particular one extended family with who Julia and her husband, lived, worked and played with. Due to the closeness of the relationship between Julia and her hosts, the book describes the characters in a way that makes you become fond of them. Almost as if you know them yourself. The personal lives, ways, mannerisms and problems. By the time the book comes to an end you have had a rich insight into the very closed and ritual world of rural Quechua society and have shared the difficulties that Julia and her husband experienced. The most striking thing about the book, is that during the final pages you will be sharing the tears of Julia, as she leaves Tambo for the last time. And you will be left with the overwhelming desire to know what has since become of the people that you too have come to know and understand.A wonderful, uplifting experience.
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