Zai Whitaker

Termite Fry (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Thenee and Mari live in the low hills of the Eastern Ghats, a land of snakes and the hunting ground of the Irular people. Their parents and relatives make a living by catching snakes and selling the glossy skins of cobras, pythons, vipers and rat snakes. When the government suddenly bans the snake-skin trade, the Irular lose their main source of livelihood. Termite Fry tells the story of this period of great transformation through three generations of a family-Thenee and Mari, their parents Rani and Karadi, and their grandfather, a great shaman among the Irular.

When the Wildlife Protection Act comes into force soon after the ban, the Irular once again become sought after because they can get special licences to gather and sell forest and animal produce such as snake venom, from which antivenom is made. While the Irular are schooled in the forest and skilled in its ways, they are no match to the various beady-eyed agents and middlemen who have always cheated them on the sale of skins and medicinal plants. Though the forces that shape her community appear to be beyond her control, Thenee is determined to find ways for her people to thrive amidst change.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK eBooks
• Seitenzahl: 200
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. Juni 2023
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9789356400368
• Artikelnr.: 72251036

Autorenporträt

Zai Whitaker is a conservationist and writer. She is currently the Managing Trustee of the Madras Crocodile Bank, which she co-founded in 1976. Her twenty books include The Snakes around Us (with Rom Whitaker), Kali and the Rat Snake and Andamans Boy, all of which have been translated into several languages. She has worked closely with the Irular, and started the Irular Tribal Women's Welfare Society in 1986. In Termite Fry, Whitaker offers a thrilling glimpse of Irular culture, including their forest and herbal medicine knowledge, religion and beliefs, and shamanism.