The World Until Yesterday

Title: The World Until Yesterday – What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies?

Author: Jared Diamond

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2012 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-846-14758-6

Pages: 466

This is Jared Diamond’s latest book, but no, it doesn’t come anywhere near Guns, Germs and Steel, which is his magnum opus and given a 5-star rating. This book explores traditional societies which still exist in mountain and island fastnesses from whom we get a glimpse of our own ancestors before they entered the agricultural stage in the slow progress towards modernity. The author is a noted polymath and his work has been influential in the fields of anthropology, biology, ornithology, ecology, and history, among others. Many ways are available to have a peek into the past of modern societies. Archeology is one of them, but imposes severe restrictions on its applicability since the available objects are lifeless. As humans progressed from hunter gatherer lifestyle to farming around 11000 years ago, it would be a good idea to look at tribal societies existing at various locations in various stages of development. It gives us a snapshot of the phases of societal development during the last 11000 years or so. Experts categorize societies into four stages in increasing order of organization as band, tribe, chiefdom and state. Our modern societies stand at the extreme end of this classification and the author has made detailed studies of human societies still occupying the other three divisions. Diamond states that we have to learn from the traditional societies if we want to study the present one in any depth. There is much we need to emulate from past societies and much more that we need to be thankful about because of their absences.

Jared Diamond has extensively studied tribal societies and the Papua New Guinean societies in particular. An aspect that he finds disturbing in such societies is the constant state of warfare between rival groups and the resultant blood feuds. These soon escalate into all out wars and the loss in terms of men inflicted on the societies is much more in proportion to the deaths suffered by modern societies during the Second World War, which was the most horrific in the history of mankind. The dispute resolution mechanisms are tenuous in tribal communities and people who had grown up on a diet of honour and obligations take up arms to attack real or perceived aggressors. In an exclusive illustration of the belligerent Dani community in New Guinea that appears to be a true representation of traditional societies elsewhere, the author concludes that the modern state offers a viable and welcome alternative. Here, use of force is monopolized by the state and individual disputes are mediated by professionals in law courts which decide on the right or wrong of the issue at hand. This never happens in a tribal setup where aggressions are always retaliated with like measures irrespective of the merit in them. The disconnection of justice from individual hands results in peaceful life for the members in a state community.

Readers get to know of the widely varying standards of treatment meted out to elders along the whole spectrum of primitive peoples. While some keep the elders absorbed in the main stream, some hunter gatherer societies tend to ignore them and thereby contrive in their deaths if they are weak and hence unable to move or hunt along with the group. Modern societies are no better by general appearance as old people are increasingly finding themselves ending up in retirement homes. Such wide variation exists in the case of children too. Some hunter gatherer groups pay great attention to their little ones, even allowing them to walk on their own feet only around the age of four, while some sedentary communities practice a laissez faire approach where young children are not at all restrained, even if they happen to be playing with fire or sharp weapons.

A great disappointment to any skeptical observer is to watch the educated and enlightened people in society pitching for the irrational and superstitious religious beliefs. One of the reasons for this sorry state of affairs is the lack of exposure to rational thought in their formative years. Authors of popular science books must structure their works in a way as not simply to elucidate the scientific outlook, but also to implant it on the readers’ minds. Diamond presents an exemplary illustration of how the irrational could be explained in a rational way in his discourse on the origin and role of religion which are defined as, supernatural explanation of things, defusing anxiety through rituals, providing comfort against pain and death, standardized organization, preaching political obedience, moral codes of behaviour towards strangers and justification of wars. With growth of science, religions’ function as an explanatory mechanism is fast losing ground, but still it thrives on supposing to provide a ‘meaning’ to life. Such notions of ‘meaning’ to life are meaningless in a rational point of view which regards life as a biochemical entity being propagated through DNA. Even though this point is only too evident to thinking people, man finds it impossible to accept the sobering principle that there is no meaning to his own existence except for the concepts codified by the society for its wellbeing.

Our urbanized societies anywhere in the world are beset with non-communicable diseases afflicting an unacceptably large percentage of the population. Two of them – hypertension and type 2 diabetes – are subjected to a thought provoking analysis by the author who exposes the pitfalls hidden in the transition to a westernized life style adopted by traditional societies and poor developing countries.  Salt intake is directly related to hypertension. The more salt we ingest from the salt shakers on the table, the more we are prone to high blood pressure. Such a direct correlation exists in the case of sugar intake and type 2 diabetes too. Consumption of sugar has increased many times over the last few centuries, from 2 kg per person per year in 1700 to 75 kg per person per year at present. Genes causing diabetes may help a tribal group to tide over bouts of starvation better, by sequestering fat effectively, but fail when subjected to food abundance offered by modernity. This is a case of a genetically selected feature turning on its heels to become a bane under changed environmental conditions. Out of the many contrasts between traditional and modern communities, the attitude to health can easily be practiced by modern people. Exercising, avoiding too much salt or sugar, inclusion of more fibrous foods on the menu, eating slowly, and even talking while eating so as to reduce intake may be some of the aspects which could be employed by the urban dwellers too.

The book is a must read for any category of readers. It envelops the entire spectrum of the life of a society, from its political organization, social relations, linguistic traits, medical concerns and cultural implications. So much is packed within the 466 pages of coverage resembling an encyclopedia on traditional societies that people in any walks of life may find something particularly suitable for their own field of interest. There is a big section recommending books for further reading for those inclined to follow up on the discussed points. It is also gifted with a nice collection of colour plates which add enriching visual detail to the text. The only drawback that can be raised is the author’s predilection to New Guinea in which country he had spent years of work over about five decades. He doesn’t appear to have firsthand knowledge of any other traditional group in the world. However, he more than compensates for this lack of exposure with references from other scholarly works.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star