McGregor, Russell (2012) Book review of "Pygmonia: in search of the secret land of the pygmies:" by Peter McAllister, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, Australia. Aboriginal History, 36. pp. 217-218.

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Abstract

[Extract] Pygmonia begins with McAllister's (allegedly) first encounter, in both print and reality, with the (supposed) Pygmies of the North Queensland rainforest in 2007. It ends with an assessment of whether these rainforest 'Barrinean' people are, in any meaningful sense, Pygmies. In between, McAllister traverses the mythology, folklore, anthropology, genetics and human biology of the world's Pygmies, both real and imagined, from ancient Greece to now. He recounts this kaleidoscope of information in a generally accessible and often quirky written style, evidently intended to appeal to a wide readership- although the chapters devoted to genetics and biochemistry inevitably become jargon-laden and somewhat laborious. McAllister is careful, however, to balance such passages of scientific explication with longer stretches of narrative prose. Among the latter is a particularly fine chapter recounting the life of Ota Benga, a Babinga Pygmy man from the western Congo who in the early twentieth century fashioned a career for himself in the United States as both human exhibit and independent personality.

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