“As he gazed at the landscape he said to me, “Birbhum [the district Mangaldihi lies in] is the best place in the world. Everyone here knows each other and everyone loves each other.” His words made me feel exceedingly lucky to have happened on such a place: I looked around, with the winter sun warm on my face and arms, and admired the gentle hills undulating into the distance. Now his statement seems even more striking, because it was the only one of its kind that I heard.”

I really enjoy Sarah Lamb’s ethnographic writing style. She presents her data in a way that is very imaginable and easy to relate to without dehumanizing herself or the other characters. Rather than feeling like it is a jargon-filled report, it reads much more like a creative writing piece.

-Michael