"A stunning photographic portrait of tribal groups retaining their identity in the face of globalization. Even as places and peoples around the world come to appear more and more alike, there remain remote corners of the world where cultures live much as their ancestors did thousands of years ago. They hold vital, intimate knowledge of their environments that is passed down orally from generation to generation through artwork, handicraft and storytelling rather than being written down. These secrets, including how to harvest natural medicines that can benefit all societies, are deeply enshrined in their cultures and enable them to live in harmony with their surroundings. Their insight into the natural world is irreplaceable and at great risk of being lost forever. This remarkable volume of photography records the surviving ways of life of fifteen of the world's most individual tribes and ethnic groups. Focusing on expressive qualities of ritual, costume and physiognomy, Colin Prior's haunting photographs document what stands to be lost were these living cultures to disappear. From the Inuit of Canada's Baffin Island to the Padaung of Thailand and the Turkana of the Kenyan desert, Prior explores the relationships these people share among themselves and with their environment. The photographs are supported by concise text with ample references to classic fieldwork and further reading. In the spirit of Mirella Ricciardi's Vanishing Africa, Colin Prior's Living Tribes is both a stunning paean to cultural diversity and bold notice to the world of what is at stake if these cultures were to disappear."-- front flyleaf.