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Jungle Geopolitics in Guyana: How a Communist Utopia That Ended in Massacre Came to be Sited
Author(s) -
Crist Raymond E.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1981.tb01376.x
Subject(s) - jungle , utopia , communism , geopolitics , frontier , ethnology , geography , sociology , history , gender studies , political science , art history , archaeology , law , politics
A bstract . When nearly 1,000 American men, women and children lost their lives in a mass murder and suicide rite in 1978 staged by a madman, Jim Jones , a former Christian minister turned Communist leader, many Americans asked, “Why?” The press, overcoming earlier lethargy, amassed facts permitting a sophisticated psychological and sociological explanation. Neglected, however, was the question why was the Jonestown Communist utopia sited in the Guyana jungle? Given the human and geographical circumstances, its siting in the Guyana rainforest was highly probable, affording evidence that, to some extent, at least, people and their geography determine human events.