Keep the River on your Right is a short memoir written by painter/anthropologist Tobias Schneebaum

Tobias Schneebaum

Tobias Schneebaum was an American artist, anthropologist, and AIDS activist. He is best known for his experiences living, and traveling among the Harakmbut people of Peru, and the Asmat people of Papua, Western New Guinea, Indonesia then known as Irian Jaya.-Early life:He was born on Manhattan's...

 and published in 1969. It is an account of his journey into the jungles of Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 where he is accepted by "primitive" Indians and ultimately a tribe of cannibals named the Arakmbut

Arakmbut

The Harakmbut are an indigenous tribe living in the Peruvian Amazon. They speak Harakmbut languages. An estimated 5,000 Harakmbut people live in the Madre de Dios Region near the Brazilian border.-History:...

, which he refers to by the pseudonym Arakama. The book is most renowned for its anthropological observation of flesh-eating rituals and the honest, light-hearted style in which it was written.

The book was the basis for a 2000 documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 of the same title by filmmakers David and Laurie Gwen Shapiro

Laurie Gwen Shapiro

Laurie Gwen Shapiro is an American writer and filmmaker. She resides in New York City, where she was born and raised, and is a graduate of that city's renowned Stuyvesant High School...

.