Francis E. Mayle and Mark B. Bush
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0015
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and ...
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This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations that occurred since the last glacial maximum (LGM), about 21,000 years ago, and it uses this long-term perspective to predict the likely vegetation responses to future climate change. Amazonia remained predominantly forested at the LGM, although savannas expanded at the margins of the basin. The combination of reduced temperatures, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations resulted in forests structurally and floristically quite different from those of today. Evergreen rainforest distribution increased during the glacial-Holocene transition due to ameliorating climatic and CO2 conditions. However, reduced precipitation in the early-mid Holocene (about 8000-3600 years ago) period caused widespread, frequent fires in seasonal southern Amazonia, with increased abundance of drought-tolerant dry forest taxa and savanna in ecotonal areas. Rainforests expanded once again in the late Holocene period as a result of increased precipitation. The plant communities that existed during the early-mid Holocene period may constitute the closest analogues to the kinds of vegetation responses expected from similar increases in temperature and aridity posited for the 21st century.Less
This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations that occurred since the last glacial maximum (LGM), about 21,000 years ago, and it uses this long-term perspective to predict the likely vegetation responses to future climate change. Amazonia remained predominantly forested at the LGM, although savannas expanded at the margins of the basin. The combination of reduced temperatures, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations resulted in forests structurally and floristically quite different from those of today. Evergreen rainforest distribution increased during the glacial-Holocene transition due to ameliorating climatic and CO2 conditions. However, reduced precipitation in the early-mid Holocene (about 8000-3600 years ago) period caused widespread, frequent fires in seasonal southern Amazonia, with increased abundance of drought-tolerant dry forest taxa and savanna in ecotonal areas. Rainforests expanded once again in the late Holocene period as a result of increased precipitation. The plant communities that existed during the early-mid Holocene period may constitute the closest analogues to the kinds of vegetation responses expected from similar increases in temperature and aridity posited for the 21st century.
Sharon A. Cowling, Richard A. Betts, Peter M. Cox, Virginia J. Ettwein, Chris D. Jones, Mark A. Maslin, and Steven A. Spall
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0016
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter contrasted HadCM3LC simulations of Amazonian forest at the Last Glacial Maximum (21 kya) and a Younger Dryas-like period (13-12 kya) with predicted responses of future warming to provide ...
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This chapter contrasted HadCM3LC simulations of Amazonian forest at the Last Glacial Maximum (21 kya) and a Younger Dryas-like period (13-12 kya) with predicted responses of future warming to provide estimates of the climatic limits under which the Amazon forest remains relatively stable. Simulations indicate that despite lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations and increased aridity during the LGM, Amazonia remains mostly forested, and that the cooler climate of the Younger Dryas-like period in fact causes a trend towards increased above-ground carbon balance relative to today. The vegetation feedbacks responsible for maintaining forest integrity in past climates (i.e. decreased evapotranspiration and reduced photorespiration) cannot be maintained in the future. Although elevated atmospheric CO2 contributes to a positive enhancement of plant carbon and water balance, decreased stomatal conductance and increased plant and soil respiration cause a positive feedback that amplifies localised drying and climate warming. The Amazonian forest appears to be presently near its critical resiliency threshold, and even minor climate warming may be sufficient to promote deleterious feedbacks on forest integrity.Less
This chapter contrasted HadCM3LC simulations of Amazonian forest at the Last Glacial Maximum (21 kya) and a Younger Dryas-like period (13-12 kya) with predicted responses of future warming to provide estimates of the climatic limits under which the Amazon forest remains relatively stable. Simulations indicate that despite lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations and increased aridity during the LGM, Amazonia remains mostly forested, and that the cooler climate of the Younger Dryas-like period in fact causes a trend towards increased above-ground carbon balance relative to today. The vegetation feedbacks responsible for maintaining forest integrity in past climates (i.e. decreased evapotranspiration and reduced photorespiration) cannot be maintained in the future. Although elevated atmospheric CO2 contributes to a positive enhancement of plant carbon and water balance, decreased stomatal conductance and increased plant and soil respiration cause a positive feedback that amplifies localised drying and climate warming. The Amazonian forest appears to be presently near its critical resiliency threshold, and even minor climate warming may be sufficient to promote deleterious feedbacks on forest integrity.
Oscar de la Torre
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469643243
- eISBN:
- 9781469643267
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469643243.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
In this history of the black peasants of Amazonia, Oscar de la Torre focuses on the experience of African-descended people navigating the transition from slavery to freedom. He draws on social and ...
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In this history of the black peasants of Amazonia, Oscar de la Torre focuses on the experience of African-descended people navigating the transition from slavery to freedom. He draws on social and environmental history to connect them intimately to the natural landscape and to Indigenous peoples. Relying on this world as a repository for traditions, discourses, and strategies that they retrieved especially in moments of conflict, Afro-Brazilians fought for autonomous communities and developed a vibrant ethnic identity that supported their struggles over labor, land, and citizenship. Prior to abolition, enslaved and escaped blacks found in the tropical forest a source for tools, weapons, and trade--but it was also a cultural storehouse within which they shaped their stories and records of confrontations with slaveowners and state authorities. After abolition, the black peasants' knowledge of local environments continued to be key to their aspirations, allowing them to maintain relationships with powerful patrons and to participate in the protest cycle that led Getúlio Vargas to the presidency of Brazil in 1930. In commonly referring to themselves by such names as "sons of the river," black Amazonians melded their agro-ecological traditions with their emergent identity as political stakeholders.Less
In this history of the black peasants of Amazonia, Oscar de la Torre focuses on the experience of African-descended people navigating the transition from slavery to freedom. He draws on social and environmental history to connect them intimately to the natural landscape and to Indigenous peoples. Relying on this world as a repository for traditions, discourses, and strategies that they retrieved especially in moments of conflict, Afro-Brazilians fought for autonomous communities and developed a vibrant ethnic identity that supported their struggles over labor, land, and citizenship. Prior to abolition, enslaved and escaped blacks found in the tropical forest a source for tools, weapons, and trade--but it was also a cultural storehouse within which they shaped their stories and records of confrontations with slaveowners and state authorities. After abolition, the black peasants' knowledge of local environments continued to be key to their aspirations, allowing them to maintain relationships with powerful patrons and to participate in the protest cycle that led Getúlio Vargas to the presidency of Brazil in 1930. In commonly referring to themselves by such names as "sons of the river," black Amazonians melded their agro-ecological traditions with their emergent identity as political stakeholders.
Casey High
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039058
- eISBN:
- 9780252097027
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039058.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
In 1956, a group of Waorani men killed five North American missionaries in Ecuador. The event cemented the Waorani's reputation as “wild Amazonian Indians” in the eyes of the outside world. It also ...
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In 1956, a group of Waorani men killed five North American missionaries in Ecuador. The event cemented the Waorani's reputation as “wild Amazonian Indians” in the eyes of the outside world. It also added to the myth of the violent Amazon created by colonial writers and still found in academia and the state development agendas across the region. This book examines contemporary violence in the context of political and economic processes that transcend local events. The book explores how popular imagery of Amazonian violence has become part of Waorani social memory in oral histories, folklore performances, and indigenous political activism. As Amazonian forms of social memory merge with constructions of masculinity and other intercultural processes, the Waorani absorb missionaries, oil development, and logging depredations into their legacy of revenge killings and narratives of victimhood. The book shows that these memories of past violence form sites of negotiation and cultural innovation, and thus violence comes to constitute a central part of Amazonian sociality, identity, and memory.Less
In 1956, a group of Waorani men killed five North American missionaries in Ecuador. The event cemented the Waorani's reputation as “wild Amazonian Indians” in the eyes of the outside world. It also added to the myth of the violent Amazon created by colonial writers and still found in academia and the state development agendas across the region. This book examines contemporary violence in the context of political and economic processes that transcend local events. The book explores how popular imagery of Amazonian violence has become part of Waorani social memory in oral histories, folklore performances, and indigenous political activism. As Amazonian forms of social memory merge with constructions of masculinity and other intercultural processes, the Waorani absorb missionaries, oil development, and logging depredations into their legacy of revenge killings and narratives of victimhood. The book shows that these memories of past violence form sites of negotiation and cultural innovation, and thus violence comes to constitute a central part of Amazonian sociality, identity, and memory.
Thomas Gregor and Donald Tuzin (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
One of the great riddles of cultural history is the remarkable parallel that exists between the peoples of Amazonia and those of Melanesia. Although the two regions are separated by half a world in ...
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One of the great riddles of cultural history is the remarkable parallel that exists between the peoples of Amazonia and those of Melanesia. Although the two regions are separated by half a world in distance and at least 40,000 years of history, their cultures nonetheless reveal striking similarities in the areas of sex and gender. In both Amazonia and Melanesia, male–female differences infuse social organization and self-conception. They are the core of religion, symbolism, and cosmology, and they permeate ideas about body imagery, procreation, growth, men's cults, and rituals of initiation. The contributors to this book illuminate the various ways in which sex and gender are elaborated, obsessed over, and internalized, shaping subjective experiences common to entire cultural regions, and beyond. Through comparison of the life ways of Melanesia and Amazonia, they expand the study of gender, as well as the comparative method in anthropology, in new directions.Less
One of the great riddles of cultural history is the remarkable parallel that exists between the peoples of Amazonia and those of Melanesia. Although the two regions are separated by half a world in distance and at least 40,000 years of history, their cultures nonetheless reveal striking similarities in the areas of sex and gender. In both Amazonia and Melanesia, male–female differences infuse social organization and self-conception. They are the core of religion, symbolism, and cosmology, and they permeate ideas about body imagery, procreation, growth, men's cults, and rituals of initiation. The contributors to this book illuminate the various ways in which sex and gender are elaborated, obsessed over, and internalized, shaping subjective experiences common to entire cultural regions, and beyond. Through comparison of the life ways of Melanesia and Amazonia, they expand the study of gender, as well as the comparative method in anthropology, in new directions.
Paul Valentine, Stephen Beckerman, and Catherine Alès (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813054315
- eISBN:
- 9780813053066
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813054315.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
Traditional treatments of marriage among indigenous people focus on what people say about whom one should marry and on rules that anthropologists induce from those statements. This volume is a ...
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Traditional treatments of marriage among indigenous people focus on what people say about whom one should marry and on rules that anthropologists induce from those statements. This volume is a cultural and social anthropological examination of the ways the indigenous peoples of lowland South America/Amazonia actually choose whom they marry. Detailed ethnography shows that they select spouses to meet their economic and political goals, their emotional desires, and their social aspirations, as well as to honor their commitments to exogamic prescriptions and the exchange of women. These decisions often require playing fast and loose with what the anthropologist and the peoples themselves declare to be the regulations they obey. Inevitably then, this volume is about agency and individual choice in the context of social institutions and cultural rules. There is another theme running through this book—the way in which globalization is subverting traditional hierarchies, altering identities, and eroding ancestral marital norms and values—how the forces of modernization alter both structure and practice. The main body of the book is given over to eleven chapters based on previously unpublished ethnographic material collected by the contributors. It is divided into three sections. The first collects essays that describe the motives behind breaking the marriage rules, the second describes how the marriage rules are bent or broken, and the third gathers chapters on the effects of globalization and recent changes on the marriage rules.Less
Traditional treatments of marriage among indigenous people focus on what people say about whom one should marry and on rules that anthropologists induce from those statements. This volume is a cultural and social anthropological examination of the ways the indigenous peoples of lowland South America/Amazonia actually choose whom they marry. Detailed ethnography shows that they select spouses to meet their economic and political goals, their emotional desires, and their social aspirations, as well as to honor their commitments to exogamic prescriptions and the exchange of women. These decisions often require playing fast and loose with what the anthropologist and the peoples themselves declare to be the regulations they obey. Inevitably then, this volume is about agency and individual choice in the context of social institutions and cultural rules. There is another theme running through this book—the way in which globalization is subverting traditional hierarchies, altering identities, and eroding ancestral marital norms and values—how the forces of modernization alter both structure and practice. The main body of the book is given over to eleven chapters based on previously unpublished ethnographic material collected by the contributors. It is divided into three sections. The first collects essays that describe the motives behind breaking the marriage rules, the second describes how the marriage rules are bent or broken, and the third gathers chapters on the effects of globalization and recent changes on the marriage rules.
Casey High
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039058
- eISBN:
- 9780252097027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039058.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
This afterword discusses some of the recent events described in this book that have continued to unfold in Ecuador. The most important of these is the arrest and imprisonment of seven Waorani men ...
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This afterword discusses some of the recent events described in this book that have continued to unfold in Ecuador. The most important of these is the arrest and imprisonment of seven Waorani men involved in the latest revenge attack against the Taromenani. Just as Waorani make appeals to the Ecuadorian authorities to respect their autonomy, lawyers and other commentators call for the state to recognize the latest massacre of the Taromenani as a form of “indigenous justice,” arguing that revenge killings are necessary for restoring “equilibrium” in Waorani society. Another contentious issue is the ever-expanding oil frontier in Ecuador that continues to pressurize relations between Waorani people and groups living in voluntary isolation. The author concludes by expressing the hope that national and global attention to environmental conservation and indigenous rights in Amazonia will make the growing public concern about these issues less easily ignored in the future.Less
This afterword discusses some of the recent events described in this book that have continued to unfold in Ecuador. The most important of these is the arrest and imprisonment of seven Waorani men involved in the latest revenge attack against the Taromenani. Just as Waorani make appeals to the Ecuadorian authorities to respect their autonomy, lawyers and other commentators call for the state to recognize the latest massacre of the Taromenani as a form of “indigenous justice,” arguing that revenge killings are necessary for restoring “equilibrium” in Waorani society. Another contentious issue is the ever-expanding oil frontier in Ecuador that continues to pressurize relations between Waorani people and groups living in voluntary isolation. The author concludes by expressing the hope that national and global attention to environmental conservation and indigenous rights in Amazonia will make the growing public concern about these issues less easily ignored in the future.
Aparecida Vilaça
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520289130
- eISBN:
- 9780520963849
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520289130.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Religion
Praying and Preying offers one of the rare anthropological monographs on the Christian experience of contemporary Amazonian indigenous peoples, based on an ethnographic study of the relationship ...
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Praying and Preying offers one of the rare anthropological monographs on the Christian experience of contemporary Amazonian indigenous peoples, based on an ethnographic study of the relationship between the Wari’, inhabitants of Brazilian Amazonia, and the evangelical missionaries of the New Tribes Mission, which first began in the 1950s. Vilaça turns to a vast range of historical, ethnographic, and mythological material related to both the Wari’ and Christian perspectives, including the New Tribes literature, interviews with New Tribes missionaries, translation practices and translated Christian texts, and the author’s own ethnographic field notes from her more than thirty-year involvement with the Wari’ community. Developing a close dialogue between the Melanesian literature, which informs much of the recent work in the anthropology of Christianity, and the concepts and theories deriving from Amazonian ethnology, in particular the notions of openness to the other, unstable dualism, and perspectivism, the author provides a fine-grained analysis of the equivocations and paradoxes that underlie the translation processes performed by the different agents involved and their implications for the transformation of the native notion of personhood.Less
Praying and Preying offers one of the rare anthropological monographs on the Christian experience of contemporary Amazonian indigenous peoples, based on an ethnographic study of the relationship between the Wari’, inhabitants of Brazilian Amazonia, and the evangelical missionaries of the New Tribes Mission, which first began in the 1950s. Vilaça turns to a vast range of historical, ethnographic, and mythological material related to both the Wari’ and Christian perspectives, including the New Tribes literature, interviews with New Tribes missionaries, translation practices and translated Christian texts, and the author’s own ethnographic field notes from her more than thirty-year involvement with the Wari’ community. Developing a close dialogue between the Melanesian literature, which informs much of the recent work in the anthropology of Christianity, and the concepts and theories deriving from Amazonian ethnology, in particular the notions of openness to the other, unstable dualism, and perspectivism, the author provides a fine-grained analysis of the equivocations and paradoxes that underlie the translation processes performed by the different agents involved and their implications for the transformation of the native notion of personhood.
Stephen Hugh-Jones
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.003.0011
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
Amazonian and Melanesian ethnography takes “gender” to be a fixed, unitary, and relatively unproblematic attribute of persons. For Amazonia and Melanesia, both intra- and interregional comparisons ...
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Amazonian and Melanesian ethnography takes “gender” to be a fixed, unitary, and relatively unproblematic attribute of persons. For Amazonia and Melanesia, both intra- and interregional comparisons compare like with like, flute cults with flute cults, exchange with exchange. This chapter builds on this analysis with reference to exchange, using some ethnography from the Xingu region of central Brazil as a comparative counterpoint. Northwest Amazon cults are not so much about gender differences and male domination as they are a reflection on the nature of men and women, male and female. The flutes and their attendant cults signify a “generalized capacity to reproduce, which men and women share.” Furthermore, the chapter briefly overviews Amazonian myths that account for the origins of the flutes and trumpets used in initiation. The experiment with an experiment is a relational approach to gender, derived from Melanesia, to the men's secret cults of the northwest Amazon.Less
Amazonian and Melanesian ethnography takes “gender” to be a fixed, unitary, and relatively unproblematic attribute of persons. For Amazonia and Melanesia, both intra- and interregional comparisons compare like with like, flute cults with flute cults, exchange with exchange. This chapter builds on this analysis with reference to exchange, using some ethnography from the Xingu region of central Brazil as a comparative counterpoint. Northwest Amazon cults are not so much about gender differences and male domination as they are a reflection on the nature of men and women, male and female. The flutes and their attendant cults signify a “generalized capacity to reproduce, which men and women share.” Furthermore, the chapter briefly overviews Amazonian myths that account for the origins of the flutes and trumpets used in initiation. The experiment with an experiment is a relational approach to gender, derived from Melanesia, to the men's secret cults of the northwest Amazon.
Thomas A. Gregor and Donald Tuzin
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.003.0013
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
There are remarkable resemblances between men's cults in Amazonia and Melanesia. The similarities include myths of matriarchy and role reversal; body imagery that merges male and female reproductive ...
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There are remarkable resemblances between men's cults in Amazonia and Melanesia. The similarities include myths of matriarchy and role reversal; body imagery that merges male and female reproductive anatomy and physiology; rituals which assign generative, pseudoreproductive powers to men; hyperphallic cult objects in ritual; secrecy and constant vigilance against penetration of the cult by women and noninitiates; and terror and violence directed against those who breach the rules of the cult. This chapter presents the perspective that the cult reflects an effort, at times desperate, to hold together an all-too-fragile masculine self, portraying an “anguish of gender” in which men and women who may be closely related also stand opposed and antagonistic. It concludes by stating that this moral contradiction is the fault line of the cult and may lead to its rapid demise or, at minimum, to personal questioning and uncertainty.Less
There are remarkable resemblances between men's cults in Amazonia and Melanesia. The similarities include myths of matriarchy and role reversal; body imagery that merges male and female reproductive anatomy and physiology; rituals which assign generative, pseudoreproductive powers to men; hyperphallic cult objects in ritual; secrecy and constant vigilance against penetration of the cult by women and noninitiates; and terror and violence directed against those who breach the rules of the cult. This chapter presents the perspective that the cult reflects an effort, at times desperate, to hold together an all-too-fragile masculine self, portraying an “anguish of gender” in which men and women who may be closely related also stand opposed and antagonistic. It concludes by stating that this moral contradiction is the fault line of the cult and may lead to its rapid demise or, at minimum, to personal questioning and uncertainty.
Thomas A. Gregor and Donald Tuzin
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter explores the sources and theoretical implications of remarkable similarities between societies in Amazonia and Melanesia, a comparison which combines the universalist and localist ...
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This chapter explores the sources and theoretical implications of remarkable similarities between societies in Amazonia and Melanesia, a comparison which combines the universalist and localist traditions and is the base of anthropological studies. It establishes a common discourse among scholars working with different cultures, stimulates new perspectives on findings from particular cultures, and allows searching for general principles. The chapter suggests that gender is of great importance in the context of many of the small-scale cultures of Melanesia and Amazonia, i.e. the societies of Amazonia and Melanesia are gender inflected. Further, in both Amazonia and Melanesia, the self-concept, social identity, and the anatomy and physiology of the human body are intertwined with theories of conception, maturation, depletion, and death. The comparison also indicates the basis of procreative symbolism in both the cultures. This comparison affords an exceptional opportunity to explore fundamental questions about the conceptualization and examination of the human condition.Less
This chapter explores the sources and theoretical implications of remarkable similarities between societies in Amazonia and Melanesia, a comparison which combines the universalist and localist traditions and is the base of anthropological studies. It establishes a common discourse among scholars working with different cultures, stimulates new perspectives on findings from particular cultures, and allows searching for general principles. The chapter suggests that gender is of great importance in the context of many of the small-scale cultures of Melanesia and Amazonia, i.e. the societies of Amazonia and Melanesia are gender inflected. Further, in both Amazonia and Melanesia, the self-concept, social identity, and the anatomy and physiology of the human body are intertwined with theories of conception, maturation, depletion, and death. The comparison also indicates the basis of procreative symbolism in both the cultures. This comparison affords an exceptional opportunity to explore fundamental questions about the conceptualization and examination of the human condition.
Pascale Bonnemère
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter draws a comparison between male cults in a specific part of Papua New Guinea and in a limited region of Amazonia, considering the myth of matriarchy, the exclusion of women, and physical ...
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This chapter draws a comparison between male cults in a specific part of Papua New Guinea and in a limited region of Amazonia, considering the myth of matriarchy, the exclusion of women, and physical ordeals for boys. It focuses on the rebirth dimension of men's cults, as they appear among two Anga groups and in two related societies of the Vaupés region. The male cults in these two areas have much in common; the elements are acted out, the goals are assigned to them, and the discourses people have in respect to them are quite similar. However, there are certain differences in the representation of the rebirth of the boys during initiation rituals in the Anga and the Tukano areas, which may be related to differences in the ideas the respective populations have concerning the origin of the cosmos and of the living species.Less
This chapter draws a comparison between male cults in a specific part of Papua New Guinea and in a limited region of Amazonia, considering the myth of matriarchy, the exclusion of women, and physical ordeals for boys. It focuses on the rebirth dimension of men's cults, as they appear among two Anga groups and in two related societies of the Vaupés region. The male cults in these two areas have much in common; the elements are acted out, the goals are assigned to them, and the discourses people have in respect to them are quite similar. However, there are certain differences in the representation of the rebirth of the boys during initiation rituals in the Anga and the Tukano areas, which may be related to differences in the ideas the respective populations have concerning the origin of the cosmos and of the living species.
Jonathan D. Hill
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter examines the prevalence of male hierarchy and exclusiveness in terms of “marked” and “unmarked” fertility cults in Amazonia. Marked fertility cults are those in which male rituals ...
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This chapter examines the prevalence of male hierarchy and exclusiveness in terms of “marked” and “unmarked” fertility cults in Amazonia. Marked fertility cults are those in which male rituals exclude women; symbolically preempt their generative powers; and separate mothers from children. Unmarked cults conduct rituals that link children and mothers through the reproductive process and connect parents and children, men and women through symbolic vocabulary. The chapter demonstrates the complex interweavings of masculinity and femininity in the sacred rituals and intercommunity-exchange ceremonies. In male and female initiation rituals, the construction of metaphorical connectedness is projected outwardly into the external world of peoples, communities, species, and regions of the cosmos. Finally, the chapter suggests that the distinction between marked and unmarked fertility cultism is essentially a reflection of different processes of constructing male ritual hierarchies in contradistinction to everyday social relations characterized by relatively egalitarian relations between men and women.Less
This chapter examines the prevalence of male hierarchy and exclusiveness in terms of “marked” and “unmarked” fertility cults in Amazonia. Marked fertility cults are those in which male rituals exclude women; symbolically preempt their generative powers; and separate mothers from children. Unmarked cults conduct rituals that link children and mothers through the reproductive process and connect parents and children, men and women through symbolic vocabulary. The chapter demonstrates the complex interweavings of masculinity and femininity in the sacred rituals and intercommunity-exchange ceremonies. In male and female initiation rituals, the construction of metaphorical connectedness is projected outwardly into the external world of peoples, communities, species, and regions of the cosmos. Finally, the chapter suggests that the distinction between marked and unmarked fertility cultism is essentially a reflection of different processes of constructing male ritual hierarchies in contradistinction to everyday social relations characterized by relatively egalitarian relations between men and women.
Philippe Descola
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter presents an argument that gender is itself not a salient category in South American societies (Amazonia and Melanasia). Gender relationships are subsumed and embedded in kinship ...
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This chapter presents an argument that gender is itself not a salient category in South American societies (Amazonia and Melanasia). Gender relationships are subsumed and embedded in kinship relationships of affinity and consanguinity, with women being associated with consanguine relationships and men with affinal roles. Alternatively, gender may be subordinated to other, more symbolically prominent, systems of thought, such as the relationship of humans and animals. This argument is supported by an analysis of the role played by the sexual dichotomy in the cosmology and social organization of a particular society (the Jivaroan Achuar of the Upper Amazon) to show that their gender categories are encompassed by a wider set of relationships. Finally, the chapter emphasizes that this is also the case for many other Amazonian societies, and that this sharp contrast with Melanesia is likely to help identify and assess relevant strategies for the comparison of gender relations.Less
This chapter presents an argument that gender is itself not a salient category in South American societies (Amazonia and Melanasia). Gender relationships are subsumed and embedded in kinship relationships of affinity and consanguinity, with women being associated with consanguine relationships and men with affinal roles. Alternatively, gender may be subordinated to other, more symbolically prominent, systems of thought, such as the relationship of humans and animals. This argument is supported by an analysis of the role played by the sexual dichotomy in the cosmology and social organization of a particular society (the Jivaroan Achuar of the Upper Amazon) to show that their gender categories are encompassed by a wider set of relationships. Finally, the chapter emphasizes that this is also the case for many other Amazonian societies, and that this sharp contrast with Melanesia is likely to help identify and assess relevant strategies for the comparison of gender relations.
Margaret Jolly
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
In both Melanesia and Amazonia, cultures vary in the extent to which they bring men and women together in creative relationships or separate them as antithetical and opposed. Cultures of the ...
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In both Melanesia and Amazonia, cultures vary in the extent to which they bring men and women together in creative relationships or separate them as antithetical and opposed. Cultures of the northwest Amazon find striking resemblances to Melanesia in the stress of life and growth, which is punctuated and perpetuated by periods of sexual separation and continence, and in the specific connections between foodstuffs and the human body. This chapter addresses the question of reimagining the relation of gender, sexuality, and reproduction in Melanesian ethnography. It explores their connection in the literatures on “concepts of conception,” “sexual antagonism,” “pollution,” male/fertility cults, and ritual homosexuality. The chapter concludes by stating that, in both Melanesia and Amazonia, sexuality and reproduction flow into each other and are part of a broader confluence of indigenous philosophies about the cosmic sources of life, health, and growth, and of death, decay, and degeneration.Less
In both Melanesia and Amazonia, cultures vary in the extent to which they bring men and women together in creative relationships or separate them as antithetical and opposed. Cultures of the northwest Amazon find striking resemblances to Melanesia in the stress of life and growth, which is punctuated and perpetuated by periods of sexual separation and continence, and in the specific connections between foodstuffs and the human body. This chapter addresses the question of reimagining the relation of gender, sexuality, and reproduction in Melanesian ethnography. It explores their connection in the literatures on “concepts of conception,” “sexual antagonism,” “pollution,” male/fertility cults, and ritual homosexuality. The chapter concludes by stating that, in both Melanesia and Amazonia, sexuality and reproduction flow into each other and are part of a broader confluence of indigenous philosophies about the cosmic sources of life, health, and growth, and of death, decay, and degeneration.
Michael F. Brown
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228511
- eISBN:
- 9780520935815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228511.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter examines gender revolutions in which religious change is accompanied by remarkable alterations in traditional relations between men and women. Through examples of three cases studies ...
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This chapter examines gender revolutions in which religious change is accompanied by remarkable alterations in traditional relations between men and women. Through examples of three cases studies from Canela, Ilahita, and Kaliai, it examines the circumstances in which societies reject male religious control and raise women to positions of moral authority. Following this, the chapter addresses the question of whether these revolutions produce permanent changes in gender relations, or whether they are merely short-term perturbations, and furthermore takes a look at the political economy of gender. Such accounts of Melanesia and Amazonia have much to tell about the complex processes by which women and men rethink tradition and renegotiate relations of dominance and subordination in times of change. Finally, the chapter indicates that there are still many unanswered questions about the circumstances by which women suddenly move from background to foreground in public discourse about religion.Less
This chapter examines gender revolutions in which religious change is accompanied by remarkable alterations in traditional relations between men and women. Through examples of three cases studies from Canela, Ilahita, and Kaliai, it examines the circumstances in which societies reject male religious control and raise women to positions of moral authority. Following this, the chapter addresses the question of whether these revolutions produce permanent changes in gender relations, or whether they are merely short-term perturbations, and furthermore takes a look at the political economy of gender. Such accounts of Melanesia and Amazonia have much to tell about the complex processes by which women and men rethink tradition and renegotiate relations of dominance and subordination in times of change. Finally, the chapter indicates that there are still many unanswered questions about the circumstances by which women suddenly move from background to foreground in public discourse about religion.
Anthony Alan Shelton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526118196
- eISBN:
- 9781526142016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526118196.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter examines the politics, aspirations and antagonisms that grew out of the curatorial process underlying the exhibition, The Potosi Principle (Madrid 2010, Berlin 2011, La Paz 2011), and ...
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This chapter examines the politics, aspirations and antagonisms that grew out of the curatorial process underlying the exhibition, The Potosi Principle (Madrid 2010, Berlin 2011, La Paz 2011), and compare them to other Andean exhibitions including Bolivian Worlds (London 1987) and Luminescence: The Silver of Peru (Vancouver 2012, Toronto 2013). The chapter questions the category of contemporary art and examines its avowed potential as radical critique and the claims that it and other exhibition strategies have marginalised indigenous epistemologies and obfuscated historical agency. The implications of this conflict between western and indigenous curators and curatorial collectives on the right of self-expression and the freedom of interpretation and critique; associated ethical conundrums and the viability of epistemological pluralism will be clearly articulated as problems requiring serious museological attention.Less
This chapter examines the politics, aspirations and antagonisms that grew out of the curatorial process underlying the exhibition, The Potosi Principle (Madrid 2010, Berlin 2011, La Paz 2011), and compare them to other Andean exhibitions including Bolivian Worlds (London 1987) and Luminescence: The Silver of Peru (Vancouver 2012, Toronto 2013). The chapter questions the category of contemporary art and examines its avowed potential as radical critique and the claims that it and other exhibition strategies have marginalised indigenous epistemologies and obfuscated historical agency. The implications of this conflict between western and indigenous curators and curatorial collectives on the right of self-expression and the freedom of interpretation and critique; associated ethical conundrums and the viability of epistemological pluralism will be clearly articulated as problems requiring serious museological attention.
Oscar de la Torre
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469643243
- eISBN:
- 9781469643267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469643243.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
The introduction argues that despite the changes set in motion by the constitutional Article 68, passed in 1988 in Brazil to recognize black rural communities as the recipient of special rights and ...
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The introduction argues that despite the changes set in motion by the constitutional Article 68, passed in 1988 in Brazil to recognize black rural communities as the recipient of special rights and recognition, a number of discourses and practices inherited from past generations continue to be a source of identity for the black peasants of Brazil. Dating from the era of slavery, such traditions have subsisted embedded in the landscape in the form of agro-ecological strategies, political discourses, and even relationships with political and economic elites. They have not resulted in hard ethnic boundaries sharply separating black peasants from other rural Brazilians, but rather have been part of a flexible toolbox of strategies and narratives inscribed on the landscape and used in moments of conflict over land, labor, and citizenship. While the relationships between black rural communities and the natural world have been largely overlooked as a vehicle for the maintenance of an Afro-Brazilian identity, this book is devoted to unearthing their existence, interrogating their relevance, and putting them in dialogue with the broader history of slavery and its legacies in post-emancipation Brazil. Finally, the introduction also outlines the basic data and chronology of the slave trade to Amazonia.Less
The introduction argues that despite the changes set in motion by the constitutional Article 68, passed in 1988 in Brazil to recognize black rural communities as the recipient of special rights and recognition, a number of discourses and practices inherited from past generations continue to be a source of identity for the black peasants of Brazil. Dating from the era of slavery, such traditions have subsisted embedded in the landscape in the form of agro-ecological strategies, political discourses, and even relationships with political and economic elites. They have not resulted in hard ethnic boundaries sharply separating black peasants from other rural Brazilians, but rather have been part of a flexible toolbox of strategies and narratives inscribed on the landscape and used in moments of conflict over land, labor, and citizenship. While the relationships between black rural communities and the natural world have been largely overlooked as a vehicle for the maintenance of an Afro-Brazilian identity, this book is devoted to unearthing their existence, interrogating their relevance, and putting them in dialogue with the broader history of slavery and its legacies in post-emancipation Brazil. Finally, the introduction also outlines the basic data and chronology of the slave trade to Amazonia.
Oscar de la Torre
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469643243
- eISBN:
- 9781469643267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469643243.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter examines the agricultural strategies used in Amazonian cacao and sugar plantations. Cacao is a tree native to the region whose fruit was exported since the colonial period. Producers ...
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This chapter examines the agricultural strategies used in Amazonian cacao and sugar plantations. Cacao is a tree native to the region whose fruit was exported since the colonial period. Producers relied on the river tides for soil fertilization and combined its cultivation with the exploitation of wild groves. Sugar producers adopted a similar approach, using tidal energy as a natural fertilizer and as a source of energy to propel their mills. Amazonia was able to successfully develop a slave economy that produced tropical crops for markets overseas. It also discusses the impact of Cabanagem on the region’s slaveholding properties is more complex than previously thought, as this chapter shows. While the loss of slaves in prime working age naturally affected the output of local plantations, the Cabanagem revolt also reinforced the trend toward a sexually and ethnically balanced slave population inherited from the pre-Cabanagem era, which was key to the natural reproduction of the enslaved population in later decades. Despite the damage caused by the rebellion, then, the post-Cabanagem slave demography of Paraense plantations turned out to be favorable to the reconstruction of the state’s plantation sector and to the natural reproduction of its enslaved laborers as well.Less
This chapter examines the agricultural strategies used in Amazonian cacao and sugar plantations. Cacao is a tree native to the region whose fruit was exported since the colonial period. Producers relied on the river tides for soil fertilization and combined its cultivation with the exploitation of wild groves. Sugar producers adopted a similar approach, using tidal energy as a natural fertilizer and as a source of energy to propel their mills. Amazonia was able to successfully develop a slave economy that produced tropical crops for markets overseas. It also discusses the impact of Cabanagem on the region’s slaveholding properties is more complex than previously thought, as this chapter shows. While the loss of slaves in prime working age naturally affected the output of local plantations, the Cabanagem revolt also reinforced the trend toward a sexually and ethnically balanced slave population inherited from the pre-Cabanagem era, which was key to the natural reproduction of the enslaved population in later decades. Despite the damage caused by the rebellion, then, the post-Cabanagem slave demography of Paraense plantations turned out to be favorable to the reconstruction of the state’s plantation sector and to the natural reproduction of its enslaved laborers as well.
Oscar de la Torre
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469643243
- eISBN:
- 9781469643267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469643243.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
The first part of the chapter analyzes the different paths by which slaves acquired environmental knowledge: importing skills and strategies from equatorial Africa, acquiring knowledge when doing ...
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The first part of the chapter analyzes the different paths by which slaves acquired environmental knowledge: importing skills and strategies from equatorial Africa, acquiring knowledge when doing agricultural work in plantations and farms, and maintaining interethnic contacts with Indians. As they learned the ways of local peasants, the enslaved gradually built entire parallel economies with vigorous ties to the expanding network of commercial houses that existed in late nineteenth-century Amazonia. Instead of using the term “internal economy of slavery,” I conceptualize them as an economy that ran parallel to that of their masters, given the size and complexity of the commercial networks in which the slaves participated. The chapter also describes the process of community formation inside the slave quarters at the time of Amazonia’s rubber boom, which had both a positive and negative impact on the prospects of Amazonia’s black slaves. On the one hand, it made it possible for them to expand their parallel economy. On the other hand, that slaves could carry out such a broad scope of activities meant that the slaveowners could adapt to the changes of the era. In Amazonia slavery was just like rubber: flexible and adaptable to multiple conditions – hence its durability.Less
The first part of the chapter analyzes the different paths by which slaves acquired environmental knowledge: importing skills and strategies from equatorial Africa, acquiring knowledge when doing agricultural work in plantations and farms, and maintaining interethnic contacts with Indians. As they learned the ways of local peasants, the enslaved gradually built entire parallel economies with vigorous ties to the expanding network of commercial houses that existed in late nineteenth-century Amazonia. Instead of using the term “internal economy of slavery,” I conceptualize them as an economy that ran parallel to that of their masters, given the size and complexity of the commercial networks in which the slaves participated. The chapter also describes the process of community formation inside the slave quarters at the time of Amazonia’s rubber boom, which had both a positive and negative impact on the prospects of Amazonia’s black slaves. On the one hand, it made it possible for them to expand their parallel economy. On the other hand, that slaves could carry out such a broad scope of activities meant that the slaveowners could adapt to the changes of the era. In Amazonia slavery was just like rubber: flexible and adaptable to multiple conditions – hence its durability.
