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The Wanano Indians of the northwest Amazon have a social system that differs from those of most tropical forest tribes. Neither stratified by wealth nor strictly egalitarian, Wanano society is "ranked" according to rigidly bound descent groups. In this pioneering ethnographic study, Janet M. Chernela decodes the structure of Wanano society. In Wanano culture, children can be "grandparents," while elders can be "grandchildren." This apparent contradiction springs from the fact that descent from ranked ancestors, rather than age or accumulated wealth, determines one's standing in Wanano society. But ranking's impulse is muted as senior clans, considered to be succulent (referring to both senio...
Envisioning Brazil is a comprehensive and sweeping assessment of Brazilian studies in the United States. Focusing on synthesis and interpretation and assessing trends and perspectives, this reference work provides an overview of the writings on Brazil by United States scholars since 1945. "The Development of Brazilian Studies in the United States," provides an overview of Brazilian Studies in North American universities. "Perspectives from the Disciplines" surveys the various academic disciplines that cultivate Brazilian studies: Portuguese language studies, Brazilian literature, art, music, history, anthropology, Amazonian ethnology, economics, politics, and sociology. "Counterpoints: Brazilian Studies in Britain and France" places the contributions of U.S. scholars in an international perspective. "Bibliographic and Reference Sources" offers a chronology of key publications, an essay on the impact of the digital age on Brazilian sources, and a selective bibliography.
Conference report on development projects, environmental dangers, agricultural production and agroforestry by indigenous peoples and historical change in the Amazonia river basin, Brazil - considers the impact of development projects on the living conditions of Andean Indian tribes, negative effects of deforestation, hydrologycal aspects of rainforest in the central Amazon tropical zone, etc.; includes a historical survey of the rubber boom. Bibliography, diagrams, maps, photographs, references, statistical tables.
Although environmental crisis is global in scope, contemporary environmental ethics is centered predominantly in Western philosophy and religion. EARTH'S INSIGHTS widens the scope to include the ecological teachings embedded in non-Western world views. Conservationist J. Baird Callicott asks how the world's diverse environmental philosophies can be brought together to benefit the whole?
Ecology is an attempt to understand the reciprocal relationship between living and nonliving elements of the earth. For years, however, the discipline either neglected the human element entirely or presumed its effect on natural ecosystems to be invariably negative. Among social scientists, notably in geography and anthropology, efforts to address this human-environment interaction have been criticized as deterministic and mechanistic. Bridging the divide between social and natural sciences, the contributors to this book use a more holistic perspective to explore the relationships between humans and their environment. Exploring short- and long-term local and global change, eighteen specialis...
In recent years the concept of 'the primitive' has been the subject of strong criticism; it has been examined, unpacked, and shown to signify little more than a construction or projection necessary for establishing the modernity of the West. The term 'primitive' continues, however, to appear in contemporary critical and cultural discourse, begging the question: Why does primitivism keep reappearing even after it has been uncovered as a modern myth? In The Neo-primitivist Turn, Victor Li argues that this contentious term was never completely banished and that it has in fact reappeared under new theoretical guises. An idealized conception of 'the primitive,' he contends, has come to function a...
This book examines why policies and laws intended to protect the environment often do not work. In particular, Gamman addresses the fundamental reasons why efforts to protect natural resources in the developing world generally fail. He describes why environmental initiatives originating in national governments, international foreign assistance agencies, and environmental groups suffer from a dysfunctional decision making process. And he suggests how to improve environmental policymaking by creating partnerships for sustainable development, showing how to do this with a step-by-step negotiation process.
The author of this study proposes a fundamental review of biodiversity protection policies. Instead of conservation/preservation, a shift to attention to ecosystem management with human rights and human dignity at the center is recommended. This study prescribes a comprehensive system for the protection of biodiversity. Human rights standards, free trade in wildlife and regulated free access to plant genetic resources are proposed as the elements of this system. Practitioners and scholars concerned with environmental issues, human rights, and sustainable development problems will find this work of great interest. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.
When it originally appeared, this groundbreaking ethnography was one of the first works to focus on gender in anthropology. The thirtieth anniversary edition of Women of the Forest reconfirms the book's importance for contemporary studies on gender and life in the Amazon. The book covers Yolanda and Robert Murphy's year of fieldwork among the Mundurucú people of Brazil in 1952. The Murphy's ethnographic analysis takes into account the historical, ecological, and cultural setting of the Mundurucú, including the mythology surrounding women, women's work and household life, marriage and child rearing, the effects of social change on the female role, sexual antagonism, and the means by which women compensate for their low social position. The new foreword—written collectively by renowned anthropologists who were all students of the Murphys—is both a tribute to the Murphys and a critical reflection on the continued relevance of their work today.
Focuses on physical, social and applied athropology, archaeology, linguistics and symbolic communication. Topics include hominid evolution, primate behaviour, genetics, ancient civilizations, cross-cultural studies and social theories.