Brazil S Indians And The Onslaught Of Civilization

The Yanomami and Kayapó, two indigenous groups of the Amazon rainforest, have become internationally known through their dramatic and highly publicized encounters with “civilization.” Both groups struggle to transcend internal divisions, preserve their traditional culture, and defend their land from depredation, while seeking to benefit from the outside world, yet their prospects for the future seem very different. Placing each group in its historical context, Linda Rabben examines the relationship of the Kayapó and Yanomami to Brazilian society and the wider world. She combines academic research with a wide variety of sources, including celebrated leaders Paulinho Payakan and Davi Kopenawa, to assess how each group has responded to outside incursions. This book is a substantially revised edition of Unnatural Selection: The Yanomami, the Kayapó, and the Onslaught of Civilization, originally published in 1998, and includes a new chapter examining the controversy for anthropologists studying the Yanomami following the publication of Patrick Tierney’s book Darkness in El Dorado. Another new chapter focuses on the resurgence of Northeastern indigenous groups previously thought extinct. The magnitude and significance of indigenous movements has increased greatly, and a new generation of Brazilian indigenous leaders, proficient in Portuguese, is participating in the national political arena. Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2005

This book describes the author s visit to Brazil to check whether the recommendations by the International Red Cross for the improvement of the Amazonian Indians lot had been implemented by the Brazilian Government. To his consternation he discovered that not only had the recommendations been largely ignored but that the whole future of these tribal peoples was being jeopardized for the sake of progress. In return for their gift to the world of cocoa, peanuts, tomatoes, cashew, avocado and quinine, which are all of Amerindian origin, Indian tribes have received only disease, expropriation and death. They have no natural immunity to many of the diseases carried by the white man. Civilization is fast approaching the few remaining uncontacted tribes, and A Question of Survival poses the dilemma which faces Western Civilization and all who adhere to its philosophies: that in the name of progress and technological advance we are destroying all cultures in any way different from our own, even though they constitute the roots from which we have sprung, and without which our own stability and sense of continuity is threatened. It is, therefore, not just a question of survival for the South American Indian that the author is raising, but, by implication, the survival of us all as a species.

Consisting of original scholarship at the intersection of indigenous studies and religious studies, the Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s) includes a programmatic introduction arguing for new ways of conceptualizing the field, numerous case study-based examples, and an Afterword by Thomas Tweed.

Radical Territories in the Brazilian Amazon sheds light on the creative and groundbreaking efforts Kayapó peoples deploy to protect their lands and livelihoods in Brazil. Laura Zanotti shows how Kayapó communities are using diverse pathways to make a sustainable future for their peoples and lands. The author advances anthropological approaches to understanding how indigenous groups cultivate self-determination strategies in conflict-ridden landscapes.

Savage cannibal or utopian proto-environmentalist? Nugent examines both popular images of Amazon peoples in film and general books as well as changing anthropological views of the rainforest and its people.

The first edition of Life and Death Matters was a breakthrough text, centralizing the experiences of those on the front lines of environmental crises and forging new paradigms for understanding how crises emerge and how different groups of actors respond to them. This second edition, fully updated with both expanded and new chapters, once again provides a benchmark for the field and opens important pathways for further research. Authors reassess the state of scholarship and grassroots activism in a new century when social and environmental systems are being reconceptualised within post-9/11 security and biosecurity frameworks, when global warming and resource scarcity are not fears but realities, when global power and politics are being realigned, and when ecocide, ethnocide, and genocide are daily tragedies. This bold new edition of Life and Death Matters will be a widely used textbook and essential reading for students, scholars, and policy makers.

The most exciting thing about anthropology is that it enables the student to become acquainted with people of different cultures. The Tapestry of Culture provides the student with the basic concepts necessary to understand these different cultures while showing that cultural variations occur within certain limits. Though the forces of globalization have caused cultures of the world around us to become increasingly similar, the book shows that people nevertheless cling to ethnic identities, and their cultural distinctiveness. The tenth edition of this popular textbook incorporates new material throughout, such as ethnographic examples in every chapter; strengthened discussions of gender, transnationalism, and globalization; and more. To enhance the experience of both instructors and students, the tenth edition is accompanied by a learning package that includes an instructor’s manual with outlines, key terms, discussion questions, lists of films and other resources, and more; a test bank; and a companion website.