1st Edition

The Ecology of Power Culture, Place and Personhood in the Southern Amazon, AD 1000–2000

By Michael J. Heckenberger Copyright 2005
    430 Pages 71 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    432 Pages 71 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    In 1884 a community of Brazilians was "discovered" by the Western world. The Ecology of Power examines these indigenous people from the Upper Xingu region, a group who even today are one of the strongest examples of long-term cultural continuity. Drawing upon written and oral history, ethnography, and archaeology, Heckenberger addresses the difficult issues facing anthropologists today as they "uncover" the muted voices of indigenous peoples and provides a fascinating portrait of a unique community of people who have in a way become living cultural artifacts.

    Preface Kuikuru Orthography List of Figures List of Tables 1. Introduction Part I: Deep Temporality 2. Culture and History: The Longue Duree 3. The Ancient Regime 4. Colonialism and Ethnogenesis Part II: Power, Place, and Personhood 5. Landscape and Livelihood: Ethos of Settled Life 6. In the Midst of Others: Society, Ritual, and Chiefly Politics 7. The Pedigree of a Contradiction: Body and State in Amazonia 8. Conclusion: Temporality, Perspective, and Personhood in Amazonian Ethnology Notes Bibliography Glossar y of Indigenous Terms Index

    Biography

    Michael Heckenberger is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida--Gainesville. He has recieved numerous research grants and is principal investigator in the Southern Amazon Ethno-archaeological Project. He is co-author of the forthcoming Archaeology of the Amazon (Cambridge University Press).

    "This is a first-class volume in which the author provides a complex and much-needed depiction and analysis of Amazonian peoples in the Xingu over the past thousand years." -- Neil L. Whitehead, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Journal of Anthropological Research