Animism in Rainforest and Tundra : : Personhood, Animals, Plants and Things in Contemporary Amazonia and Siberia / / ed. by Marc Brightman, Vanessa Elisa Grotti, Olga Ulturgasheva.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Brightman, Marc,; Costa, Luiz,; Fausto, Carlos,; Grotti, Vanessa Elisa,; High, Casey,; Hugh-Jones, Stephen,; Lavrillier, Alexandra,; Rival, Laura,; Safonova, Tatiana,; Skvirskaja, Vera,; Swancutt, Katherine,; Sántha, István,; Ulturgasheva, Olga,; Vitebsky, Piers,; Willerslev, Rane,
• HerausgeberIn: Brightman, Marc,; Grotti, Vanessa Elisa,; Ulturgasheva, Olga,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2012]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (226 p.)

Amazonia and Siberia, classic regions of shamanism, have long challenged ‘western’ understandings of man’s place in the world. By exploring the social relations between humans and non-human entities credited with human-like personhood (not only animals and plants, but also ‘things’ such as artifacts, trade items, or mineral resources) from a comparative perspective, this volume offers valuable insights into the constitutions of humanity and personhood characteristic of the two areas. The contributors conducted their ethnographic fieldwork among peoples undergoing transformative processes of their lived environments, such as the depletion of natural resources and migration to urban centers. They describe here fundamental relational modes that are being tested in the face of change, presenting groundbreaking research on personhood and agency in shamanic societies and contributing to our global understanding of social and cultural change and continuity.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Foreword -- Maps -- Introduction: Animism and Invisible Worlds: The Place of Non-humans in Indigenous Ontologies -- Chapter 1 Too Many Owners: Mastery and Ownership in Amazonia -- Chapter 2 Revisiting the Animism versus Totemism Debate: Fabricating Persons among the Eveny and Chukchi of North-eastern Siberia -- Chapter 3 Animism and the Meanings of Life: Reflections from Amazonia -- Chapter 4 Stories about Evenki People and their Dogs: Communication through Sharing Contexts -- Chapter 5 Making Animals into Food among the Kanamari of Western Amazonia -- Chapter 6 ‘Spirit-charged’ Animals in Siberia -- Chapter 7 Shamans, Animals and Enemies: Human and Non-human Agency in an Amazonian Cosmos of Alterity -- Chapter 8 Expressions and Experiences of Personhood: Spatiality and Objects in the Nenets Tundra Home -- Chapter 9 Humanity, Personhood and Transformability in Northern Amazonia -- Chapter 10 Masked Predation, Hierarchy and the Scaling of Extractive Relations in Inner Asia and Beyond -- Afterword -- Notes on Contributors -- Index