Relational epistemology and Amazonian land-based education : Learning the ideas of intra-dependency in the Central Purus River

This article discusses relational land-based education in the Brazilian Amazon and the idea of intra-dependency. The data produced with the Apurina presents the intra-relational spaces of knowing created between different beings, human and other-than-human, which contrast with the notion of individual learners. Apurina co-existence in learning also sheds light on the emotional dimension of Amazonian relational epistemology, while its inclusion of human-environment relations can contribute to taking seriously the practice of care toward other-than-human beings.Peer reviewe

Book review: Per Axelsson and Peter Sköld (eds.). 2011. Indigenous Peoples and Demography. The Complex Relation between Identity and Statistics.

Non peer reviewe

Kimapury reflections: Values and research agendas in Amazonian Indigenous research relations

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SHAMANISM AND INDIGENOUS YOUTHHOOD IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

This article deals with contemporary shamanism among young Indians in Brazilian Amazonia. It explores the meaning of shamanic practices for today’s Amazonian young Indians. The article focuses on the ayahuasca ceremonies practiced by young Manchineri living in both the indigenous reserve and urban areas in the State of Acre, Brazil. Ethnographic fieldwork was carried out between 2005 and 2007. Shamanic practices produce symbolic capital that may credit in one’s own native community and in interethnic relations. The spiritual and traditional knowledge, trust, values, and instructions on life generate cultural capital, social capital, as well as ethnic capital. Through shamanism young people have an active role in the construction of their agency and personhood, as it also is about youth’s own decision to interact with the spirits and other humans. Shamanic practices have marked a turning point in the lives of many native young people. Keywords: Shamanism, ayahuasca, ManchineriThis article deals with contemporary shamanism among young Indians in Brazilian Amazonia. It explores the meaning of shamanic practices for today’s Amazonian young Indians. The article focuses on the ayahuasca ceremonies practiced by young Manchineri living in both the indigenous reserve and urban areas in the State of Acre, Brazil. Ethnographic fieldwork was carried out between 2005 and 2007. Shamanic practices produce symbolic capital that may credit in one’s own native community and in interethnic relations. The spiritual and traditional knowledge, trust, values, and instructions on life generate cultural capital, social capital, as well as ethnic capital. Through shamanism young people have an active role in the construction of their agency and personhood, as it also is about youth’s own decision to interact with the spirits and other humans. Shamanic practices have marked a turning point in the lives of many native young people. Keywords: Shamanism, ayahuasca, Manchiner

Collins, Peter and Anselma Gallinat: The Ethnographic Self as Resource. Writing Memory and Experience into Ethnography : Book review

Non peer reviewe

Vivre isolé pour rester en vie : la frontière Pérou-Brésil

Les Indiens isolés Au Brésil, l’article 4 de la loi 6 001 de 1973 relative au statut de l’Indien définit comme « Indiens isolés » tous les groupes amérindiens sur lesquels on dispose de peu d’informations ou qui vivent au sein de groupes inconnus (Presidência da República 1973). Le terme officiel « isolé » est fondé sur la nature de la relation que les Amérindiens entretiennent avec le gouvernement ou avec la société nationale. Depuis une vingtaine d’années, la Fondation Nationale de l’Indien..

Multidimensional tradition - native young people and their construction of indigenousness in Brazilian Amazonia

The article focuses on the Amazonian young natives’ conceptions of cultural traditions. It looks at the way young Manchineri, Apurinã and Cashinahua living in the Acre state, Brazil, ‘operate’ with what they call their cultural traditions and what is its role in their everyday lives. The data used for the analysis consists principally of interview material, but fieldwork methods also involved participant observation, video recordings, photographs and drawings made by these young people. The analysis applies the category of the sacred, as it explains the symbolic limits set in different societies. The results show that corporeal and spatial distinctions of young Indians’ cultural traditions provide the prime means for categorizing behaviour, and for creating and maintaining a traditional system of values as a viable resource for adjusting themselves to the demands of the changing social circumstances. Young Amazonian Indians operate with the dynamism of ‘tradition’, continuously recreating and reinterpreting their indigenous traditions. They have learnt this already in their relation to nature, and presently continue in the relation with the state and non-Indians. For a young native person, ‘tradition’ offers a social and cultural space amid a dominant society. However, tradition represents rather temporal transformations than the state of being

Introduction

Peer reviewe