Amerindian Experiences of Change and Hierarchy in Recent Ethnographies from South America

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4000/154us

Keywords:

social change, hierarchy, amerindian studies, South America, ethnography

Abstract

I discuss four recent ethnographies that are relevant to two current debates in Amerindian South American anthropology: change and hierarchy. First, I present some of their analytical tools and their approaches to Indigenous experiences in the Bolivian highlands, Patagonia, the Brazilian Upper Xingu, and Suriname. This review essay does not aim to exhaustively discuss the content of these books, but only those aspects relevant to comparing their main emerging problems and contributions.

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Author Biography

Juan Javier Rivera Andía, College of Fellows, Universidad De Tübingen, Tübingen, Alemania

After completing his PhD, he served as director of the Museum of Peruvian Culture and conducted research in Europe and the United States with support from the Maison des sciences de l’homme, UNESCO, the Smithsonian Institution, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, among others. He has published articles, ethnographies, edited volumes (“Non-Humans in Amerindian South America”), and documentaries (“The Owners of the Land”) on the cosmologies of the Peruvian Andes.

References

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Brightman, Marc, Carlos Fausto, and Vanessa Grotti, eds. 2016. Ownership and nurture: Studies in native Amazonian property relations. Oxford: Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781785330834

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Rivera Andía, Juan Javier, ed. 2018. Non-humans in Amerindian South America: Ethnographies of indigenous cosmologies, rituals and songs. Oxford: Berghahn Books.

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Published

2025-11-24

How to Cite

Rivera Andía, Juan Javier. 2025. “Amerindian Experiences of Change and Hierarchy in Recent Ethnographies from South America”. Anuário Antropológico 50 (1):e-154us. https://doi.org/10.4000/154us.

Issue

Section

Bibliographic Essay