In the Society of Nature: A Native Ecology in Amazonia

by Philippe Descola, Nora Scott (Translator)

Overview

The Achuar Indians of the Upper Amazon have developed sophisticated strategies of resource management. The author documents their knowledge of the environment, and explains how it is interwoven with cosmological ideas that endow nature with the characteristics of society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521411035
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/17/1994
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology , #93
Pages:	396
Product dimensions:	6.18(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.18(d)

Table of Contents

General introduction; Part I. The Sphere of Nature: 1. The territorial space; 2. Landscape and cosmos; 3. Nature's beings; Part II. On the Proper Use of Nature: 4. The world of the house; 5. The world of gardens; 6. The world of the forest; 7. The world of the river; 8. Categories of practice; 9. The good life; Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"Philippe Descola is undoubtedly one of the most eclectic and creative thinkers in anthropology today. In the Society of Nature: A Native Ecology in Amazonia, he skillfully weaves technical and conceptual determinations into a brilliantly readable monograph on the Achuar Indians of the Peruvian/Ecuadorian border region of the Upper Amazon. The only problem with this publication is that it was not translated and published in English immediately after the original French edition appeared in 1986." Journal of Ethnobiology

"...an historical and ethnographic contribution to the study of a particularly important area of the New World, at the hinge of Amazonian and Andean high cultures. It is also...of undoubted theoretical and methodological value, one that directs anthropological thought in new directions." Claude Lévi-Strauss

"...a wealth of historical and ethnographical data on the Achuar....will introduce the curious reader into the world of an important indigenous culture." Bradley C. Bennett, Economic Botany

From the Publisher