Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the role of spatial mobility in the formation and consolidation of indigenous communities in the colonial Amazon.
Trade Review"Roller's analysis is a welcome antidote to stereotyped treatments of demoralized, detribalized native peoples. She achieves a nice balance, neither devolving into narratives of victimization or asserting a triumphant tale of unalloyed native agency . . . Roller shows that native practice shaped the evolution of Crown policy, as authorities adapted to the limits that indigenous peoples set." -- Judy Bieber *
Colonial Latin American Historical Review *
"Heather Roller sets a very high standard here for work on Amazonian history. More than simply filling a gap, her book presents new, perspective-shifting insights into the eighteenth-century Amazon—and, by implication, Brazil—from the point of view of Indians and ribeirinhos." -- Mark Harris * University of St. Andrews *
"Couched in extensive research and framed by engaging questions,
Amazonian Routes offers a novel approach to the history of colonial Portuguese America and, more specifically, to our understanding of Amazonian peoples. The book focuses on the response of local actors, especially Amerindians, to the processes unleashed by Enlightenment reforms . . . Without overstating the case for indigenous autonomy, the author persuasively shows that native peoples creatively and selectively engaged in state-sponsored projects." -- John Monteiro * Universidade Estadual de Campinas *
"Relying on the late John Monteiro's injunction to look at current ethnography to inform historical analytics, Roller successfully constructs Amazonian livelihood, one that was predicated on mobility...[She] erases preconceived versions of the isolated village outside of time in an untrammeled nature and focuses scholars attention on the vibrant navigable waterways of Amazonia." -- Susanna B. Hecht *
American Historical Review *
"Roller has written a story of human genius, adaptation, and resilience.
Amazonian Routes is a significant contribution for historians, Latin Americanists and Brazilianists, ethnohistorians, and anthropologists." -- Kittiya Lee *
Colonial Latin American Review *
"Roller's richly empirical study deftly blends historical geography, ethnohistory, and quantitative analysis in a narrative form that is both elegant and evocative. Her historiographical interventions and judicious assessment of source materials are boldly showcased for the edification, and to the delight, of the reader. And her command of colonial and postcolonial Amazonian literature and ability to dialogue with a range of scholarly disciplines are outstanding. In sum, Roller has made a major contribution to the historiography of colonial Amazonia." -- Seth W. Garfield *
Luso-Brazilian Review *
