Description
Book Synopsis Whether invented, discovered, implicit, or directly addressed, relations remain the main focus of most anthropological inquiries. These relations, once conceptualized in ethnographic fieldwork as self-evident connections between discrete social units, have been increasingly explored through local ontological theories. This collected volume explores how ethnographies of indigenous South America have helped to inspire this analytic shift, demonstrating the continued importance of ethnographic diversity. Most importantly, this volume asserts that comparative ethnographic research can help illustrate complex questions surrounding relations vis-à-vis the homogenizing effects of modern coloniality.
Table of Contents Introduction: Theorizing Relations in Indigenous South America
Marcelo González Gálvez, Piergiorgio Di Giminiani, and Giovanna Bacchiddu
Chapter 1. Learning to See in Western Amazonia: How Does Form Reveal Relation?
Els Lagrou
Chapter 2. Looks Like Viscera: Folds, Wraps, and Relations in the Southern Andes
Francisco Pazzarelli
Chapter 3. On People, Sensorial Perception, and Potential Affinity in Southern Chile
Cristóbal Bonelli
Chapter 4. Sorcery, Revenge, and Anti-Revenge: Relational Excess and Individuation in the Gran Chaco
Florencia Tola
Chapter 5. The Name of the Relation: Making a Difference in Aweti Onomastics
Marina Vanzolini
Chapter 6. Ritualizing the Everyday: The Dangerous Imperative of Hospitality in Apiao, Chiloé
Giovanna Bacchiddu
Afterword I: Relations and Relatives
Aparecida Vilaça
Afterword II: Reflecting Back
Marilyn Strathern
Epilogue: The Cemeteries as Metaphors of Who We Are
Claudio Millacura Salas
Index
