1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910811048103321

Autore

Brightman Marc

Titolo

The imbalance of power : leadership, masculinity and wealth in the Amazon / / Marc Brightman

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York ; ; Oxford, [England] : , : Berghahn, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

1-78533-310-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (205 pages) : illustrations, maps

Disciplina

305.800988

Soggetti

Trio Indians

Wayana Indians

Akurio Indians

Power (Social sciences) - Guiana

Group identity - Guiana

Leadership - Guiana

Masculinity - Political aspects - Guiana

Guiana Ethnic relations

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES, ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- A NOTE ON TRIO AND WAYANA LANGUAGE AND ORTHOGRAPHY -- ABBREVIATIONS -- MAPS -- INTRODUCTION -- Chapter 1 MAKING TRIO AND OTHER PEOPLES -- Chapter 2 HOUSES AND IN-LAWS -- Chapter 3 TRADE, MONEY AND INFLUENCE -- Chapter 4 MUSIC AND RITUAL CAPACITIES -- Chapter 5 OWNING PERSONS AND PLACES -- CONCLUSION Society Transcends the State -- GLOSSARY -- APPENDIX Trio Relationship Terminology -- REFERENCES -- INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

Amerindian societies have an iconic status in classical political thought. For Montaigne, Hobbes, Locke, Hume and Rousseau, the native American ‘state of nature’ operates as a foil for the European polity. Challenging this tradition, The Imbalance of Power demonstrates ethnographically that the Carib speaking indigenous societies of the Guiana region of Amazonia do not fit conventional characterizations of



‘simple’ political units with ‘egalitarian’ political ideologies and ‘harmonious’ relationships with nature. Marc Brightman builds a persuasive and original theory of Amerindian politics: far from balanced and egalitarian, Carib societies are rife with tension and difference; but this imbalance conditions social dynamism and a distinctive mode of cohesion. The Imbalance of Power is based on the author’s fieldwork in partnership with Vanessa Grotti, who is working on a companion volume entitled Living with the Enemy: First Contacts and the Making of Christian Bodies in Amazonia.