Animism in Rainforest and Tundra—Personhood, Animals, Plants and Things in Contemporary Amazonia and Siberia

Siberia and Amazonia are both frontier zones associated with extractive economies where indigenous peoples are reasserting their distinctive ethnic and cultural identities. In addition, the people of the Americas came from Siberia, so the two peoples are more closely related to each other than either is to any other people. Anthropologists from Europe and Brazil find further parallels in belief systems in the two regions, and display here the fruits of cross-fertilizing theories and findings between them. Among the topics are the place of non-humans in indigenous ontologies, fabricating persons among the Eveny and Chukchi of northeastern Siberia, reflections from Amazonia on animism and the meanings of life, making animals into food among the Kanamari of western Amazonia, and spatiality and objects in the Nenets' tundra home. Many of the chapters were papers delivered at a June 2008 conference in Paris. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Marc Brightman is Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford.