Keywords
politics
sustainability
philosophy
anthropology
Amazon
ethnography
nature
environment
dualism
power
hierarchy
How to Cite
Abstract
This article compares ontologies common in Amazonian societies with those typically found in contemporary Western societies. It discusses their histories and the different ways of positioning ourselves as humans in relation to the rest of the world, as well as the distinct politics and ethics that result from the differences between the two kinds of ontologies. It addresses the importance of those who carry the Western legacy attempting to understand different worldviews, such as Amazonian Perspectivism. Moving from a perspective of the world as separate to one that is primarily relational — characteristic of Perspectivism — is necessary to improve our relationship with other cultures, forms of life, and, indeed, the entire world, thereby avoiding the ongoing exploitation that is leading us toward an environmental, economic, and social crisis of global scope.
References
AKCHURIN, Maria. Constructing the rights of nature: constitutional reform, mobilization, and environmental protection in Ecuador. En: Law & Social Inquiry, 2005, No. 40, pp. 937-968.
COSTA, Luis et al. The return of the animists: Recent studies of Amazonian ontologies. En: Religion and Society, 2010, No. 1, pp. 89-109.
DE LA CADENA, Marisol. Indigenous Cosmopolitics in the Andes: Conceptual Reflections beyond 'Politics'. En: Cultural Anthropology, abril de 2010, No. 25, pp. 334-370.
HALBMAYER, Ernst. Debating animism, perspectivism and the construction of ontologies. En: Indiana, 2012, No. 29, pp. 9-23.
INGOLD, Tim. Bindings against boundaries: entanglements of life in an open world. En: Environment and planning, 2008, No. 40 (traducido del original).
JACKSON, Michael. Thinking through the body: An Essay on Understanding Metaphor. En: Social analysis, diciembre de 1983, No. 14, pp. 127-149.
JENSEN, Derrick. The culture of make believe. Vermont, USA: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004.
KOHN, Eduardo. Toward an ethical practice in the Anthropocene. En: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2014, No. 4.
LOVELOCK, James. Gala: a new look at life on earth theory. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1979.
MATTAR, Sinéad Garrigan. Yeats, fairies, and the new animism. En: New Literary History, 2012m No. 43, pp. 137-157. 27. SMITH, David. An Athapaskan way of knowing: Chipewyan ontology. En: American Ethnologist, agosto de 1998, No. 25, pp. 412-432;
ROSENGREN, Dan. Transdimensional relations: on human-spirit interaction in the Amazon. En: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, octubre de 2006, No. 12, pp. 803-816. 28. Op. cit. COSTA, Luis et al. | 71 MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY, Politics; Nature.http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/politics (mayo, 2016).
OGDEN, Laura et al. Animals, plants, people, and things: A review of multispecies ethnography. En: Environment and Society, 2013, No. 4, pp. 5-24 (traducido del original). REDDEKOP Jarrad. Thinking across Worlds: Indigenous thought, relational ontology, and the politics of nature; or, if only Nietzsche could meet a Yachaj. En: Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository, 2014.
ROSENGREN, Dan. Transdimensional relations: on human-spirit interaction in the Amazon. En: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, octubre de 2006, No. 12, pp. 803-816. 72 | 013 (2019)
SMITH, David. An Athapaskan way of knowing: Chipewyan ontology. En: American Ethnologist, agosto de 1998, No. 25, pp. 412-432.
UZENDOSKI, Michael et al. Ecology of the spoken word: Amazonian storytelling and the Shamanism among the Napo Runa, Champaign, US: University of Illinois Press, 2012 (traducido del original).
VIVEIROS DE CASTRO, Eduardo. Cosmological Delxis and Amerindian perspectivism: A view from the Amazon. En: Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, septiembre de 1998, No. 4, pp. 469-88.