Ownership and Nurture : Studies in Native Amazonian Property Relations

The first book to address the classic anthropological theme of property through the ethnography of Amazonia, __Ownership and Nurture__ sets new and challenging terms for anthropological debates about the region and about property in general. Property and ownership have special significance and carry specific meanings in Amazonia, which has been portrayed as the antithesis of Western, property-based, civilization. Through carefully constructed studies of land ownership, slavery, shamanism, spirit mastery, aesthetics, and intellectual property, this volume demonstrates that property relations are of central importance in Amazonia, and that the ownership of persons plays an especially significant role in native cosmology. Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Foreword 10 Acknowledgements 14 Map 15 Introduction: Altering Ownership in Amazonia • Marc Brightman, Carlos Fausto and Vanessa Grotti 16 1 Masters, Slaves and Real People: Native Understandings of Ownership and Humanness in Tropical American Capturing Societies • Fernando Santos-Granero 51 2 First Contacts, Slavery and Kinship in North-Eastern Amazonia • Vanessa Grotti and Marc Brightman 78 3 Fabricating Necessity: Feeding and Commensality in Western Amazonia • Luiz Costa 96 4 Parasitism and Subjection: Modes of Paumari Predation • Oiara Bonilla 125 5 How Much for a Song?: The Culture of Calculation and the Calculation of Culture • Carlos Fausto 148 6 The Forgotten Pattern and the Stolen Design: Contract, Exchange and Creativity among the Kĩsêdjê • Marcela Stockler Coelho de Souza 171 7 Doubles and Owners: Relations of Knowledge, Property and Authorship among the Marubo • Pedro de Niemeyer Cesarino 201 8 Ownership and Well-Being among the Mebêngôkre-Xikrin: Differentiation and Ritual Crisis • Cesar Gordon 224 9 Temporalities of Ownership: Land Possession and Its Transformations among the Tupinambá (Bahia, Brazil) • Susana de Matos Viegas 247 Index 272 Through ethnography of the Amazonia region, Ownership and Nurture sets new and challenging terms for debates about the classic anthropological theme of property. This volume demonstrates that property relations are of central importance in Amazonia despite portrayals of the region as the antithesis of Western, property-based, civilization.