Urban imaginaries in native Amazonia : tales of alterity, power, and defiance

Urban life has long intrigued Indigenous Amazonians, who regard cities as the locus of both extraordinary power and danger. Modern and ancient cities alike have thus become models for the representation of extreme alterity under the guise of supernatural enchanted cities. This volume seeks to analyze how these ambiguous urban imaginaries—complex representations that function as cognitive tools and blueprints for social action—express a singular view of cosmopolitical relations, how they inform and shape forest-city interactions, and the history of how they came into existence. Featuring analysis from historical, ethnological, and philosophical perspectives, contributors seek to explain the imaginaries’ widespread diffusion, as well as their influence in present-day migration and urbanization. Above all, it underscores how these urban imaginaries allow Indigenous Amazonians to express their concerns about power, alterity, domination, and defiance. Contributors Natalia Buitron Philippe Erikson Emanuele Fabiano Fabiana Maizza Daniela Peluso Fernando Santos-Granero Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen Robin M. Wright "Urban life has long intrigued native Amazonians, who regard cities as the locus of both extraordinary power and danger. Cities -both modern and ancient- have thus become models for the representation of extreme alterity under the guise of extraordinary, other-than-human worlds. The Urban Imaginaries in Native Amazonia: Tales of Alterity, Power, and Defiance seeks to analyze how these ambiguous urban imaginaries -complex representations that function as cognitive tools- express a singular view of the cosmos and cosmopolitical relations, how they inform and shape forest-city tensions and interactions, and what were the historical processes through which they came into existence. Above all, it seeks to underscore how these urban imaginaries constitute a means through which native Amazonians convey their concerns not only about the nature of power and alterity, but also of domination and defiance. Through the systematic analysis of these urban imaginaries as represented in myths, cosmological discourse, and narratives of personal experiences, the volume seeks to understand the reasons for their widespread diffusion, as well as their influence in present-day rural-urban migration and processes of urbanization. The volume consists of three parts, and eight chapters"-- Provided by publisher Contents Introduction. Amerindian Urban Imaginaries: A Double-Mirror Reality Fernando Santos-Granero and Emanuele Fabiano Part I. Enchanted Cities and Urban Cosmopolitics 1. Cities of Transformation and Power in the Baniwa and Kuripako Cosmos Robin M. Wright 2. Arboreal City-States, Phyto-Warfare, and Dendritic Societies: An Urarina Metropolitan View of the World Emanuele Fabiano 3. A Tale of Three Cities: Power Relations amid Ese Eja Urban Imaginaries Daniela Peluso Part II. Forest-City Tensions and Interactions 4. Cities of the Forest: Urbanization and Defiance Among the Shuar of Ecuadorian Amazonia Natalia Buitron 5. Sublime Cities: Ethnographic Fabulations on Plant Beings Among the Jarawara of Brazil Fabiana Maizza Part III. Urban Imaginaries Through Time 6. “Originally, Riberalta Was Called Xëbiya and It Was Ruled by Mawa Maxokiri . . .”: Urban Imaginaries and Urban Migration Among the Chacobo of Beni, Bolivia Philippe Erikson 7. Urbanity in Ancient and Present-Day Southwestern Amazonia: Human-Environment Collectives, Cycles of Generosity, and Their Ruptures Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen 8. The Deep Roots of Southern Arawak Urban Imaginaries: Tales of Alterity in the Longue Durée Fernando Santos-Granero Contributors Index