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Janet Chernela
University of Maryland, College Park, Anthropology, Faculty Member
The role of missions in postcolonial Brazil remains a significant gap in contemporary models of Latin American social and economic history. The prevailing view among historians holds that the mission village system, which flourished in... more
The role of missions in postcolonial Brazil remains a significant gap in contemporary models of Latin American social and economic history. The prevailing view among historians holds that the mission village system, which flourished in Brazil between 1680 and 1750, was succeeded by an irreversible shift toward secularization (MacLachlan 1973; Boxer 1962), severing permanently the practical and ideological ties between church and state in Brazil. Taking as its case the mission village enterprises of the Upper Rio Negro in Brazil (see ...
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As perdas da história Como consegue um povo indígena, em meio às vicissitudes do contato interétnico que provocam sua dispersão e dizimação, gerar e preservar uma identidade coletiva? O ciclo mítico de Unurato responde a tal pergunta,... more
As perdas da história Como consegue um povo indígena, em meio às vicissitudes do contato interétnico que provocam sua dispersão e dizimação, gerar e preservar uma identidade coletiva? O ciclo mítico de Unurato responde a tal pergunta, introduzindo a figura do branco no seu referencial simbólico e revelando como, nesse processo, os Arapaço reconstroem sua auto-imagem no palco interétnico. O mito será aqui colocado em perspectiva histórica, numa tentativa de mostrar como o seu sistema de signif..
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Índios do Norte da Amazônia estão nos descrevendo, nos amansando, tentando nos entender e se entender conosco. Alguns há vários séculos, outros há poucos anos. Como podemos compreender o modo pelo qual somos compreendidos? Durante a... more
Índios do Norte da Amazônia estão nos descrevendo, nos amansando, tentando nos entender e se entender conosco. Alguns há vários séculos, outros há poucos anos. Como podemos compreender o modo pelo qual somos compreendidos? Durante a última década, a antropologia preocupou-se muito com o problema inverso: como podemos compreender o modo pelo qual compreendemos os outros? E ficou assim entretida demais com seu próprio umbigo. Este livro magistral, esperado há vários anos, é um alívio. Mostra como é fecundo analisar o trabalho simbólico e político de sociedades indígenas, trabalho que resulta em suas “cosmologias do contato” e na forma específica pela qual se apropriam da história e do mundo contemporâneo
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Research Interests: Sociology, Cognitive Science, Indigenous Studies, Languages and Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, and 8 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Linguistics, South American indigenous languages, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Communication Theory, Latin America, Communication and media Studies, and Language Communication
Studies were made of the intestinal parasites of Amerindian populations of the Uaupes River basin of Brazil. Three groups were sampled: 1) Tukano fisher-agriculturalists who live in permanent riverine villages; 2) Maku... more
Studies were made of the intestinal parasites of Amerindian populations of the Uaupes River basin of Brazil. Three groups were sampled: 1) Tukano fisher-agriculturalists who live in permanent riverine villages; 2) Maku hunter-horticulturalists who live in close contact with the Tukano fishing villages; and 3) Maku who inhabit the forest interior and have little contact with permanent settlements. Fecal samples were collected from 498 individuals of which 220 were from the first group, 135 from de second and 143 from the third. The samples were analyzed by means of microflotation and centrifugal sedimentation. A total of 18 protozoan and helminth species were recorded based on the presence of cysts or eggs. These included five nematode species that could not be identified. The three common pathogenic nematodes were found to be prevalent: the hookworm, Necator americanus(96%); the whipworm, Trichuris trichiura(77%) and the large roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides(75%). The prevalence of ...
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Research Interests: Sociology, Anthropology, Art, Human Rights, Genre, and 11 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Urban Studies, Urban Sociology, Intersectionality and Social Inequality, Women and Gender Studies, Work, Indigenous Organizations, Community Organizing and Indigenous Peoples Rights, Latin American Anthropology, Domestics and servants, and Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology
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"Advances in indigenous rights in Latin America’s largest nation-state, Brazil, unfold through history like a tango,with every succession of steps forward followed by as many backward. A deconstruction of the... more
"Advances in indigenous rights in Latin America’s largest nation-state, Brazil, unfold through history like a tango,with every succession of steps forward followed by as many backward. A deconstruction of the choreography of this danse macabre reveals a dialectic between norm and practice, as actors press to serve competing agendas through strategic maneuvering. A recent victory for indigenous rights in Brazil was the ratification, after 30 years of struggle, of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory,home of nearly 22 thousand indigenous peoples of the Makuxi,Wapichana, and Ingariko ethnicities in Roraima state.Using this case, I present some of the recent moves and alliance configurations that have emerged in the contest over land, as diverse actors and interests shift and expand their strategies in the face of new political challenges and opportunities."
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A fundamental challenge in conversations made at the frontiers of globalization is the degree to which international representatives and local interlocutors understand one another. Decisions made at such "glocalized" sites of... more
A fundamental challenge in conversations made at the frontiers of globalization is the degree to which international representatives and local interlocutors understand one another. Decisions made at such "glocalized" sites of interaction (Brenner 1998) may hinge on issues of communication about which we know very little. Yet social scientists, who have made important contributions, analyzing the conditions required to improve communication in settings such as doctor-patient interactions (Cicourel 1987; Kleinman 1980, 1995), have paid little attention to similar challenges involving interactions between representatives of environmental or development organizations and local, including indigenous, spokespersons. The matter is especially crucial in forming contractual arrangements where approvals are sought, yet the criteria necessary for assessing comprehension are lacking. The problem is particularly salient in communications about carbon sequestration and climate change wh...
Research Interests: Anthropology, Communication, Indigenous Studies, Intercultural Communication, Languages and Linguistics, and 15 moreClimate Change, Human Rights, Conservation, Climate change policy, Applied Anthropology, Applied Linguistics, Brazil, Amazonia, Indigenous Peoples Rights, Salient, REDD, Comprehension, Amazon rainforest, Indigenous, and Practicing Anthropology
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More Info: "Full citation: Chernela, Janet (2008) Guesting, Feasting and Raiding: Transformations of Violence in the Northwest Amazon. In Revenge in the Cultures of Lowland South America, ed. Stephen Beckerman and Paul Valentine.... more
More Info: "Full citation: Chernela, Janet (2008) Guesting, Feasting and Raiding: Transformations of Violence in the Northwest Amazon. In Revenge in the Cultures of Lowland South America, ed. Stephen Beckerman and Paul Valentine. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Pp. 42-59. " ... Thank you! Your feedback has been sent. ... Want an instant answer to your question? Check the FAQs.
Following a successful campaign to end the unlawful practices of trafficking that brought them to Manaus, indigenous Tukanoan women from the Upper Rio Negro established a local indigenous organization with which to plan and manage their... more
Following a successful campaign to end the unlawful practices of trafficking that brought them to Manaus, indigenous Tukanoan women from the Upper Rio Negro established a local indigenous organization with which to plan and manage their own ethno-development, including cultural heritage activities, institution building, revenue development, health and legal services, community, and other initiatives. The case provides an opportunity to explore indigenous ethno-development, a concept at the heart of the ...
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Anthropology, Communication, Humanities, Ethnography, and 15 moreAnthropology of Gender, Indigenous Peoples Rights, Civic Engagement, Civil Society, Nonprofit Organizations, Interest groups in EU, Ongs, Northwest Amazon, Indigenous women, Mulheres Indígenas, Noroeste Amazônico, Indigenous Organization, Ethno Development, Indigenous, and NGOs
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Background Roraima is located in the northernmost extreme of Brazil's Legal Amazonia, bordering Venezuela to the north and Guyana to the east. It encompasses the drainage basin of the Rio Branco, a northern tributary of the Amazon... more
Background Roraima is located in the northernmost extreme of Brazil's Legal Amazonia, bordering Venezuela to the north and Guyana to the east. It encompasses the drainage basin of the Rio Branco, a northern tributary of the Amazon mainstem. The area lies within the equatorial humid tropics, yet altitudinal and geological variation sets the region apart from the dominant landscapes of Amazonia and accounts for its high biodiversity, among the highest in the New World Tropics. The range of habitat types includes dense evergreen ...
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A fundamental challenge in conversations made at the frontiers of globalization is the degree to which international representatives and local interlocutors understand one another. Decisions made at such "glocalized" sites of... more
A fundamental challenge in conversations made at the frontiers of globalization is the degree to which international representatives and local interlocutors understand one another. Decisions made at such "glocalized" sites of interaction (Brenner 1998) may hinge on issues of communication about which we know very little. Yet social scientists, who have made important contributions, analyzing the conditions required to improve communication in settings such as doctor-patient interactions (Cicourel 1987; Kleinman 1980, 1995), have paid little attention to similar challenges involving interactions between representatives of environmental or development organizations and local, including indigenous, spokespersons. The matter is especially crucial in forming contractual arrangements where approvals are sought, yet the criteria necessary for assessing comprehension are lacking. The problem is particularly salient in communications about carbon sequestration and climate change where there is ample opportunity for misunderstanding.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Communication, Indigenous Studies, Intercultural Communication, Languages and Linguistics, and 12 moreClimate Change, Human Rights, Conservation, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Climate change policy, Applied Anthropology, Applied Linguistics, Brazil, Amazonia, Indigenous Peoples Rights, REDD, and Practicing Anthropology
How is a collective identity generated and preserved in the vicissitudes of population dispersal and decimation? The myth cycle of Unurato answers this question, placing the figure of the white man in a native context of related... more
How is a collective identity generated and preserved in the vicissitudes of population dispersal and decimation? The myth cycle of Unurato answers this question, placing the figure of the white man in a native context of related identities. It provides some evidence about the way in which categories of personhood are defined by the Eastern Tukanoan Arapago of Brazil. The myth is posed against a historical treatment of the Arapac. o in order to reveal some of the ways that native systems of meaning render coherent the experience ...
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BACKGROUND Defined by the headwaters of the Rio Negro, the largest of the Amazon's tributaries which flow southeasterly through southern Colombia, northern Brazil, and portions of southern Venezuela, the region known as the Northwest... more
BACKGROUND Defined by the headwaters of the Rio Negro, the largest of the Amazon's tributaries which flow southeasterly through southern Colombia, northern Brazil, and portions of southern Venezuela, the region known as the Northwest Amazon exhibits immense linguistic diversity (Aikhenvald 2002, 2003a; Barnes 1984, 1999; Epps 2003; Gomez-Imbert 1993, 1999; Sorensen 1967, 1973; Stenzel 2005, 2007; Waltz 2002; Waltz and Waltz 2000). The area's estimated 25,000 residents speak more than twenty ...
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Studies of poetics in small-scale societies too often ignore the unauthorized and unorthodox in performance. Poetics research in these societies has therefore not yielded the wealth of intrasocietal diversity that marks performance... more
Studies of poetics in small-scale societies too often ignore the unauthorized and unorthodox in performance. Poetics research in these societies has therefore not yielded the wealth of intrasocietal diversity that marks performance studies of complex societies. This oversight leads to a number of misconceptions: that small-scale societies are static rather than dynamic, that they are homogeneous rather than diversified, and that they are consensual communities in which the recognition of certain speech acts as" official" is not pertinent. ...
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Captives were found in societies of all social levels throughout much of history and prehistory. They were frequently women, and they could be potent agents of culture change. In some societies they entered a highly stigmatized slave... more
Captives were found in societies of all social levels throughout much of history and prehistory. They were frequently women, and they could be potent agents of culture change. In some societies they entered a highly stigmatized slave class, while in others they might be fully incorporated into the society of their captors. Regardless of their social position, captives played an important role in the transmission of cultural practices and ultimately in culture change, but few studies have explored the role of captives in culture change, especially in nonstate societies. I begin that process, using ethnohistoric, historic, ethnographic, archaeological, and other data. I document the prevalence and antiquity of captive-taking around the world, its gender selectivity, and the rights of social personhood that captives were accorded in captor societies and assess factors that affected captives' ability to effect culture change. The focus is especially on craft activities, because captive influence is likely to be most evident to archaeologists in the production of craft goods. The wives and children of those whom they had defeated were frequently made slaves. (Ellis 1828:147) The Huron took prisoners in war.. .. They seldom put to death women and children, but kept some for themselves or made presents of them to those who had previously lost some of their own in war. (Tooker 1991 [1964]:31) The major motives for warfare [among contact-period people of the Llanos of South American] seemed to be to capture women and children and loot villages and gardens. (Morey 1975:282) On their return [from war], they handed any prisoners over to the relatives of their victims: Women and children for enslavement, men for torture and death. (Galloway and Jackson 2004:607) Intercultural interaction encompasses a large segment of archaeological research, including trade and exchange, culture contact, and migration. Archaeological approaches to inter-cultural interaction have been criticized for their unidirec-tional and macroscale focus (Cusick 1998b; Stein 2002), and we have recently seen calls for a reassessment of how inter-cultural interaction produces culture change (Kristiansen and Larsson 2005). In this paper, I consider a single type of in-tercultural interaction that was common throughout prehis-Catherine M. Cameron is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Colorado (233 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0233, U.S.A. [cameronc@colorado.edu]). This paper was
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In recent years at The American Museum, spring has brought with it a rush of inquiries about summer field programs. A large portion of those inquiries have come from high school students seeking opportunities to participate in... more
In recent years at The American Museum, spring has brought with it a rush of inquiries about summer field programs. A large portion of those inquiries have come from high school students seeking opportunities to participate in archeological excavations. High schools ...
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PIP: In northwest Amazon societies, diverse groups marry across linguistic and geographic barriers: kinship and kin proximity occur according to cultural rules, and kinship, language, and residence may not be equated with genetic... more
PIP: In northwest Amazon societies, diverse groups marry across linguistic and geographic barriers: kinship and kin proximity occur according to cultural rules, and kinship, language, and residence may not be equated with genetic relatedness, as previously postulated. The assumption of genetic relatedness and random mating within a prescribed geographic zone or linguistic unit does not always hold true. Models should be based on cultural determinants of population dynamics that are more sensitive to detailed mate choice and ...
Research Interests: Demography, Anthropology, Communication, Social Sciences, Colombia, and 15 moreFamily, Culture, Developing Countries, Brazil, Language, Latin America, Marriage, Population, Americas, South America, Ethnic Groups, Population Characteristics, Family Characteristics, anthropology cultural, and Cultural Background
Scratches have long gone without their due eulogy. Old, clear abrasion on archeological specimens should be a welcome sight to any investigator of ceramic collections but, alas, the Study of the Scratch has been sorrowfully neglected. For... more
Scratches have long gone without their due eulogy. Old, clear abrasion on archeological specimens should be a welcome sight to any investigator of ceramic collections but, alas, the Study of the Scratch has been sorrowfully neglected. For purposes of this paper I would like to ...
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Research Interests: Anthropology and Ethics
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While analysts and practitioners today recognize that heritage entails processes of both" preservation" and" innovation," most face challenges when it comes to finding methodologies capable of capturing these... more
While analysts and practitioners today recognize that heritage entails processes of both" preservation" and" innovation," most face challenges when it comes to finding methodologies capable of capturing these apparently contradictory and elusive attributes. The problem lies, in part, in reconciling notions of a stable, authorized past, on the one hand, and dynamic constructions of the past, on the other. Erve Chambers addresses this duality by dividing heritage into two types-one, public, and based in" authenticity," the other ...
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PIP: In northwest Amazon societies, diverse groups marry across linguistic and geographic barriers: kinship and kin proximity occur according to cultural rules, and kinship, language, and residence may not be equated with genetic... more
PIP: In northwest Amazon societies, diverse groups marry across linguistic and geographic barriers: kinship and kin proximity occur according to cultural rules, and kinship, language, and residence may not be equated with genetic relatedness, as previously postulated. The assumption of genetic relatedness and random mating within a prescribed geographic zone or linguistic unit does not always hold true. Models should be based on cultural determinants of population dynamics that are more sensitive to detailed mate choice and ...
Research Interests: Demography, Anthropology, Communication, Social Sciences, Colombia, and 15 moreFamily, Culture, Developing Countries, Brazil, Language, Latin America, Marriage, Population, Americas, South America, Ethnic Groups, Population Characteristics, Family Characteristics, anthropology cultural, and Cultural Background
This book presents the origin of the Kotiria peoples, as told by the narrator Anastasio Cordeiro and recorded by the anthropologist Janet Chernela in the Uaupés river basin of Brazil in 1979. This is its first full presentation in sound... more
This book presents the origin of the Kotiria peoples, as told by the
narrator Anastasio Cordeiro and recorded by the anthropologist
Janet Chernela in the Uaupés river basin of Brazil in 1979. This is its first full presentation in sound and print. In the narrative a Kotiria ancestral band of pre-humans discovers Cubeo women gardening. The two prepare the first Po'oa exchange ceremony in which the Kotiria ancestors provide red body paint and the Cubeo women manioc beer. When the powerful jaguar tooth necklaces of the Kotiria devour the women, the women's Cubeo brothers hunt the Kotiria and burn their tree homes. The first Kotiria are born from raindrops that descend from the flames. This publication supplies an important missing element necessary to understanding the sociality of Eastern Tukanaon peoples of the Northwest Amazon. It is made possible by the Kotiria association AIPOK (Associação Indígena do Povo Kótiria) and the Council of Culture of Manaus, Brazil.
narrator Anastasio Cordeiro and recorded by the anthropologist
Janet Chernela in the Uaupés river basin of Brazil in 1979. This is its first full presentation in sound and print. In the narrative a Kotiria ancestral band of pre-humans discovers Cubeo women gardening. The two prepare the first Po'oa exchange ceremony in which the Kotiria ancestors provide red body paint and the Cubeo women manioc beer. When the powerful jaguar tooth necklaces of the Kotiria devour the women, the women's Cubeo brothers hunt the Kotiria and burn their tree homes. The first Kotiria are born from raindrops that descend from the flames. This publication supplies an important missing element necessary to understanding the sociality of Eastern Tukanaon peoples of the Northwest Amazon. It is made possible by the Kotiria association AIPOK (Associação Indígena do Povo Kótiria) and the Council of Culture of Manaus, Brazil.
Research Interests: Social Anthropology, Amazonia, South American indigenous languages, Indigenous Peoples, Brazilian Literature, and 12 moreNegative Reciprocity, Reciprocity, Indigenous Cosmologies, Studies into reciprocity, Indigenous Socio-Cosmological Systems, Tukanoan languages, Kotiria (Wanano -Tukanoan family), Equações Recíprocas, Affinity, Indigenous Socio Cosmological Systems, Modern Indigenous mythology, and Kotiria language
The narrative presented here is part of a rich complex of discursive practices, shared by many speakers of Eastern Tukanoan languages in the northwest Amazon of Brazil and Colombia, and referred to as the Yurupari ritual. The portion... more
The narrative presented here is part of a rich complex of discursive practices, shared by many speakers of Eastern Tukanoan languages in the northwest Amazon of Brazil and Colombia, and referred to as the Yurupari ritual. The portion recounted here, recorded by the Kotiria elder, Anastasio Cordeiro, in Yapima village, in 1979, tells of a struggle between the primordial women (the Numia Parena Numia) and men for possession of sacred instruments (flutes and trumpets), the embodiment of ancestral spirits, played during exchange festivals
and initiation ceremonies.
and initiation ceremonies.
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Indigenous Studies, Sex and Gender, Sexual Violence, Gender Equality, and 6 moreIndigenous Knowledge, Gender Discourse, Feminist Literary Theory and Gender Studies, Descriptive Linguistics, Language Documentation, Indigenous Languages, Sociolinguistics, Field Linguistics, Language, Power and Gender studies, and Indigenouse Myths
This is a narrative account of animal transformation and cyclic abundance told by the Kotiria (Wanano), members of the Eastern Tukanoan language family in Brazil and Colombia. It recounts the annual event when, accompanied by the rising... more
This is a narrative account of animal transformation and cyclic abundance told by the Kotiria (Wanano), members of the Eastern Tukanoan language family in Brazil and Colombia. It recounts the annual event when, accompanied by the rising waters and the appearance of the Jaguar constellation (Yai) in the sky, flocks of birds descend
from the sky and dive into the river where they transform into
fish.
from the sky and dive into the river where they transform into
fish.
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The Rain Stars are constellations whose movement across the sky signals the advance of the annual cycle of climatic change. Their appearance on the horizon marks the onset of a new weather season. This account was recounted by Candido... more
The Rain Stars are constellations whose movement across the sky signals the advance of the annual cycle of climatic change. Their appearance on the horizon marks the onset of a new weather season. This account was recounted by Candido Melo, in the Kotiria language, to Janet Chernela, in Yapima Village on the Uaupés R., Brazil, 1979. The publication was prepared by Kotiria editors Mateus Duhia Cabral and Miguel Wacho Cabral.
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Even as narratives of assimilation dominated Brazilian racial and ethnic discourse, the official state apparatus constructed indigeneity as Other and indigenous peoples as unassimilable outsiders. The extreme manifestation of this was the... more
Even as narratives of assimilation dominated Brazilian racial and ethnic discourse, the official state apparatus constructed indigeneity as Other and indigenous peoples as unassimilable outsiders. The extreme manifestation of this was the depiction, enacted into law, of the indigenous person as "foreigner" (estrangeiro), subject to the same law as non-Brazilians (ley dos estrangeiros). In this paper briefly point to shifts in Brazilian constructions of indigeneity over two centuries before focusing on the last quarter of the twentieth century. I turn to the period before and after 1988, the year in which the new Brazilian Constitution was promulgated, in order to explore the arrests and hearings of two Kayapó leaders, Paulinho Paiakan and Kube-I, on the grounds that they acted unlawfully when speaking about the Brazilian government. The case, which spans the inauguration of the new constitution, with its revision of indigenous status and 2 associated definitions of "indigeneity," allows us to consider the changeable and interested applications of the term "indigenous," a category borne of the politics of legal recognition in late liberalism. Indigeneity is here is regarded here as a shifting concept, a product of state entities, to which indigenous peoples are passive subjects and with which citizens-both indigenous and non-indigenous-negotiate, contest, and challenge.
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Even as narratives of assimilation dominated Brazilian racial and ethnic discourse, the official state apparatus constructed indigeneity as Other and indigenous peoples as unassimilable outsiders. The extreme manifestation of this was the... more
Even as narratives of assimilation dominated Brazilian racial and ethnic discourse, the official state apparatus constructed indigeneity as Other and indigenous peoples as unassimilable outsiders. The extreme manifestation of this was the depiction, enacted into law, of the indigenous person as "foreigner" (estrangeiro), subject to the same law as non-Brazilians (ley dos estrangeiros). In this paper briefly point to shifts in Brazilian constructions of indigeneity over two centuries before focusing on the last quarter of the twentieth century. I turn to the period before and after 1988, the year in which the new Brazilian Constitution was promulgated, in order to explore the arrests and hearings of two Kayapó leaders, Paulinho Paiakan and Kube-I, on the grounds that they acted unlawfully when speaking about the Brazilian government. The case, which spans the inauguration of the new constitution, with its revision of indigenous status and 2 associated definitions of "indigeneity," allows us to consider the changeable and interested applications of the term "indigenous," a category borne of the politics of legal recognition in late liberalism. Indigeneity is here is regarded here as a shifting concept, a product of state entities, to which indigenous peoples are passive subjects and with which citizens-both indigenous and non-indigenous-negotiate, contest, and challenge.