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The Culture of Invention in the Americas takes the theoretical
contribution of one of anthropology's most radical thinkers, Roy
Wagner, as a basis for conceptual improvisation. It uses Wagner's
most synthetic and complex insights - developed in Melanesia and
captured in the title of his most famous book, The Invention of
Culture - as a springboard for an exploration of other
anthropological and societal imaginaries. What do the inherent
reflexivity, recursiveness and limits of all and any peoples'
anthropologies render for us to write and think about, and live
within? Who is doing anthropology about whom? Which are the best
ways to convey our partial grasp of these conundrums: theory,
poetry, jokes? No claim is made to resolve what should not be seen
as a problem. Instead, inspired by Roy Wagner's study and use of
metaphor, this book explores analogical variations of these
riddles. The chapters bring together ethnographic regions rarely
investigated together: indigenous peoples of Mexico and Lowland
South America; and Afro-American peoples of Brazil and Cuba. The
`partial connections' highlighted by the authors' analytic
conjunctions - Ifa divination practices and Yanomami shamanism,
Ki~sedje (Amazonia) and Huichol (Mexico) anthropology of Whites,
and Meso-American and Afro-American practices of sacrifice - show
the inspirational potential of such rapprochements. As the first
book to acknowledge the full range of Wagner's anthropological
contributions, and an initial joint exploration of Native American
and Afro-American ethnographies, this experimental work honours
Wagner's vision of a multiplicity of peoples' anthropologies
through and of each other. It concludes with a remarkable dialogue
created by Roy Wagner's responses to each author's work. We don't
have to imagine what Wagner might have made of this inspired
collection: his concluding commentary on each of these
extraordinary chapters is in effect a collection in itself. The
sparks they together ignite make this an editorial and publishing
triumph. Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge
If Roy Wagner famously `invented' culture, the contributors to this
volume `counter-invent' Wagner, at once engaging comprehensively
and didactically with his thought, and exteriorizing it onto novel
conceptual and geographical territories. A book from `tomorrow's
yesterday' (Wagner), The Culture of Invention in the Americas
anticipates for us the anthropology to come - playful,
experimental, and deeply ethnographic. Alberto Corsin Jimenez,
Spanish National Research Council
Amazonian indigenous peoples have preserved many aspects of their
culture and cosmology while also developing complex relationships
with dominant non-indigenous society. Until now, anthropological
writing on Amazonian peoples has been divided between "traditional"
topics like kinship, cosmology, ritual, and myth, on the one hand,
and the analysis of their struggles with the nation-state on the
other. What has been lacking is work that bridges these two
approaches and takes into consideration the meaning of
relationships with the state from an indigenous perspective.
That long-standing dichotomy is challenged in this new ethnography
by anthropologist Jose Kelly. Kelly places the study of culture and
cosmology squarely within the context of the modern nation-state
and its institutions. He explores Indian-white relations as seen
through the operation of a state-run health system among the
indigenous Yanomami of southern Venezuela.
With theoretical foundations in the fields of medical and
Amazonian anthropology, Kelly sheds light on how Amerindian
cosmology shapes concepts of the state at the community level. The
result is a symmetrical anthropology that treats white and
Amerindian perceptions of each other within a single theoretical
framework, thus expanding our understanding of each group and its
influences on the other. This book will be valuable to those
studying Amazonian peoples, medical anthropology, development
studies, and Latin America. Its new takes on theory and methodology
make it ideal for classroom use.
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