In the society of nature : a native ecology in Amazonia

Book

In the society of nature : a native ecology in Amazonia / Philippe Descola ; translated from the French by Nora Scott.

Summary:

"The Achuar Indians live in the remote forest reaches of the Upper Amazon and have developed sophisticated strategies of resource management. Philippe Descola, who has gathered material over several years of fieldwork, documents their rich knowledge of the environment. He explains how this technical knowledge of the increasingly threatened Amazonian ecosystems is interwoven with cosmological ideas that endow nature with the characteristics of society. Combining a symbolist approach with an ecological analysis, the book contributes a new theory of the social construction of nature."--Jacket.

Record details

ISBN: 0521574676
ISBN: 9780521574679
ISBN: 0521411033
ISBN: 9780521411035
ISBN: 2735105113
ISBN: 9782735105113
Physical Description: xviii, 372 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.
Edition: 1st pbk. ed.
Publisher: Cambridge [England] ; Cambridge University Press, 1996, ©1994.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-354) and indexes.
Formatted Contents Note:: Nature and society: lessons from Amazonia -- Achuar and Jivaro: an illusory state of nature -- 1. The territorial space -- 2. Landscape and cosmos -- Terrestrial water, celestial water -- Upstream and down -- The cosmos and its markers -- 3. Nature's beings -- The taxonomic order -- The anthropocentric order -- 4. The world of the house -- Architectonic elements -- Symbolic topography of the house -- Domestic sociability and its spaces -- 5. The world of gardens -- Clearing and gardening -- Gardening magic -- 6. The world of the forest -- Foraging techniques -- Affinal nature -- 7. The world of the river -- Fishing techniques -- The marital bed -- 8. Categories of practice -- The quantitative order -- The qualitative order -- 9. The good life -- Underexploitation of resources -- Productive efficiency.