Alfred Russel Wallace and the Models of Amazonian “Indians” Displayed at the Crystal Palace Ethnological Exhibition

This paper discusses Alfred Russel Wallace’s Amazonian ethnography and his collaboration with Robert Latham on the models of indigenous Amazonian peoples that were placed on display at the Crystal Palace ethnological exhibition in 1854. The reception of scholars and the public to this innovative work is also considered. Wallace’s involvement in the first British ethnological exhibition of large proportions was fundamental to the dissemination of his work, which made a valuable contribution to a field of study—the ethnology of South America—that was still in its infancy in Britain, in marked contrast to Portugal, Spain, Germany and France. Wallace’s field observations of indigenous peoples were instilled in the British imagination through the handbook to the exhibition, in which Latham stressed the importance of Wallace’s descriptions to the advancement of the field of ethnology. Indeed, Wallace’s ethnographic accounts were deemed to provide an authoritative supplement to James Prichard’s preliminary and still somewhat limited ethnological map of northern South America, contributing to the creation of a more complete picture of the indigenous Amazonian peoples of Brazil.

The Return of Napoleon Chagnon: On American “Cowboys” and Amazonian Indians, again

The immediate motive for the writing of this paper is the renewed interest in the controversial anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, whose name, scientific work and authority (or the dubious value thereof) is firmly linked to the Yanomami people of South America. The image of the “paleolithic -neolithic” warrior culture of the Yanomami in the contemporary world, which was construed by the American anthropologist through his books and ethnographic films, was received by millions of people all over the world, including members of the Yanomami community. At the turn of the 21st century, this image backfired at its author, his ethnographic subjects and the discipline itself, and began to disintegrate. The ensuing controversies are the topic of this paper.

Victims and Warriors

In 1956, a group of Waorani men killed five North American missionaries in Ecuador. The event cemented the Waorani's reputation as “wild Amazonian Indians” in the eyes of the outside world. It also added to the myth of the violent Amazon created by colonial writers and still found in academia and the state development agendas across the region. This book examines contemporary violence in the context of political and economic processes that transcend local events. The book explores how popular imagery of Amazonian violence has become part of Waorani social memory in oral histories, folklore performances, and indigenous political activism. As Amazonian forms of social memory merge with constructions of masculinity and other intercultural processes, the Waorani absorb missionaries, oil development, and logging depredations into their legacy of revenge killings and narratives of victimhood. The book shows that these memories of past violence form sites of negotiation and cultural innovation, and thus violence comes to constitute a central part of Amazonian sociality, identity, and memory.

No greens in the forest? Note on the limited consumption of greens in the Amazon

The consumption of greens is reported as being very minor among Amazonian Indians. The authors of this article present a new review of this subject, based on fieldwork with Amerindians and other populations in different parts of the Brazilian Amazon and French Guiana. Written sources on Brazilian, Peruvian, Columbian and Venezuelan Amazon were also reviewed. The consumption of cultivated, semi-cultivated and wild species of greens was taken into account here, as the data specific to wild greens is very scarce. It is confirmed that greens are not commonly eaten among native Amazonians and that some ethnic groups do not consume them at all. The consumed species are usually young shoots of weeds or cassava leaves. Common in the Belém region are some specific aromatic plants, which have been diffused to other parts of the Amazon, together with introduced plants such as kale and coriander. Migrants from Northeastern Brazil settled in the Amazon consume some cultivated greens, especially aromatic plants. Maroons are the ones who use more greens in their diet. Native Amazonian people, who supplement agriculture with game and fish, follow a hunter-gatherer pattern, preferring wild fruit and tubers to greens.

Confirming the presence of HTLV-1 infection and the absence of HTLV-2 in blood donors from Arequipa, Peru

Epidemiological studies conducted in Peru disclosed HTLV-1 to be prevalent in different ethnic groups, and found HTLV-2 in some Amazonian Indians and in men who have sex with men. No data concerning HTLV-1/2 infection in blood donors from Arequipa, a highlands region in southern Peru, is available. We searched for the presence of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 antibodies in 2,732 serum samples obtained from blood donors from this geographic area. HTLV-1/2-specific antibodies were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and were confirmed by Western blot (WB). Reactive sera had their blood bags discarded from donation, and the demographic characteristics of the donors were analyzed. Thirty-five sera (1.2%) were HTLV seroreactive by ELISA, and 25 were confirmed HTLV-1-positive by WB. One serum disclosed HTLV-positivity, and the remaining nine serum samples showed indeterminate results by WB; three of which had an HTLV-1 indeterminate Gag profile. The median age of HTLV-positive individuals was 34.6 years; 27 were male and eight were female. All individuals were from southern Peru: 27 from Arequipa, five from Puno, and three from Cuzco. HTLV co-positivity with hepatitis B (five sera) and syphilis (one serum) were detected. Previous transfusion and tattooing were observed in two and one individuals, respectively. No serum was positive for HTLV/HIV co-infection. This study confirmed, for the first time, HTLV-1 infection and the absence of HTLV-2 infection in blood donors from Arequipa, Peru and suggests vertical transmission as the major route of HTLV-1 transmission and acquisition in this geographic region.

Representations of western Amazonian indians on Inca colonial qeros

Este artigo propõe uma análise iconográfica dos vasos coloniais Inca conhecidos como qeros, oferecendo, dessa forma, uma visão da história Inca em que pode ser observado um dos meios de expressão que os Incas utilizavam para disseminar seus valores, tradições e, em última instância, sua ideologia. Um expressivo número de qeros retrata cenas de batalhas entre Incas e índios da Amazônia ocidental (ou Antis), repetidamente retratando a fauna e flora amazônica. A análise iconográfica dos qeros sugere que dos quatro suyus do império, o Antisuyu (a parte amazônica do Tahuantinsuyu) é a região de maior relevância no que se refere às imagens representadas. Assim sendo, serão analisados alguns qeros na tentativa de melhor compreender as imagens do Antisuyu e seus habitantes que os Incas escolheram projetar através desse meio de comunicação.