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Behold The Black Caiman - A Chronicle Of Ayoreo Life

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Profound exploration of indigenous struggle and survival.

Recommendation: - This powerful ethnography, "Behold the Black Caiman," takes readers on a poignant journey into the lives of the Ayoreo-speaking tribes in the Gran Chaco. Lucas Bessire presents a haunting account of their struggle to survive as modernity encroaches upon their ancestral lands. Through vivid storytelling and deep empathy, Bessire challenges prevailing notions of indigenous peoples, forcing us to confront the violence and discrimination they endure. A thought-provoking and urgent read for those interested in the resilience and moral dilemmas faced by marginalized communities.

Sale

Behold The Black Caiman - A Chronicle Of Ayoreo Life

Regular price $7.90 $3.90 51% off
Unit price
per
ISBN: 9780226175577
Authors: Lucas Bessire
Date of Publication: 2014-10-24
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Sociology, History
Goodreads rating: 4.13
(rated by 52 readers)

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In 2004, one of the world’s last bands of voluntarily isolated nomads left behind their ancestral life in the dwindling thorn forests of northern Paraguay, fleeing ranchers’ bulldozers.  Behold the Black Caiman is Lucas Bessire’s intimate chronicle of the journey of this small group of Ayoreo people, the terrifying new world they now face, and the precarious lives they are piecing together against the backdrop of soul-collecting missionaries, humanitarian NGOs, late liberal economic policies, and the highest deforestation rate in the world. Drawing on ten years of fieldwork, Bessire highlights the stark disconnect between the desperate conditions of Ayoreo life for those out of the forest and the well-funded global efforts to preserve those Ayoreo still living in it. By showing how this disconnect reverberates within Ayoreo bodies and minds, his reflexive account takes aim at the devastating consequences of our society’s continued obsession with the primitive and raises important questions about anthropology’s potent capacity to further or impede indigenous struggles for sovereignty. The result is a timely update to the classic literary ethnographies of South America, a sustained critique of the so-called ontological turn―one of anthropology’s hottest trends―and, above all, an urgent call for scholars and activists alike to rethink their notions of difference.
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Profound exploration of indigenous struggle and survival.

Recommendation: - This powerful ethnography, "Behold the Black Caiman," takes readers on a poignant journey into the lives of the Ayoreo-speaking tribes in the Gran Chaco. Lucas Bessire presents a haunting account of their struggle to survive as modernity encroaches upon their ancestral lands. Through vivid storytelling and deep empathy, Bessire challenges prevailing notions of indigenous peoples, forcing us to confront the violence and discrimination they endure. A thought-provoking and urgent read for those interested in the resilience and moral dilemmas faced by marginalized communities.