A transdisciplinary collaboration among ethnologists,
linguists, and archaeologists, Ethnicity in Ancient
Amazonia traces the emergence, expansion, and decline of
cultural identities in indigenous Amazonia.
Hornborg and Hill argue that the tendency to link language,
culture, and biology--essentialist notions of ethnic identities--is
a Eurocentric bias that has characterized largely inaccurate
explanations of the distribution of ethnic groups and languages in
Amazonia. The evidence, however, suggests a much more fluid
relationship among geography, language use, ethnic identity, and
genetics. In Ethnicity in Ancient Amazonia, leading
linguists, ethnographers, ethnohistorians, and archaeologists
interpret their research from a unique nonessentialist perspective
to form a more accurate picture of the ethnolinguistic diversity in
this area.
Revealing how ethnic identity construction is constantly in
flux, contributors show how such processes can be traced through
different ethnic markers such as pottery styles and languages.
Scholars and students studying lowland South America will be
especially interested, as will anthropologists intrigued by its
cutting-edge, interdisciplinary approach.
eISBN: 978-1-60732-095-1
Subjects: Sociology, Archaeology, Anthropology
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