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Growing up in a remote corner of the world's largest rainforest, Pio, Maria, and Oita learned to hunt wild pigs and tapirs, gathering Brazil nuts and açaí berries from centuries-old trees. Then the first highway pierced through. Ranchers, loggers, and prospectors invaded, and they lost their families to terrible new weapons and diseases. Pushed by the government to assimilate, they struggled to understand their new, capitalist reality, discovering its wonders as well as its horrors. They ended up forging an uneasy symbiosis with their white antagonists - until an extraordinary seam of diamonds erupted in their territory and decades of suppressed trauma burst out in an act of retribution that made headlines across the globe.

Can forests think? Do dogs dream? In this astonishing book, Eduardo Kohn challenges the very foundations of anthropology, calling into question our central assumptions about what it means to be human -- and thus distinct from all other life forms. Based on four years of fieldwork among the Runa of Ecuador's Upper Amazon, Eduardo Kohn draws on his rich ethnography to explore how Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit one of the world's most complex ecosystems. Whether or not we recognize it, our anthropological tools hinge on those capacities that make us distinctly human. However, when we turn our ethnographic attention to how we relate to other kinds of beings, these tools (which have the effect of divorcing us from the rest of the world) break down. How Forests Think seizes on this breakdown as an opportunity. Avoiding reductionistic solutions, and without losing sight of how our lives and those of others are caught up in the moral webs we humans spin, this book skillfully fashions new kinds of conceptual tools from the strange and unexpected properties of the living world itself. In this groundbreaking work, Kohn takes anthropology in a new and exciting direction-one that offers a more capacious way to think about the world we share with other kinds of beings.

Cultural Forests of the Amazon is a comprehensive and diverse account of how indigenous people transformed landscapes and managed resources in the most extensive region of tropical forests in the world.   Until recently, most scholars and scientists, as well as the general public, thought indigenous people had a minimal impact on Amazon forests, once considered to be total wildernesses. William Balée’s research, conducted over a span of three decades, shows a more complicated truth. In Cultural Forests of the Amazon , he argues that indigenous people, past and present, have time and time again profoundly transformed nature into culture. Moreover, they have done so using their traditional knowledge and technology developed over thousands of years. Balée demonstrates the inestimable value of indigenous knowledge in providing guideposts for a potentially less destructive future for environments and biota in the Amazon. He shows that we can no longer think about species and landscape diversity in any tropical forest without taking into account the intricacies of human history and the impact of all forms of knowledge and technology.   Balée describes the development of his historical ecology approach in Amazonia, along with important material on little-known forest dwellers and their habitats, current thinking in Amazonian historical ecology, and a narrative of his own dialogue with the Amazon and its people.

From the pre-Columbian era to the present, native Amazonians have shaped the land around them, emphasizing utilization, conservation, and sustainability. These priorities stand in stark contrast to colonial and contemporary exploitation of Amazonia by outside interests. With essays from environmental scientists, botanists, and anthropologists, this volume explores the various effects of human development on Amazonia. The contributors argue that by protecting and drawing on local knowledge and values, further environmental ruin can be avoided.

The legendary El Dorado-the city of gold-remains a mere legend, but astonishing new discoveries are revealing a major civilization in ancient Amazonia that was more complex than anyone previously dreamed. Scholars have long insisted that the Amazonian ecosystem placed severe limits on the size and complexity of its ancient cultures, but leading researcher Denise Schaan reverses that view, synthesizing exciting new evidence of large-scale land and resource management to tell a new history of indigenous Amazonia. Schaan also engages fundamental debates about the development of social complexity and the importance of ancient Amazonia from a global perspective. This innovative, interdisciplinary book is a major contribution to the study of human-environment relations, social complexity, and past and present indigenous societies.

The author presents an anthropological analysis of the regulatory technologies that characterize contemporary resource frontiers. He offers an ethnographic portrayal of indigenous rights, resource extraction and environmental politics in the Peruvian Amazon.

Human–plant relations shed light on forms of reciprocity in Indigenous territorial stewardship. This article shows how Cofán, Siona and Siekopai (also Secoya or Airo Pai in Peru) Indigenous Peoples in the western Amazon collect, cultivate and use yoco (Paullinia yoco) to promote communal conviviality, reclaim once‐threatened cultural practices and advance new forms of collective stewardship to promote social‐ecological well‐being. Yoco is a caffeine‐rich liana closely intertwined with the daily life and spiritual practices of many Indigenous Amazonian Peoples, particularly within the tri‐border region of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. We centre Indigenous storytelling as pedagogy and methodology, something common in the Amazon and relevant to yoco, as it is consumed socially and often while stories are shared. Through collaborative transdisciplinary research, we assess the forms of relationality and reciprocity yoco fosters in three ways. First, we discuss histories, uses and cultivation of yoco. Second, we consider the divergent pathways that communities have had with yoco, from loss to recuperation of human–plant relations across time. Third, we show examples of how differentiated use of yoco in Cofán, Siekopai and Siona communities supports cultural revitalization, territorial defense and stewardship initiatives evidenced by renewed efforts to enhance intergenerational transmission of local knowledge. Cofán, Siona and Siekopai stewardship of yoco is not merely ecological management of a plant but represents a dynamic interaction between cultural identity, spiritual practice and political resistance. As Siona, Siekopai and Cofán communities confront external pressures such as deforestation, extractive industries and socio‐political marginalization, relationships with yoco facilitate pathways to sustain cultural and ecological relations in the face of profound change. Reclaiming and maintaining human–plant relations is a form of self‐determination that can inform effective and ethical biocultural conservation. Through yoco, the Cofán, Siekopai and Siona peoples demonstrate that biocultural conservation helps maintain social‐ecological well‐being while underscoring the importance of territory. The future of conservation must embrace Indigenous stewardship, where reciprocity and care for both human and non‐human worlds are central. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Resumen Las relaciones humano‐planta ofrecen una perspectiva sobre las formas de reciprocidad en la gestión territorial indígena. Este artículo muestra cómo los Pueblos Indígenas Cofán, Siona y Siekopai (también llamados Secoya o Airo Pai en Perú) en la Amazonía occidental recolectan, cultivan y utilizan el yoco (Paullinia yoco) para promover la convivialidad comunal, recuperar prácticas culturales amenazadas y fomentar nuevas formas de gestión colectiva que impulsen el bienestar socioecológico. El yoco es una liana rica en cafeína, estrechamente relacionada con la vida cotidiana y las prácticas espirituales de muchos Pueblos indígenas amazónicos, particularmente en la región trifronteriza entre Colombia, Ecuador y Perú. Centramos la narración indígena como pedagogía y metodología, algo común en la Amazonía y relevante para el yoco, ya que se consume socialmente y a menudo mientras se comparten historias. A través de la investigación transdisciplinaria colaborativa, evaluamos las formas de relacionamiento y reciprocidad que fomenta el yoco de tres maneras. Primero, discutimos la historia, el uso y el cultivo del yoco. Segundo, consideramos los caminos divergentes que las comunidades han tenido con el yoco, desde la pérdida hasta la recuperación de las relaciones humano‐planta a lo largo del tiempo. Tercero, mostramos ejemplos de cómo el uso diferenciado del yoco en las comunidades Cofán, Siekopai y Siona apoya la revitalización cultural, la defensa territorial y las iniciativas de gestión evidenciadas por los renovados esfuerzos para cultivar yoco para mejorar la transmisión intergeneracional del conocimiento local. La gestión del yoco por parte de los pueblos Cofán, Siona y Siekopai no es meramente un manejo ecológico de una planta, sino que representa una interacción dinámica entre identidad cultural, práctica espiritual y resistencia política. A medida que las comunidades Siona, Siekopai y Cofán enfrentan presiones externas como la deforestación, las industrias extractivas y la marginación sociopolítica, las relaciones con el yoco facilitan caminos para mantener relaciones culturales y ecológicas frente a cambios profundos. Reivindicar y sostener las relaciones humano‐planta es una forma de autodeterminación que puede informar prácticas de conservación biocultural efectivas y éticas. A través del yoco, los pueblos Cofán, Siekopai y Siona demuestran que la conservación biocultural ayuda a preservar el bienestar socioecológico y subraya la relevancia del territorio. El futuro de la conservación debe integrar la gestión indígena, donde la reciprocidad y el cuidado tanto del mundo humano como del no humano son centrales. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Arecaceae (palms) are an important resource for indigenous communities as well as fauna populations across Amazonia. Understanding the spatial patterns and the environmental factors that determine the habitats of palms is of considerable interest to rainforest ecologists. Here, we utilize remotely sensed imagery in conjunction with topography and soil attribute data and employ a generalized cluster identification algorithm, Hierarchical Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (HDBSCAN), to study the underlying patterns of palms in two areas of Guyana, South America. The results of the HDBSCAN assessment were cross-validated with several point pattern analysis methods commonly used by ecologists (the quadrat test for complete spatial randomness, Morista Index, Ripley’s L-function, and the pair correlation function). A spatial logistic regression model was generated to understand the multivariate environmental influences driving the placement of cluster and outlier palms. Our results showed that palms are strongly clustered in the areas of interest and that the HDBSCAN’s clustering output correlates well with traditional analytical methods. The environmental factors influencing palm clusters or outliers, as determined by logistic regression, exhibit qualitative similarities to those identified in conventional ground-based palm surveys. These findings are promising for prospective research aiming to integrate remote flora identification techniques with traditional data collection studies.