Editing Eden

Recent scholarship on the Amazon has challenged depictions of the region that emphasize its natural exuberance or represent its residents as historically isolated peoples stoically resisting challenges from powerful global forces. The contributors to this volume follow this lead by situating the discussion of the Amazon and its inhabitants at the intersections of identity politics, debates about socioeconomic sovereignty, and processes of place making. "Editing Eden" focuses on case studies from Amazonian Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador regarding the themes of indigeneity, community making, development politics, and the transcendence of indigenous/non-indigenous divides. Portraits of the Amazon emerge through an analysis of indigenous identity as a product of multiple sources, including state policies toward Amazonian populations, the views of foreign eco-tourists, the agendas of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and accounts of journalists. At the same time, indigenous and non-indigenous Amazonians challenge the representations constructed for and about them by integrating anthropologists and other non-locals into their reciprocal systems of gift giving, or by utilizing NGO or eco-tourist dollars to support their own cultural agendas. "Editing Eden" offers insights from leading anthropologists of the region, providing perspectives on the Amazon beyond the counterfeit paradise but short of El Dorado.

ISBN 0803216122   Pages 312 ISBN13 9780803216129 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 363 Publisher University of Nebraska Press   Published in Lincoln Imprint University of Nebraska Press   Height (mm) 213 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 137 Publication date 29 Apr 2010   Spine width (mm) 18 DEWEY 305.8009811   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

		List of Illustrations
		Introduction by Frank Hutchins and Patrick C. Wilson
Pt. 1		Myth, Meaning, Modernity, and Representation
1		Indigenous Capitalisms: Ecotourism, Cultural Reproduction, and the Logic of Capital in Ecuador's Upper Amazon by Frank Hutchins		3
2		Fractal Subjectivities: An Amazonian-Inspired Critique of Globalization Theory by Michael A. Uzendoski		38
3		The Portrayal of Colombian Indigenous Amazonian Peoples by the National Press, 1988-2006 by Jean E. Jackson		70
4		Cannibal Tourists and Savvy Savages: Understanding Amazonian Modernities by Neil L. Whitehead		106
Pt. 2		Ethnopolitics, Territory, and Notions of Community
5		For Love or Money? Indigenous Materialism and Humanitarian Agendas by Beth A. Conklin		127
6		Alternative Development in Putumayo, Colombia: Bringing Back the State through the Creation of Community and "Productive Social Capital"? by Maria Clemencia Ramirez		151
7		Normative Views, Strategic Views: The Geopolitical Maps in the Ethnic Territorialities of Putumayo by Margarita Chaves		191
8		Indigenous Leadership and the Shifting Politics of Development in Ecuador's Amazon by Patrick C. Wilson		218
9		Worlds at Cross-Purposes by Alcida Rita Ramos		246
		Contributors		261
		Index		265

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