Research Catalog

Upriver : the turbulent life and times of an Amazonian people / Michael F. Brown.

Title

Upriver : the turbulent life and times of an Amazonian people / Michael F. Brown.

Author

Brown, Michael F. (Michael Fobes), 1950-

Publication

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2014
©2014

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	F3429.1.A3 B76 2014	Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

321 pages : illustrations; 22 cm

Summary

In this remarkable story of one man's encounter with an indigenous people of Peru, Michael Brown guides his readers upriver into a contested zone of the Amazonian frontier, where more than 50,000 Awajun renowned for their pugnacity and fierce independence remain determined, against long odds, to live life on their own terms. When Brown took up residence with the Awajun in 1976, he knew little about them other than their ancestors reputation as fearsome headhunters. The fledgling anthropologist was immediately impressed by his hosts vivacity and resourcefulness. But eventually his investigations led him into darker corners of a world where murderous vendettas, fear of sorcery, and a shocking incidence of suicide were still common. Peru's Shining Path insurgency in the 1980s forced Brown to refocus his work elsewhere. Revisiting his field notes decades later, now with an older man's understanding of life's fragility, Brown saw a different story: a tribal society trying, and sometimes failing, to maintain order in the face of an expanding capitalist frontier. Curious about how the Awajun were faring, Brown returned to the site in 2012, where he found a people whose combative self-confidence had led them to the forefront of South America's struggle for indigenous rights. Written with insight, sensitivity, and humor, Upriver paints a vivid picture of a rapidly growing population that is refashioning its warrior tradition for the twenty-first century. Embracing literacy and digital technology, the Awajun are using hard-won political savvy to defend their rainforest home and right of self-determination.

Subject

Genre/Form

Folklore

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

committed to retain

Contents

Part One 1976--1978. Andean Prelude ; Armadillo for Breakfast ; Puzzle Pieces ; Jesus versus the Warrior Spirits ; Four Weddings and a Funeral ; Trouble in Mind ; Hard Lessons -- Part Two 1980--2012. Civilization's Twisting Road ; Boundary Condition ; Looking Back.

ISBN

9780674368071 (alk. paper)
067436807X (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2014004981

OCLC

875999867

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library