Awesome Amazonian Album and Music Offers

A riveting account of the astonishing experiences and discoveries made by linguist Daniel Everett while he lived with the Pirahã, a small tribe of Amazonian Indians in central Brazil.

Everett, then a Christian missionary, arrived among the Pirahã in 1977–with his wife and three young children–intending to convert them. What he found was a language that defies all existing linguistic theories and reflects a way of life that evades contemporary understanding: The Pirahã have no counting system and no fixed terms for color. They have no concept of war or of personal property. They live entirely in the present. Everett became obsessed with their language and its cultural and linguistic implications, and with the remarkable contentment with which they live–so much so that he eventually lost his faith in the God he’d hoped to introduce to them.

Over three decades, Everett spent a total of seven years among the Pirahã, and his account of this lasting sojourn is an engrossing exploration of language that questions modern linguistic theory. It is also an anthropological investigation, an adventure story, and a riveting memoir of a life profoundly affected by exposure to a different culture. Written with extraordinary acuity, sensitivity, and openness, it is fascinating from first to last, rich with unparalleled insight into the nature of language, thought, and life itself..
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A journey into the deeper workings of indigenous healing in the Amazon

• Explores the three pillars of Amazonian shamanism: purging, psychoactive plants, and diet

• Shares the experiences of apprenticing with an Ashaninca master shaman

• Reveals the intimate relationship between shamans and plant spirits

The Jaguar that Roams the Mind is a journey into the vanishing world of Amazonian shamanism--an adventure of initiation and return--that explores the unique reality at the heart of the Amazonian healing system. Robert Tindall shares his journeys through the inner and outer landscape of the churches of ayahuasca and with the Kaxinawa Indians in Brazil; his experiences at the pioneering center for the treatment of addiction, Takiwasi, in Peru; and his studies with an Ashaninca master shaman deep in the rainforest jungle.

Moving beyond the scientific approach to medicinal plants, which seeks to reduce them to their chemical constituents, Tindall illustrates the shamans’ intimate relationships with plant spirits. He explores the three pillars of Amazonian shamanism: purging (drawing disease out of the body), psychoactive plants (including the ritual use of ayahuasca), and diet (communing with the innate intelligence of teacher plants). Through trials and revelations, the subtle inner logic of indigenous healing unfolds for him, including the “miraculous” healing of a woman suffering from a brain tumor. Culminating in a ceremony fraught with terror yet ultimately enlightening, Tindall’s journey reveals the crucial component missing from the metaphysics of the West: the understanding and appreciation of the sentience of nature itself..
Price: $11.91 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"This is probably the most significant ethnography of cannibalism Period. . . . I expect this book to become a classic, an ethnography of exceptional depth and clarity by an anthropologist whose sensitivity and insight are apparent on every page." --Donald Pollock, Associate Professor of Anthropology, SUNY Buffalo Mourning the death of loved ones and recovering from their loss are universal human experiences, yet the grieving process is as different between cultures as it is among individuals. As late as the 1960s, the Wari' Indians of the western Amazonian rainforest ate the roasted flesh of their dead as an expression of compassion for the deceased and for his or her close relatives. By removing and transforming the corpse, which embodied ties between the living and the dead and was a focus of grief for the family of the deceased, Wari' death rites helped the bereaved kin accept their loss and go on with their lives. Drawing on the recollections of Wari' elders who participated in consuming the dead, this book presents one of the richest, most authoritative ethnographic accounts of funerary cannibalism ever recorded. Beth Conklin explores Wari' conceptions of person, body, and spirit, as well as indigenous understandings of memory and emotion, to explain why the Wari' felt that corpses must be destroyed and why they preferred cannibalism over cremation. Her findings challenge many commonly held beliefs about cannibalism and show why, in Wari' terms, it was considered the most honorable and compassionate way of treating the dead..
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This text is a case study of one people, the Canela, which traces changes through time, a group uniquely held together by social and sexual bonds, and reveals the ethnographer's fieldwork practices. The authors present much of the material through short narratives and examples and Native points of view are expressed through their diaries. The reader is introduced to the Canela with an account of one of the author's arrivals in the tribe. This is followed by a brief history of the Canela that clarifies how the network of the kinship system holds the society together, and how the unusual sex practices create satisfying bonds among the people. The case study also shows how the practice of rituals affirms the group way of life for the individual. Many contemporary influences have caused the gradual demise of the Canela way of life. The case study concludes with an epilogue on the Canela's future adaptation to Brazilian life..
Price: $7.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The story of Santo Daime--a new religion that blends elements of Christianity with older Amazonian indigenous spiritual practices--and the ecologically sound and spiritually centered utopian community it has inspired.

A true story of a classical spiritual encounter, as well as an intimate account of the genesis of an important religious tradition that continues to grow worldwide.

Alex Polari de Alverga spent years as a political prisoner during the rule of the military junta in Brazil, enduring torture, brutality, and deprivation. On his release from captivity and in search of something to restore his spiritual connection to life, he had a transformative encounter with one of the two revered founders of Santo Daime, Padriho Sebastio Mota de Mela. Santo Daime--an Amazonian religion, born out of jungle entheogens, mediumship, and healing, that is a potent and unique synthesis of Christianity and indigenous practices--provided Alverga with an alternative to his disillusionment with modern society. His quest for spiritual initiation eventually led him deep into the heart of the rainforest to Mapia, one of the spiritual centers of Santo Daime, where he became a teacher and leader of the Daime community.

Forest of Visions is a story of a classic spiritual encounter comparable to the Tibetan Saint Milarepa's search for his teacher Marpa. It is also an intimate account of the genesis of an important religious tradition that from modest beginnings in Brazil has now spread throughout the world and continues to grow. It provides an inside look at the spiritually centered village of Mapia, a model for communities in the 21st century..
Price: $10.93 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"The first ever Lonely Planet guidebook was stapled together at a kitchen table. We're keeping that spirit alive with CUSTOM guides - sections of our most popular books combined to fit your trip. The Amazon The legend has been calling you, hasn't it? Was it the thought of jungle trekking and animal-spotting? River-rafting past crashing waterfalls? Crazy towns in the middle of nowhere? The huge Amazon rainforest spans seven countries – and so does this guide, with chapters handpicked from different guidebooks to take you along every inch of the Amazon, from start to finish. Sound good? Then this is the CUSTOM guide for you. This book includes:

• Coverage of the Amazonian regions of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas
• Detailed maps
• History and climate information
• Practical information spanning accommodation to internet access to visas
• Vital transport information – how to get there and how to get around
• Language chapter including Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, indigenous languages and more

This CUSTOM guide is made up of the following chapters:
The Amazon Brazil 7th edition, Jan 2008
Amazon Basin Bolivia 6th edition, Apr 2007
Amazon Basin Peru 6th edition, Feb 2007
The Oriente Ecuador 7th edition, Aug 2006
Amazon Basin Colombia 4th edition, Jun 2006
Guayana Venezuela 5th edition, Jul 2007
The Guianas South America on a Shoestring 10th edition, Mar 2007
Directory South America on a Shoestring 10th edition, Mar 2007
Transportation South America on a Shoestring 10th edition, Mar 2007
Language South America on a Shoestring 10th edition, Mar 2007".
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Winner of the American Musical Society's Kinkeldey Award Like many other South American Indian communities, the Suy Indians of Mato Grosso, Brazil, devote a great deal of time and energy to making music, especially singing. In paperback for the first time, Anthony Seeger's Why Suy Sing considers the reasons for the importance of music for the Suy--and by extension for other groups-- through an examination of myth telling, speech making, and singing in the initiation ceremony. Based on over twenty-four months of field research and years of musical exchange, Seeger analyzes the different verbal arts and then focuses on details of musical performance. He reveals how Suy singing creates euphoria out of silence, a village community out of a collection of houses, a socialized adult out of a boy, and contributes to the formation of ideas about time, space, and social identity. This new paperback edition features an indispensable CD offering examples of the myth telling, speeches, and singing discussed, as well as a new afterword that describes the continuing use of music by the Suy in their recent conflicts with cattle ranchers and soybean farmers..
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Amazonia has long been a focus of debate about the impact of the tropical rain forest environment on indigenous cultural development This edited volume draws on the subdisciplines of anthropology to present an integrated perspective of Amazonian studies. The contributors address transformations of native societies as a result of their interaction with Western civilization from initial contact to the present day, demonstrating that the pre- and postcontact characteristics of these societies display differences that until now have been little recognized. CONTENTS
Amazonian Anthropology: Strategy for a New Synthesis, Anna C. Roosevelt
The Ancient Amerindian Polities of the Amazon, Orinoco and Atlantic Coast: A Preliminary Analysis of Their Passage from Antiquity to Extinction, Neil Lancelot Whitehead
The Impact of Conquest on Contemporary Indigenous Peoples of the Guiana Shield: The System of Orinoco Regional Interdependence, Nelly Arvelo-Jiménez and Horacio Biord
Social Organization and Political Power in the Amazon Floodplain: The Ethnohistorical Sources, Antonio Porro
The Evidence for the Nature of the Process of Indigenous Deculturation and Destabilization in the Amazon Region in the Last 300 Years: Preliminary Data, Adélia Engrácia de Oliveira
Health and Demography of Native Amazonians: Historical Perspective and Current Status, Warren M. Hern
Diet and Nutritional Status of Amazonian Peoples, Darna L. Dufour
Hunting and Fishing in Amazonia: Hold the Answers, What are the Questions?, Stephen Beckerman
Homeostasis as a Cultural System: The Jivaro Case, Philippe Descola
Farming, Feuding, and Female Status: The Achuara Case, Pita Kelekna
Subsistence Strategy, Social Organization, and Warfare in Central Brazil in the Context of European Penetration, Nancy M. Flowers
Environmental and Social Implications of Pre- and Post-Contact Situations on Brazilian Indians: The Kayapo and a New Amazonian Synthesis, Darrell Addison Posey
Beyond Resistance: A Comparative Study of Utopian Renewal in Amazonia, Michael F. Brown
The Eastern Bororo Seen from an Archaeological Perspective, Irmhilde Wüst
Genetic Relatedness and Language Distributions in Amazonia, Harriet E. Manelis Klein
Language, Culture, and Environment: Tup¡-Guaran¡ Plant Names Over Time, William Balée and Denny Moore
Becoming Indian: The Politics of Tukanoan Ethnicity, Jean E. Jackson.
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MANU BIOSPHERE RESERVE, the largest tropical rainforest biosphere reserve on earth lies at the furthest tip of the upper Amazon River in the remote southeaster region of Peru. Only 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the spectacular Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, Manu is unique in that it protects three, highly-distinct ecosystems: the Puna-a high-altitude, tundra-like area characterized by pale yellow ichu grass, isolated blue lakes and tassel-eared llamas; the cloud forest-a mysterious world bathed in constant mist and inhabited by brilliant- red Cock of the Rocks, Spectacled Bears and score of dripping tree ferns; and the lowland rainforest-home of the giang Black Caiman, Giant Otter, 13 species of monkeys and over 1000 species of brids (10% of the world's total). Although invaded at different times by Inca Indians, Spanish Conquistadors and Victorian rubber kings, Manu Biosphere Reserve has largely been protected through the centuries both by its remote location and by the presence of hostile native tribes. Manu currently supports four native ethnic groups-two of which are still uncontacted-and protects 4,646,564 acres (1,881,200 hectares) of land. Almost half the size of Switzerland, Manu is perhaps the most species-rich protected area to be found anywhere on Earth..
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