Nature and Culture in Prehistoric Amazonia : Using G.I.S. to reconstruct ancient ethnogenetic processes from archaeology, linguistics, geography, and ethnohistory
Author
Summary, in English
The thesis focuses on one of the major linguistic expansions in pre-Columbian South America, that of the Arawak language family. It identifies some of the cultural mechanisms in the interaction between Arawak- and non-Arawak-speaking societies, emphasizing the role of regional integration through long-distance travel and trade. The ambition is to transcend notions of bounded and essentialized ethnic identities that have characterized earlier attempts to account for the spatial distribution of indigenous languages and varieties of material culture. Emphasis is rather on the various factors that have conditioned active processes of ethnic identity construction, and on the methodological possibilities of identifying such conditions and processes at specific points in time and space.
Department/s
Publishing year
2011
Language
English
Publication/Series
Lund Studies in Human Ecology
Volume
12
Full text
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Human Ecology Division, Lund University
Topic
- Social and Economic Geography
Keywords
- Amazonia
- archaeology
- linguistics
- anthropology
- geography
- ethnohistory
- Arawak
- GIS
- ethnogenesis
- terra preta
- pre-Columbian
- ethnicity
- regional exchange system
- material culture
Status
Published
Supervisor
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1403-5022
- ISBN: 978-91-7473-113-2
Defence date
14 May 2011
Defence time
10:15
Defence place
Sal Världen, Geocentrum 1, Sölvegatan 10, Lund
Opponent
- Fernando Santos-Granero (Professor)