Product Description
This digital document is an article from NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs, published by Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute on July 24, 2009. The length of the article is 1742 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: PERU: AMAZONIAN INDIGENOUS ALLEGE PERSECUTION.
Author: Elsa Chanduvi Jana
Publication: NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: July 24, 2009
Publisher: Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute


Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
The People of Peru is about the indigenous people groups that did not exist in the minds of most people living in Lima two to three decades ago. Yet they inhabited the land long before Columbus discovered the New World. These people live in the highlands and lowlands, in areas that, to a great extent, can only be reached on horseback or foot or by small planes or canoes. This book describes and illustrates 52 of these language groups. It will give the reader glimpses into the history, language, customs, beliefs, values, and daily activities of the indigenous people of Peru. The book begins with the Quechua language family consisting of people groups that predominantly live in the Andes mountains and have large populations, some numbering half a million speakers or more. Then it describes language family groups that live in the lowlands, beginning with the larger ones and ending with the smaller ones and those that cannot be classified as belonging to any language family, the so-called isolates. Today, 26 years after my arrival in Peru, the public, the news media, and the government have become very aware of the indigenous population of their land and most acknowledge their presence with kindness (taken from the preface). ... Read more

Product Description
In this volume, the authors present an original ethnographic study of five llama herding communities in Ayacucho, Peru. Data on herd dynamics are subjected to computer modeling in an effort to evaluate the roles of biology, symbolic and ritual behavior, ecological adaptation, and practical reason. The book contains the most detailed study of the waytakuy llama marking ceremony yet available. The role of this ceremony in preventing herds from going to extinction is evaluated against anthropological and sociobiological theory.
This is an interdisciplinary book will appeal to professional archaeologists, prehistorians, cultural anthropologists, Andeanists, theoretical biologists, evolutionary biologists, and zoologists interested in animal domestication. ... Read more

Product Description
The Snake With Golden Braids seeks to understand how local inhabitants of the extraordinarily rugged Andean topography of Huanoquite, Peru came to understand their landscape and then build and maintain a system of irrigation ditches across it. Stephen G. Bunker combines a history of these systems with a rethinking of the local myths, legends, and environment to help make sense of the land and its uses. ... Read more

Product Description
While many scholars have been interested in the size of the Indian population of the Americas at the time of first contact with Europeans, this book is the first to make a thorough examination of the question. Focusing on Peru, Professor Cook estimates population size on the basis of archaeology, carrying capacity of the agricultural systems, disease mortality, depopulation ratios, and census projection. He also analyses the catastrophic population decline that resulted from contact with Europeans, and compares this experience with that of the coastal region and the Andean highlands. ... Read more

Product Description
Indian Society in the Valley of Lima, Peru 1532-1824 focuses on commonly overlooked institutional and social mechanisms which enabled Indians to assert themselves as a separate people in the very heart of Spain's New World Empire, the city of Lima and its hinterland. Despite being substantially outnumbered by non-Indians throughout the colonial period, the valley's Indians developed an ethnic consciousness by the skillful appropriation of aspects of Spanish culture and by salvaging some elements of the indigenous past. Paradoxically, the Indians made Spanish transplants- like the religious confraternity, will-making, godparenthood, - their own, which consequently provided them the means for controlling their daily lives. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs, published by Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute on August 28, 2009. The length of the article is 1352 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: PERU: GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATION AND RACISM.
Author: Unavailable
Publication: NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: August 28, 2009
Publisher: Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute


Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs, published by Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute on January 29, 2010. The length of the article is 1295 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: PERU: REPORT BLAMES AMAZONIAN INDIANS FOR VIOLENCE.
Author: Unavailable
Publication: NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: January 29, 2010
Publisher: Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute


Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Reproductive Health Matters, published by Reproductive Health Matters on May 1, 2003. The length of the article is 434 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Women's reproductive rights under attack in Peru.(Law and Policy)
Publication: Reproductive Health Matters (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2003
Publisher: Reproductive Health Matters
Volume: 11Issue: 21Page: 194(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs, published by Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute on June 18, 2010. The length of the article is 1955 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: PERU: ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF BAGUA MASSACRE.
Author: Unavailable
Publication: NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: June 18, 2010
Publisher: Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute


Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
In Inka Bodies and the Body of Christ Carolyn Dean investigates the multiple meanings of the Roman Catholic feast of Corpus Christi as it was performed in the Andean city of Cuzco after the Spanish conquest. By concentrating on the era’s paintings and its historical archives, Dean explores how the festival celebrated the victory of the Christian God over sin and death, the triumph of Christian orthodoxy over the imperial Inka patron (the Sun), and Spain’s conquest of Peruvian society.

As Dean clearly illustrates, the central rite of the festival—the taking of the Eucharist—symbolized both the acceptance of Christ and the power of the colonizers over the colonized. The most remarkable of Andean celebrants were those who appeared costumed as the vanquished Inka kings of Peru’s pagan past. Despite the subjugation of the indigenous population, Dean shows how these and other Andean nobles used the occasion of Corpus Christi as an opportunity to construct new identities through tinkuy, a native term used to describe the conjoining of opposites. By mediating the chasms between the Andean region and Europe, pagans and Christians, and the past and the present, these Andean elites negotiated a new sense of themselves. Dean moves beyond the colonial period to examine how these hybrid forms of Inka identity are still evident in the festive life of modern Cuzco.

Inka Bodies and the Body of Christ offers the first in-depth analysis of the culture and paintings of colonial Cuzco. This volume will be welcomed by historians of Peruvian culture, art, and politics. It will also interest those engaged in performance studies, religion, and postcolonial and Latin American studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not the book I thought it was going to be...
Dean's book examines the ambiguity of symbols inherent in the colonial experience.I often wondered-as with most historical reconstructions of "culture" and interpretations of practices long lost from memory-if there was enough "evidence" to make the claims she makes about the representation of sub-alterity.On the one hand, the Indian appears to constructing a colonial self through his/her dress, decoration, mannerisms, artistic expressive forms (such as dance or architecture), etc.But on the other hand, s/he is engaged in the hegemonic forces of "being Indian" within the dominant colonialist ideology.The question is, to what extent did the Indian have the freedom to make choices about dress, dance, decoration, etc. and to what extent was the image of the Indian under the control and creation of the colonialist/church?

I think the pressing need for an academic to take a "politically correct" stance in this day and age must sadly override the ability to present the honest truth in the case of colonial subjectivity.Allowing the indigenous people to speak for themselves is questionable in the case of iconic representation.For instance, where are the depictions of the Indians who carried the massive saints--where are these dark bodies in the paintings Dean examines.And if they are missing, why doesn't the author seem troubled by this?

Read the book and decide for yourself. ... Read more

Product Description
Richly illustrated, this book describes the grandeur and richness of the numerous civilizations predating the Incas, including the Paracas, Nazca, Recuay, Sicán-Lambayeque, Moche-Sipán, and Chimú cultures, as well as the great Inca civilization. Included in the book are the important sites and landscapes representative of the three major ecological levels of Peru, as well as a general view and a historical perspective of the pre-Columbian cultures of Peru. Luis Guillermo Lumbreras examines the historical and archaeological context while Fernando de Szyslo presents the viewpoint of a contemporary Peruvian artist. Informative text written by Peruvian specialists in the field introduce each chapter dedicated to each of the pre-Columbian cultures. Two hundred stunning objects—pottery, textiles, and jewelry—illustrate the varied artistic achievements of each ancient culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

beautiful and interesting book
This book is plenty with beautiful pictures and good explanations regarding important Peruvian pre-columbian archeological pieces. A good addition to my collection on this subject ... Read more

Product Description
The Arakmbut are an indigenous people who live in the Madre de Dios region of thesoutheastern Peruvian rain forest. Since their first encounters with missionaries in the 1950s,they have shown resilience and a determination to affirm their identity in the face of many difficulties. During the last fifteen years, Arakmbut survival has been under threat from a goldrush that has attracted hundreds of colonists onto their territories. This trilogy of books traces the ways in which the Arakmbut overcome the dangers that surround them: their mythology and cultural strength; their social flexibility; and their capacity to incorporate non-indigenous concepts and activities into their defence strategies. Each area is punctuated by the constant presence of the invisible spirit, which provides a seamless theme connecting the books to each other.Following the Arakmbuts' recommendation, the author uses their three greatest myths to introduce social, cultural and historical aspects of their lives. He ends with a discussion of the relationship between myth and history showing how the Arakmbut recreate their myths at the dramatic moments of their history. ... Read more

Product Description
Centuries before the rise of the Inca, the Moche created impressive monumental architecture and precious metal objects (c. A.D. 100–800). Today, large-scale projects at several sites in Peru, including the richest unlooted tomb ever discovered in the New World, have uncovered dramatic new discoveries about this ancient coastal civilization. This volume discusses the implications of these findings.A major theme of the book is how the visual arts and political representation are connected in Moche culture. The contributors pay special attention to the relations between Moche visual imagery and other kinds of knowledge gained from the archaeological record. Topics ranging from the nature of urbanism to Moche portraiture to the visual representation of warfare versus the physical remains of battles will fascinate not only archaeologists and art historians but also students and scholars in related disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Art is Technology
A delightful selection ofpapers from a 21st century symposium on the modalities of Moche civilization from a wide variety of sites on the north coast of Peru.Shimada contributes a nice piece that focuses on some of the everyday technology that made luxurious living possible with detailed maps of workshops, or mini-factories, that produced ceramics and smelted metals in back street sectors oflong dead, repeatedly looted, cities.Meditations on human sacrifice, or at least intentional ritualized killing, and postmortem "quality times" combine with three dimensional portrait images of several men whose accomplishments and sufferings were legendary.The book includes a tantalizing introduction to the images of a narrative told in bas relief on the walls of Huaca Cao Viejo that pique my curiosity -- why are they still under wraps?As a general rule, the illustrative photographs and drawings are less satisfying, because more traditional and in grey scale, than those in other recent books, although they are still quite evocative. Good papers, with good bibliographies, but few Websites which is disappointing because it is clear that all the authorities have taken numerous photos of everything.
... Read more

Product Description
In this uniquely personal account of the lives and healing arts of female shamans in northern Peru, the author alternates diaristic writings about her own experiences with ethnographic description. Her analytical essays explore the concepts of sorcery, shamanism, and witchcraft, case studies of Peruvian women and their ritual healing techniques, the healers' religious and symbolic space, and the healing attributes unique to women. They alternate with chapters in which Glass-Coffin describes her introduction to Peru as a high school student, the traditional roles she adopted in her host family, the crisis that rocked her identity, her first ritual contact with a female healer, and her own tumultuous but ultimately rewarding healing journey under two female shamans. Male shamans, she concludes, sally forth into the spirit world to do individual combat with the sources of spiritual illness, whereas female shamans try to involve their patients more directly in their own healing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

a new point of view
Joralemon and Sharon's work was lacking a female point of view on northern peruvian shamanism. This book delivers that point of view along with a very personal account of the experience.

A refreshing combination of the academic, anecdotal and analytic
Other reviewers have described the breadth and depth of Glass-Coffin's study of Northern Peruvian curanderas and have noted how effectively she weaves her personal story through the book. I would like to add my kudos as well. I appreciated the solid historical context and enjoyed reading about her experiences with some of the ancient healing traditions and their modern incarnations. Having traveled through the region myself, I have can concur with her observations about some of the differences between male and female practitioners. It provides much food for thought.

Glass-Coffin's book will provide a great deal of insight for anyone interested in healing traditions or South American history. Although Post-conquest influences have mutated the expression of native spirituality, they did not completely eradicate time honored practices.

Contemporary Women Healers in Peru
Prior to THE GIFT OF LIFE, little had been written about the role women play in healing and shamanism in Northern Peru. Part of the reason for this oversight had to do with the way European colonization brought the concept of "witchcraft" to Peru, and the fact that Peruvian women who practiced traditional healing arts were frequently beaten and tortured until they confessed to standard European-style "witchcraft" practices. Author Bonnie Glass-Coffin was trained as an anthropologist, so she knew that women have historically played a large part in shamanism from looking at the ancient sculptures of the Moche and Chimu, which both portray women involved in healing arts. With the intention to find and interview modern-day women shamans in Peru, Glass-Coffin set out to do exactly that.

Bonnie Glass-Coffin shares the stories from five female curanderas (shamans) she met with between April 1988 and September 1989. Her extraordinary book, THE GIFT OF LIFE, describes the daily life of these female curanderas and the story of how they became healers, and includes black and white photographs of their mesas (curing altars) and healing herbs (plants such as the San Pedro cactus). Glass-Coffin's background in anthropology and her accounts of her experiences living in Peru as she grew up give this book a unique feeling of personal relevance and social perspective.

I was impressed that THE GIFT OF LIFE does not shy away from describing the ways curanderas have used their spiritual powers on some occasions for sorcery. Glass-Coffin describes "dano" as intended harm by sorcery, and tells stories and includes pictures of how Peruvians have discovered and dealt with the harmful magic of others. She also describes some of the differences between male and female healers in Peru -- such as the way female curanderas tend to involve patients more directly in their healing. I was also impressed that Glass-Coffin described her own personal involvement being healed by curanderas, giving this book tremendous warmth. The first-hand accounts of what it feels like to suffer as the recipient of a dano help the reader better understand the way our thoughts and feelings affect one another.

I give this book my highest recommendation to anyone who is interested in ancient traditional ways of healing, wishes to know what is unique about women healers, and is intrigued by reading stories about how our thoughts and feelings affect others.

Contemporary Women Healers in Peru
Prior to THE GIFT OF LIFE, little had been written about the role women play in healing and shamanism in Northern Peru.Part of the reason for this oversight had to do with the way European colonization brought the concept of "witchcraft" to Peru, and the fact that Peruvian women who practiced traditional healing arts were frequently beaten and tortured until they confessed to standard European-style "witchcraft" practices.Author Bonnie Glass-Coffin was trained as an anthropologist, so she knew that women have historically played a large part in shamanism from looking at the ancient sculptures of the Moche and Chimu, which both portray women involved in healing arts. With the intention to find and interview modern-day women shamans in Peru, Glass-Coffin set out to do exactly that.

Bonnie Glass-Coffin shares the stories from five female curanderas (shamans) she met with between April 1988 and September 1989.Her extraordinary book, THE GIFT OF LIFE,describes the daily life of these female curanderas and the story of how they became healers, and includes black and white photographs of their mesas (curing altars) and healing herbs (plants such as the San Pedro cactus).Glass-Coffin's background in anthropology and her accounts of her experiences living in Peru as she grew up give this book a unique feeling of personal relevance and social perspective.

I was impressed that THE GIFT OF LIFE does not shy away from describing the ways curanderas have used their spiritual powers on some occasions for sorcery.Glass-Coffin describes "dano" as intended harm by sorcery, and tells stories and includes pictures of how Peruvians have discovered and dealt with the harmful magic of others.She also describes some of the differences between male and female healers in Peru -- such as the way female curanderas tend to involve patients more directly in their healing.I was also impressed that Glass-Coffin described her own personal involvement being healed by curanderas, giving this book tremendous warmth.The first-hand accounts of what it feels like to suffer as the recipient of a dano help the reader better understand the way our thoughts and feelings affect one another.

I give this book my highest recommendation to anyone who is interested in ancient traditional ways of healing, wishes to know what is unique about women healers, and is intrigued by reading stories about how our thoughts and feelings affect others.

Attention Harry Potter Fans!
We have all enjoyed the charming and entertaining look at sorcery andwitchcraft as experienced by the fictional Harry Potter.No lessinteresting and fascinating is Bonnie Glass-Coffin's realistic look atsorcery and shamanism as they exist in South America today."The Giftof Life" incorporates Glass-Coffin's extensive research as a talentedanthropologist with her own personal healing experiences to produce ahighly readable and well-documented book on female shamans (healers) inNorthern Peru.She provides a history of sorcery and healing in SouthAmerica, a contextual explanation and description of the healing practicesof five different female shamans she met while in Peru, and an examinationof gender and socioeconomic differences in the world of spiritual healing. Academic rigor does not preclude a "good read".Scholars andgeneral readers alike will be pleased with this book.When I loaned thebook to a friend who has traveled in Peru, she returned it quickly, noting"This is too good not to have a copy of my own!"I recommend ithighly. ... Read more

Product Description
"This is a rich and compelling analysis--well conceived, innovative, and dealing with important frontiers in several fields. It will stand as a very important contribution to anthropology, ethnohistory, Latin American studies, and women's studies."--Kay B. Warren, Princeton University ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Boring
She just keeps repeating herself.Read like a couple chapters, and you pretty much got it.All the Gods and Goddesses parts are very repetitive.

Review of Moon, Sun and Witches
Irene Silverblatt examines the effects of the Spanish conquest on women's place in Peruvian society. In a straightforward and uncomplicated way, Silverblatt lays out the material using a basic `before and after' approach. She spends the first half describing pre-conquest Andean life, concentrating on women and their roles in society. Then she shows how life changed for the Andeans after the arrival of the Spanish. Again, she focuses on how those changes affected women, arguing that not only were women affected by the Spanish conquest but that they suffered far greater loss of position than their male counterparts.

An excellent, intricate and fascinating book
I first read this book in 1990, when I was a college student.It galvanized my interest in pan-American indigenous-white relations.Now that I am a university professor myself, I teach this book regularly.It's fascinating to most undergraduates -- often mentioned as one of their favorite books of the semester -- without losing any of the intricacy and delicacy of argument necessary to treating the subject of cultural contact and conflict in the Americas.I highly recommend it for any reader; I've given it to people travelling to Peru on vacation and it has greatly deepened their understanding of the land they are visiting and history of their own presence in the Sacred Valley.A great read, highly informative, elegantly written and deeply researched.

Blaa Blaa Blaa Blatt Blatt Blatt
This book is a extreamly verbous book that discusses the political and economic rights of andean women through out history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Fake

I was interested to see if some Amazon reviewers had twigged on this mildly sappy series of inventions and musings.

What an amazing journey!
This writer was so far ahead of his time! What a courageous journey, to step out on faith to find the core of man; "gone primitive," as they say. And we call ourselves civilized? Who are we to judge?

This man acknowledges his own cannabilistic behavior within the context of his living in a tribe where this behavior was common. It was not premeditated, at least according to him, nor did he have any idea where he was going or what the plan was when he was girded up for war with the tribe that had become his family.

But never has a man been more empathic or compassionate, either - staying with a loved one who was dying from dysentery until they both stank, and no one else would come close.

The book reads like a poem, it is a beautiful, eye-opening, heart rending read. I wish I had known this man. He seems amazing.


Fast Food Nation

Prepare for an armchair jungle excursion!
Schneebaum takes you on a sensual adventure in the jungle in this richly detailed book. Since the author is an Anthropologist with an interest in homosexuality, parts of the book on male bonding and cannibalism are so honest and clearly described that some readers may feel uncomfortable. I found the author's frankness refreshing, and I recommend the accompanying DVD that shows what has happened to the "cannibalistic" tribe since Schneebaum was there in 1955.

Keep the river on your right
This is an excellent book. Rarely do I read a book where it would be difficult to imagine myself in the author's place. Mr. Shneebaum's outlook on the world around him and his approach to the events in this book were refreshing and new to me. This was as satisfying as finding a new food to love. I was amazed at this man's lack of fear. At present people seems to gauge another's fear by what extrodonary stunts and adrinaline rush's they persue. But this man is the most fearless man I have ever read about. The only thing I could say bad about this book is that it is short. If it were not for social stigmas- this book should be required reading. There is more to learn about the human animal, love, adventure, exisitinialism, and the insanity of some western social morays than can be found in any other book I know of this size.

Keep an open mind..... and the river on your right.
Schneebaum is an unusual man.When you first hear of him you might think maybe too unusual. Thats where you need to look at the man and his journey from a larger perspective.The book has much to tell us about about respect for other cultures and about how to relate to people who don't see the world in the same way we do.If you keep an open mind, you will enjoy getting inside the mind of a very caring and empathetic man. ... Read more