CIDRAL Theory Intensive: Perspectivism
Dates: | 8 December 2016 |
Times: | 12:00 - 14:00 |
What is it: | Seminar |
Organiser: | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures |
Who is it for: | University staff, Current University students |
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This event is part of CIDRAL's Winter 2016 programme, 'Possible Worlds'.
Perspectivism
Professor Lúcia Sá (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies) will be discussing the work of Brazilian anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, who is internationally known for his ethnographic work on the Araweté (North of Brazil) and for his theoretical elaborations on what he has named, with the help of Nietzsche and Deleuze, “perspectivism”. Based on his own ethnographic fieldwork and that of other anthropologists, Viveiros de Castro proposes that Amerindian Amazonian ontology is fundamentally distinct from Western ontology. While for Western science humans and animals share “animality” as their general denominator (in other words, we are all animals), in Amazonian Amerindian thought, according to Viveiros de Castro, the common denominator that links humans and animals is “peopleness” (gentitude). In the last few years, Viveiros de Castro’s 'perspectivism' has often been used as a generic theoretical model to be applied to all kinds of cultural and social analyses. In this workshop, however, perspectivism will be examined in its original context: Amazonia and Amerindian narratives.
Readings for this theory intensive are:
Cosmological Deixis and Amerindian Perspectivism
Author(s): Eduardo Viveiros de Castro
Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Sep., 1998), pp. 469- 488
2. Chapters 2 & 3 of the book Cannibal Metaphysics. There is some overlap between the first article and these chapters. The chapters update some of his thoughts and explain some of their origin.
- if you have time to read just one text, read this one.
Both readings are available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gnqhee59zzz8i72/AADLLbcOiL9_l2Wu6UtK9xQoa?dl=0
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Theatre 2
Crawford House
Manchester