Anders Burman
University of Gothenburg, School of global studies, Faculty Member
- Environmental Anthropology, Political Ecology, ANDEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, Aymara, Bolivia, Decolonial Thought, and 26 morePensamiento decolonial, Latin American Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Colonialism, Indigenous Studies, Anthropology of Gender, Activism, Decolonization, Andean Culture, Decolonial Feminism, Decolonial Thought, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Social Science, Tim Ingold, Boaventura De Sousa Santos, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Political Ontology, Animism, Environmental Justice, Ontology, Green Anarchism, Political Ecology (Anthropology), Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, Indigenous Politics, Indigenous Peoples, Indigeneity, Environmental social science, and Arturo Escobar(Pensamiento decolonial, Latin American Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Colonialism, Indigenous Studies, Anthropology of Gender, Activism, Decolonization, Andean Culture, Decolonial Feminism, Decolonial Thought, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Social Science, Tim Ingold, Boaventura De Sousa Santos, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Political Ontology, Animism, Environmental Justice, Ontology, Green Anarchism, Political Ecology (Anthropology), Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, Indigenous Politics, Indigenous Peoples, Indigeneity, Environmental social science, and Arturo Escobar)edit
Culture and tradition have long been the domains of social science, particularly social/cultural anthropology and various forms of heritage studies. However, many environmental scientists whose research addresses environmental management,... more
Culture and tradition have long been the domains of social science, particularly social/cultural anthropology and various forms of heritage studies. However, many environmental scientists whose research addresses environmental management, conservation, and restoration are also interested in traditional ecological knowledge, indigenous and local knowledge, and local environmental knowledge (hereafter TEK), not least because policymakers and international institutions promote the incorporation of TEK in environmental work. In this article, we examine TEK usage in peer-reviewed articles by environmental scientists published in 2020. This snapshot of environmental science scholarship includes both critical discussions of how to incorporate TEK in research and management and efforts to do so for various scholarly and applied purposes. Drawing on anthropological discussions of culture, we identify two related patterns within this literature: a tendency toward essentialism and a tendency t...
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Reflexivity is a hallmark of good ethnography and many consider it a defining characteristic of anthropology. It is thus surprising that anthropologists have not paid more attention to how we teach students to be reflexive. Many of us... more
Reflexivity is a hallmark of good ethnography and many consider it a defining characteristic of anthropology. It is thus surprising that anthropologists have not paid more attention to how we teach students to be reflexive. Many of us learn reflexivity by making mistakes in the field, yet discussions of anthropological faux pas and their potential contributions to reflexive learning are typically limited to informal settings and occluded or heavily curated within our research outputs. In this article we employ analytic tools from the theory of sociocultural viability, in particular the notions of clumsiness, elegance, and uncomfortable knowledge, to contribute to developing a more explicit pedagogy of reflexivity. Since reading ethnographies plays a major role in how we teach anthropology, we argue that anthropologists should do more in their publications to highlight how awkward moments can deepen reflexivity. To advance this agenda, we provide cases of uncomfortable knowledge draw...
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Abstract Which form of governance is required to bridge tensions that stem from the urgent need of climate change adaptation (CCA) on the one hand, and the imperative of upholding peace and social stability in vulnerable areas on the... more
Abstract Which form of governance is required to bridge tensions that stem from the urgent need of climate change adaptation (CCA) on the one hand, and the imperative of upholding peace and social stability in vulnerable areas on the other? This article proposes transformative governance as a framework and methodology for addressing this question. It recognizes that the increased pace of climate change requires urgent and thorough adjustments to actual or expected climate change effects through a transformation of societies to increase their capacity to build sustainability. Our framework for transformative governance approach responds to this imperative and is based on three components: a theoretical framework for peaceful CCA governance derived from the fields of sustainability governance, political ecology and peacebuilding, second, a ‘glocal’ and bottom-up approach illustrated by two examples of cross-border collaboration, that demonstrate peaceful CCA governance as necessarily glocal, thirdly a learning methodology that implies context-based, goal-oriented, pluralistic and interactive co-production of knowledge. These are argued to be vital conditions for implementing CCA governance that is transformative and supports peaceful societies.
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Since at least the mid-20th century, social movements have been key actors in Bolivian society, causing governments to fall and redrawing the cartographies of power. Recently, a new movement emerged, a middle-class movement that... more
Since at least the mid-20th century, social movements have been
key actors in Bolivian society, causing governments to fall and
redrawing the cartographies of power. Recently, a new movement
emerged, a middle-class movement that articulated its demands in
harsh opposition to the government of former President Evo
Morales: an urban environmental movement. In its rhetoric,
Morales was un burro (a donkey) and un ignorante (an ignorant
man) steering the country towards ecological collapse.
Subsequently, the movement played a key role in the social protests that led to Morales’s fall in November 2019. In this paper, I aim
to understand why this movement emerged and mobilized during
the Morales administration and how colonially conditioned relations of power and contradictory images of the indigenous Other
are articulated in this process. I argue that the emergence and
mobilization of the movement ought to be understood in relation
to: (1) the politically conditioned forms for legitimate political
opposition; and (2) the challenge to coloniality implied by the
coming to power of subalternized subjects. When the borders of
seemingly fixed categories and spaces are blurred, the privileged
develop novel ways of making social distinctions. One such way,
I argue, is to display a ‘taste for ecology.’
key actors in Bolivian society, causing governments to fall and
redrawing the cartographies of power. Recently, a new movement
emerged, a middle-class movement that articulated its demands in
harsh opposition to the government of former President Evo
Morales: an urban environmental movement. In its rhetoric,
Morales was un burro (a donkey) and un ignorante (an ignorant
man) steering the country towards ecological collapse.
Subsequently, the movement played a key role in the social protests that led to Morales’s fall in November 2019. In this paper, I aim
to understand why this movement emerged and mobilized during
the Morales administration and how colonially conditioned relations of power and contradictory images of the indigenous Other
are articulated in this process. I argue that the emergence and
mobilization of the movement ought to be understood in relation
to: (1) the politically conditioned forms for legitimate political
opposition; and (2) the challenge to coloniality implied by the
coming to power of subalternized subjects. When the borders of
seemingly fixed categories and spaces are blurred, the privileged
develop novel ways of making social distinctions. One such way,
I argue, is to display a ‘taste for ecology.’
Research Interests: Social Movements, Indigenous Studies, Political Ecology, Race and Racism, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 10 moreBolivian studies, Social Movement, Pierre Bourdieu, Political Ecology (Anthropology), Environmental movements, Environmentalism, Coloniality, Coloniality of Power, Evo Morales, and Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality
With the coming to power of Evo Morales and el Movimiento al Socialismo, an indigenized language of resistance became the language of power. In this paper I explore how epistemological and ontological 'radical difference' was co-opted and... more
With the coming to power of Evo Morales and el Movimiento al Socialismo, an indigenized language of resistance became the language of power. In this paper I explore how epistemological and ontological 'radical difference' was co-opted and used to legitimize Bolivian state power. I argue that when institutionalized and instrumentalized within the state apparatus, indigeneity-as an emancipatory device of radical difference implodes on itself and its radical potential is lost in the black hole that is coloniality. This paper provides an analytical and historical horizon against which recent political events in Bolivia can be understood.
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Research Interests: Indigenous Studies, Indigeneity, Bolivia, Andean Culture, 'Decolonization' and the politics of settler state/Indigenous relations, and 7 moreOntological Anthropology, Aymara, Coloniality and Decolonial Thinking, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, Ontological Turn, Coloniality of Knowledge, and coloniality of reality
The article departs from an ethnographic experience involving the kharisiri, a dystopian, fat-stealing monster of the Bolivian Andes that has been analyzed by generations of anthropologists to understand Aymara culture. However, it argues... more
The article departs from an ethnographic experience involving the kharisiri, a dystopian, fat-stealing monster of the Bolivian Andes that has been analyzed by generations of anthropologists to understand Aymara culture. However, it argues that when Aymara people identify Others, in this case anthropologists, with the kharisiri, they are primarily saying something about those Others, and not about themselves. Following Wagner's " reverse anthropology " and Taussig's study of native evil figures as a critique of capitalism, this article proposes that people who have been subjected to anthropological scrutiny have a critical vantage point on anthropological practices. Thus, dystopia and monstrosity fulfill a decolonial purpose by handing over a mirror to anthropologists , urging them to meditate on their own monstrous ways of operating, the " extractivist " nature of ethnography, the Anglophone-centrism of anthropological writing, and, not least, the coercive reward systems of academia which disciplinize us into practicing " kharisiri anthropology. "
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Published in K. de Munter, J. Michaux & G. Pauwels (eds.) Ecología y Reciprocidad: (Con)vivir Bien, desde contextos andinos. La Paz: Plural Editores, pp. 155-173
Research Interests: Human Ecology, Latin American Studies, Indigenous Studies, Bolivian studies, Bolivia, and 23 morePolitical Ontology, Indigenous Peoples, Political Ecology (Anthropology), Human Ecology (Sustainability), Andean studies, Decolonization, Antropología Social, Ecologia Humana, Aymara, Descolonización, Estudios Latinoamericanos, Bolivia, Aymara Social Movements, Aymara Intellectuals, Ecologia Política, Antropologia Social, Pueblos indígenas, Good Living, Buen Vivir, Buen vivir, Antropologia Social y Cultural, Vivir Bien, Pachamama, Aymaras, Ontología Política, and pachamamismo(Political Ontology, Indigenous Peoples, Political Ecology (Anthropology), Human Ecology (Sustainability), Andean studies, Decolonization, Antropología Social, Ecologia Humana, Aymara, Descolonización, Estudios Latinoamericanos, Bolivia, Aymara Social Movements, Aymara Intellectuals, Ecologia Política, Antropologia Social, Pueblos indígenas, Good Living, Buen Vivir, Buen vivir, Antropologia Social y Cultural, Vivir Bien, Pachamama, Aymaras, Ontología Política, and pachamamismo)
(Political Ontology, Indigenous Peoples, Political Ecology (Anthropology), Human Ecology (Sustainability), Andean studies, Decolonization, Antropología Social, Ecologia Humana, Aymara, Descolonización, Estudios Latinoamericanos, Bolivia, Aymara Social Movements, Aymara Intellectuals, Ecologia Política, Antropologia Social, Pueblos indígenas, Good Living, Buen Vivir, Buen vivir, Antropologia Social y Cultural, Vivir Bien, Pachamama, Aymaras, Ontología Política, and pachamamismo)
Taking Boaventura de Sousa Santos' argument that there is no global social justice without global cognitive justice as its starting point, this article suggests that there is no global climate justice without global cognitive justice... more
Taking Boaventura de Sousa Santos' argument that there is no global social justice without global cognitive justice as its starting point, this article suggests that there is no global climate justice without global cognitive justice (implying both ontological justice and epistemological justice). If we take "the ontological turn" in anthropology and other disciplines and its focus on indigenous ontologies seriously, however, we seem to end up in a situation that is difficult to maneuver in relation to conventional understandings of climate justice. When discussing climate change in relation to multiple ontologies, there are two risks: 1) reproducing what I call "the coloniality of reality", arguing that indigenous ontologies are actually nothing but a cultural (mis-representation of the world; 2) reproducing a conservative relativism that leads to nothing but the maintenance of status quo and that bears a resemblance to climate change denial. A thorough ethnographic understanding of what I would call "the moral meteorology" of the Andes and a broadened understanding of climate change, however, make it possible to navigate between the Scylla of coloniality and the Charybdis of relativism and to articulate a radical critique of fossil-fueled capitalism from a relational ontology, demanding climate justice while denouncing coloniality, and discussing the political ontology of climate change without ignoring its political ecology-and vice versa.
Prenant l'argument de Boaventura de Sousa Santos selon lequel il n'existe pas de justice sociale globale sans la justice cognitive globale, cet article suggère qu'il n'y a pas de justice climatique mondiale sans justice cognitive globale (impliquant à la fois la justice ontologique et la justice épistémologique). Si nous prenons «le tournant ontologique» dans l'anthropologie et d'autres disciplines et que nous mettons l'accent sur les ontologies autochtones au sérieux, nous semblons finir dans une situation difficile par rapport à la compréhension conventionnelle de la justice climatique. Lorsqu'on parle du changement climatique par rapport aux multiples ontologies, il existe deux risques: 1) reproduire ce que j'appelle «la colonialité de la réalité», arguant que les ontologies autochtones ne sont en réalité qu'une culture (une mauvaise représentation du monde) et 2) Reproduisant un relativisme conservateur qui ne conduit qu'à l'entretien du statu quo, se rapprochant du déni du changement climatique. Une compréhension ethnographique approfondie de ce que j'appelle «la météorologie morale» des Andes et une compréhension élargie du changement climatique permet cependant de naviguer entre la Scylla de la colonisation et les Charybdis du relativisme et d'articuler une critique radicale des fossiles, A alimenté le capitalisme. Cela diffère d'une ontologie relationnelle-exigeant la justice climatique tout en dénonçant la colonialité et en discutant de l'ontologie politique du changement climatique sans ignorer son écologie politique-et vice versa.
El artículo parte del argumento de Boaventura de Sousa Santos en cuanto se refiere a que no habrá justicia social global sin justicia cognitiva global. Así, el artículo plantea que no habrá una justicia climática global fuera de una justicia cognitiva global (implicando tanto a la justicia epistémica como a la justicia ontológica). No obstante, si tomamos con seriedad "el giro ontológico" de la antropología y otras disciplinas y su enfoque en las ontologías indígenas, pareciera que llegamos a una situación analítica difícil de manejar en relación a las nociones convencionales de justicia climática. De esta manera, analizando el cambio climático en relación a ontologías múltiples, nos encontramos frente a dos riesgos: 1) el de reproducir lo que denomino "la colonialidad de la realidad" que no es sino la idea de que las ontologías indígenas no son más que (mis-) representaciones culturales del mundo; 2) el riesgo de reproducir un relativismo conservador que no hace nada más que mantener el estatus quo y que lleva cierta semblanza con la posición de la negación del cambio climático antropogénico. Empero, la apreciación etnográfica profunda de lo que llamo "la meteorología moral" en los Andes y una comprensión más amplia del cambio climático nos permiten navegar entre la Escila de la colonialidad y el Charibdis del relativismo y así articular una crítica radical del capitalismo fósil desde una ontología relacional, simultáneamente exigiendo justicia climática y denunciando la colonialidad, analizando así la ontología política del cambio climático sin omitir su ecología política y viceversa.
Prenant l'argument de Boaventura de Sousa Santos selon lequel il n'existe pas de justice sociale globale sans la justice cognitive globale, cet article suggère qu'il n'y a pas de justice climatique mondiale sans justice cognitive globale (impliquant à la fois la justice ontologique et la justice épistémologique). Si nous prenons «le tournant ontologique» dans l'anthropologie et d'autres disciplines et que nous mettons l'accent sur les ontologies autochtones au sérieux, nous semblons finir dans une situation difficile par rapport à la compréhension conventionnelle de la justice climatique. Lorsqu'on parle du changement climatique par rapport aux multiples ontologies, il existe deux risques: 1) reproduire ce que j'appelle «la colonialité de la réalité», arguant que les ontologies autochtones ne sont en réalité qu'une culture (une mauvaise représentation du monde) et 2) Reproduisant un relativisme conservateur qui ne conduit qu'à l'entretien du statu quo, se rapprochant du déni du changement climatique. Une compréhension ethnographique approfondie de ce que j'appelle «la météorologie morale» des Andes et une compréhension élargie du changement climatique permet cependant de naviguer entre la Scylla de la colonisation et les Charybdis du relativisme et d'articuler une critique radicale des fossiles, A alimenté le capitalisme. Cela diffère d'une ontologie relationnelle-exigeant la justice climatique tout en dénonçant la colonialité et en discutant de l'ontologie politique du changement climatique sans ignorer son écologie politique-et vice versa.
El artículo parte del argumento de Boaventura de Sousa Santos en cuanto se refiere a que no habrá justicia social global sin justicia cognitiva global. Así, el artículo plantea que no habrá una justicia climática global fuera de una justicia cognitiva global (implicando tanto a la justicia epistémica como a la justicia ontológica). No obstante, si tomamos con seriedad "el giro ontológico" de la antropología y otras disciplinas y su enfoque en las ontologías indígenas, pareciera que llegamos a una situación analítica difícil de manejar en relación a las nociones convencionales de justicia climática. De esta manera, analizando el cambio climático en relación a ontologías múltiples, nos encontramos frente a dos riesgos: 1) el de reproducir lo que denomino "la colonialidad de la realidad" que no es sino la idea de que las ontologías indígenas no son más que (mis-) representaciones culturales del mundo; 2) el riesgo de reproducir un relativismo conservador que no hace nada más que mantener el estatus quo y que lleva cierta semblanza con la posición de la negación del cambio climático antropogénico. Empero, la apreciación etnográfica profunda de lo que llamo "la meteorología moral" en los Andes y una comprensión más amplia del cambio climático nos permiten navegar entre la Escila de la colonialidad y el Charibdis del relativismo y así articular una crítica radical del capitalismo fósil desde una ontología relacional, simultáneamente exigiendo justicia climática y denunciando la colonialidad, analizando así la ontología política del cambio climático sin omitir su ecología política y viceversa.
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Political Ontology, Climate Justice, Colonialidad, Coloniality, and 13 moreColonisation, Aymara, Ecología Política, Justicia climatica, Ecologia Política, écologie Politique, Cognitive Justice, Ontologia Politica, Ontología Política, Ontologie politique, justicia cognitiva, La justice climatique, and La justice cognitive
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Research Interests: Ontology, Indigenous Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Bolivian studies, Indigenous Knowledge, and 15 moreIndigeneity, Bolivia, Political Ontology, Indigenous Peoples, Anthropology of Education, Aymara, Bolivian studies, Bolivia, ethnic studies, Coloniality and Decolonial Thinking, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, Modernity In the Andes, Indigenous Knowledge at Universities, Anthropology of Higher Education, Coloniality of Knowledge, Epistemology of Coloniality and Decolonizing, and coloniality of reality(Indigeneity, Bolivia, Political Ontology, Indigenous Peoples, Anthropology of Education, Aymara, Bolivian studies, Bolivia, ethnic studies, Coloniality and Decolonial Thinking, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, Modernity In the Andes, Indigenous Knowledge at Universities, Anthropology of Higher Education, Coloniality of Knowledge, Epistemology of Coloniality and Decolonizing, and coloniality of reality)
(Indigeneity, Bolivia, Political Ontology, Indigenous Peoples, Anthropology of Education, Aymara, Bolivian studies, Bolivia, ethnic studies, Coloniality and Decolonial Thinking, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, Modernity In the Andes, Indigenous Knowledge at Universities, Anthropology of Higher Education, Coloniality of Knowledge, Epistemology of Coloniality and Decolonizing, and coloniality of reality)
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Research Interests: Social Movements, Latin American Studies, Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Social Anthropology, and 18 moreBolivian studies, Indigenous Politics, Indigeneity, Bolivia, Movimientos sociales, Antropología Social, Indigenous activism, Aymara, Descolonización, Estudios Latinoamericanos, ANDEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, Pueblos indígenas, Ayllu, Indianismo, Pueblos Indigenas, Antropología Andina, Estudios latinoamericanos (Bolivia y Ecuador), and CIDOB y CONAMAQ(Bolivian studies, Indigenous Politics, Indigeneity, Bolivia, Movimientos sociales, Antropología Social, Indigenous activism, Aymara, Descolonización, Estudios Latinoamericanos, ANDEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, Pueblos indígenas, Ayllu, Indianismo, Pueblos Indigenas, Antropología Andina, Estudios latinoamericanos (Bolivia y Ecuador), and CIDOB y CONAMAQ)
(Bolivian studies, Indigenous Politics, Indigeneity, Bolivia, Movimientos sociales, Antropología Social, Indigenous activism, Aymara, Descolonización, Estudios Latinoamericanos, ANDEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, Pueblos indígenas, Ayllu, Indianismo, Pueblos Indigenas, Antropología Andina, Estudios latinoamericanos (Bolivia y Ecuador), and CIDOB y CONAMAQ)
This article explores the ever-shifting semantics and semiotics of the concept “indígena” in the Bolivian Andes, and argues that “indigeneity” is charged with different meanings by different actors in changing contexts of territorial and... more
This article explores the ever-shifting semantics and semiotics of the concept “indígena” in the Bolivian Andes, and argues that “indigeneity” is charged with different meanings by different actors in changing contexts of territorial and social struggles and state governance.
The article focuses on the discourse and politics of the indigenous Andean organization CONAMAQ and its response to changing pressures on indigenous territories and resources caused by the nation-building process started in 2006 by the Evo Morales administration. The article identifies a recent conflict in the Bolivian lowlands between indigenous organizations and the Bolivian State as one decisive moment in a broader historical and political process, a moment when two divergent projects of “lo indígena” emerged in the Bolivian Andes: one hegemonic state project of indigeneity and one counter-hegemonic project of indigeneity. The article shows that this was not the first time in Bolivian history that a hegemonic project from above was responded to from below with a counter-hegemonic project. And, what is more, the article argues that hegemonic projects actually tend to create the spaces that are necessary for counter-hegemonic projects to emerge and for new political visions and subjectivities to take form.
The article focuses on the discourse and politics of the indigenous Andean organization CONAMAQ and its response to changing pressures on indigenous territories and resources caused by the nation-building process started in 2006 by the Evo Morales administration. The article identifies a recent conflict in the Bolivian lowlands between indigenous organizations and the Bolivian State as one decisive moment in a broader historical and political process, a moment when two divergent projects of “lo indígena” emerged in the Bolivian Andes: one hegemonic state project of indigeneity and one counter-hegemonic project of indigeneity. The article shows that this was not the first time in Bolivian history that a hegemonic project from above was responded to from below with a counter-hegemonic project. And, what is more, the article argues that hegemonic projects actually tend to create the spaces that are necessary for counter-hegemonic projects to emerge and for new political visions and subjectivities to take form.
Research Interests: Latin American Studies, Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Social Anthropology, Bolivian studies, and 15 moreIndigenous Politics, Indigeneity, Indigenous Movements, Bolivia, Indigenous Peoples, Latin America, Indigenous activism, Aymara, Indigenous politics, anthropology of the state, territoriality, Postcoloniality and decolonization, Who Has the Power to Define Indigeneity?, ANDEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, TIPNIS, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, and CIDOB y CONAMAQ(Indigenous Politics, Indigeneity, Indigenous Movements, Bolivia, Indigenous Peoples, Latin America, Indigenous activism, Aymara, Indigenous politics, anthropology of the state, territoriality, Postcoloniality and decolonization, Who Has the Power to Define Indigeneity?, ANDEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, TIPNIS, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, and CIDOB y CONAMAQ)
(Indigenous Politics, Indigeneity, Indigenous Movements, Bolivia, Indigenous Peoples, Latin America, Indigenous activism, Aymara, Indigenous politics, anthropology of the state, territoriality, Postcoloniality and decolonization, Who Has the Power to Define Indigeneity?, ANDEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, TIPNIS, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, and CIDOB y CONAMAQ)
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Reviews of Indigeneity and Decolonization in the Bolivian Andes: Ritual Practice and Activism "The outstanding and fascinating contribution of Indigeneity and Decolonization is that it shows the deep interpenetration between the... more
Reviews of Indigeneity and Decolonization in the Bolivian Andes: Ritual Practice and Activism
"The outstanding and fascinating contribution of Indigeneity and Decolonization is that it shows the deep interpenetration between the political and spiritual worlds of Aymara healers. Based on their ritual practices involving the body, mind, and nature, it offers us an important new way to think about decolonization as a process of healing the afflictions of history and the sickness of society. As the product of Burman's intimate engagement in the daily lives of the maestros, it is itself an example of the decolonization of ethnography."
Sinclair Thomson, New York University
"Indigeneity and Decolonization provides a detailed, rigorous, and committed insight into the fascinating creation and recreation of Aymara ways of being and feeling. It’s an indispensable guide to understand how, in the twenty-first century, traditions are maintained while novelties are added to Aymara knowledges and feelings, including humans as well as nature."
Eduardo Gudynas, Latin American Center of Social Ecology (CLAES)
"After more than a decade in Bolivia where indigeneity and decolonisation have been key tropes in political discourse, Anders Burman offers a magnificent example of, not only a decolonising anthropology, but an anthropology of decolonisation. For his Aymara activist interlocutors colonialism is an illness much like any other and in his fine grained and sensitive analysis Burman explores the ways in which power, ritual and being are intimately linked. Burman achieves the enviable goal of offering a genuinely fresh look at the politics of indigeneity in the Andes while providing a valuable contribution to debates about the ‘ontological turn’ in anthropology."
Andrew Canessa, University of Essex
"Candidly and with respect to those that may think that ‘tradition’ is timeless, this book experiences Aymara politics as re-membering. I think of this word as a conceptual practice, proposed by young Aymara intellectuals-politicians as a de-colonial practice of the self with which to bring to awareness that which denies their possibilities of exceeding the practices imposed by modernity, while at the same time using that which modernity offers to, precisely, emerge against the denial. The book is an ethnographically brilliant and carefully composed work in which Burman does not study the yatiris; he learns with them other ways of knowing and he thereby transforms ‘participant observation’ into experience and proposes a novel notion of methods; not a practice of collecting data, but a practice of knowing through fieldwork."
Marisol de la Cadena, University of California at Davis
"The outstanding and fascinating contribution of Indigeneity and Decolonization is that it shows the deep interpenetration between the political and spiritual worlds of Aymara healers. Based on their ritual practices involving the body, mind, and nature, it offers us an important new way to think about decolonization as a process of healing the afflictions of history and the sickness of society. As the product of Burman's intimate engagement in the daily lives of the maestros, it is itself an example of the decolonization of ethnography."
Sinclair Thomson, New York University
"Indigeneity and Decolonization provides a detailed, rigorous, and committed insight into the fascinating creation and recreation of Aymara ways of being and feeling. It’s an indispensable guide to understand how, in the twenty-first century, traditions are maintained while novelties are added to Aymara knowledges and feelings, including humans as well as nature."
Eduardo Gudynas, Latin American Center of Social Ecology (CLAES)
"After more than a decade in Bolivia where indigeneity and decolonisation have been key tropes in political discourse, Anders Burman offers a magnificent example of, not only a decolonising anthropology, but an anthropology of decolonisation. For his Aymara activist interlocutors colonialism is an illness much like any other and in his fine grained and sensitive analysis Burman explores the ways in which power, ritual and being are intimately linked. Burman achieves the enviable goal of offering a genuinely fresh look at the politics of indigeneity in the Andes while providing a valuable contribution to debates about the ‘ontological turn’ in anthropology."
Andrew Canessa, University of Essex
"Candidly and with respect to those that may think that ‘tradition’ is timeless, this book experiences Aymara politics as re-membering. I think of this word as a conceptual practice, proposed by young Aymara intellectuals-politicians as a de-colonial practice of the self with which to bring to awareness that which denies their possibilities of exceeding the practices imposed by modernity, while at the same time using that which modernity offers to, precisely, emerge against the denial. The book is an ethnographically brilliant and carefully composed work in which Burman does not study the yatiris; he learns with them other ways of knowing and he thereby transforms ‘participant observation’ into experience and proposes a novel notion of methods; not a practice of collecting data, but a practice of knowing through fieldwork."
Marisol de la Cadena, University of California at Davis
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“Este libro no es sólo el resultado de prácticas académicas usuales. No es simple entenderlo porque no responde solamente a los requisitos de la antropología ni de la historia convencionalmente entendidas—desde la derecha y la izquierda.... more
“Este libro no es sólo el resultado de prácticas académicas usuales. No es simple entenderlo porque no responde solamente a los requisitos de la antropología ni de la historia convencionalmente entendidas—desde la derecha y la izquierda. En vez de ellos, Anders Burman usa la etnografía como relación de aprendizaje entre iguales. El no estudia a los maestros y maestras en barrios de La Paz y Bolivia en general—el aprende con ellos otra manera de conocer. Este libro entonces no es un análisis de la “cultura” de “los nuevos yatiris Paceños”, pues lo que Burman aprende como antropólogo es la necesidad de descolonizar sus prácticas de conocimiento. Entonces transforma la etnografía, de herramienta para conocer a “los otros” en herramienta para conocer de otra manera, poniendo en simetría lo que él sabe, con lo que saben otros—y en esa relación, en vez de aprender “una cultura”, él aprende otra forma de conocer.
Burman no pretende que a través de su libro conozcamos las ‘creencias culturales’ de otros. Propone más bien un instrumento para aprender desde esa otra manera de conocer lo que está pasando en Bolivia, y que no podemos entender con la antropología e historia a la que estamos acostumbrados.
En este libro los humanos, los cerros, los ríos, las plazas, y los edificios son seres—y no como “creencia cultural indígena” sino una manera de pensar el mundo que es diferente a aquella que distingue entre naturaleza y cultura. Pensar también de esta manera es la propuesta de este libro para de-colonizar la antropología y por supuesto las prácticas políticas que comparten con esa disciplina la creencia en su innegable superioridad.”
Marisol de la Cadena, Profesora de Antropología, Universidad de California en Davis.
Burman no pretende que a través de su libro conozcamos las ‘creencias culturales’ de otros. Propone más bien un instrumento para aprender desde esa otra manera de conocer lo que está pasando en Bolivia, y que no podemos entender con la antropología e historia a la que estamos acostumbrados.
En este libro los humanos, los cerros, los ríos, las plazas, y los edificios son seres—y no como “creencia cultural indígena” sino una manera de pensar el mundo que es diferente a aquella que distingue entre naturaleza y cultura. Pensar también de esta manera es la propuesta de este libro para de-colonizar la antropología y por supuesto las prácticas políticas que comparten con esa disciplina la creencia en su innegable superioridad.”
Marisol de la Cadena, Profesora de Antropología, Universidad de California en Davis.
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Based on the observation that the Anthropocene narrative signifies a departure from the Cartesian nature/culture division dominant within modernist science, this article explores notions of personhood and agency among Amerindian peoples... more
Based on the observation that the Anthropocene narrative signifies a departure from the Cartesian nature/culture division dominant within modernist science, this article explores notions of personhood and agency among Amerindian peoples in the Amazon, the Andes, and Mesoamerica in comparison to the corresponding notions in modernist discourses. We discuss the differences in conceptualizations in relation to diverging understandings of climate change and the Anthropocene, focusing on perspectives on agentivity both within our respective ethnographical fields and in modernist social sciences. This leads us to stress the significance of new materialists' disregard for intentionality in relation to agency and the consequences this neglect has for understanding animist perspectives. We examine the different views in relation to their effects on morality and to perceived forms of accountability. In accordance, the modernist 'global we', prominent in the Anthropocene debate stressing the role of humanity as a species, is contrasted with what we call a 'universal we', which includes both human and other-than-human persons, in conformance with Amerindian animist perspectives on the world. This approach to the issue does not only mean that we challenge the obvious iniquity in blaming all of humanity for climate change but also that we point to the coloniality of reality implicit in the Anthropocene narrative.
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Reflexivity is a hallmark of good ethnography and many consider it a defining characteristic of anthropology. It is thus surprising that anthropologists have not paid more attention to how we teach students to be reflexive. Many of us... more
Reflexivity is a hallmark of good ethnography and many consider it a defining characteristic of anthropology. It is thus surprising that anthropologists have not paid more attention to how we teach students to be reflexive. Many of us learn reflexivity by making mistakes in the field, yet discussions of anthropological faux pas and their potential contributions to reflexive learning are typically limited to informal settings and occluded or heavily curated within our research outputs. In this article we employ analytic tools from the theory of sociocultural viability, in particular the notions of clumsiness, elegance, and uncomfortable knowledge, to contribute to developing a more explicit pedagogy of reflexivity. Since reading ethnographies plays a major role in how we teach anthropology, we argue that anthropologists should do more in their publications to highlight how awkward moments can deepen reflexivity. To advance this agenda, we provide cases of uncomfortable knowledge drawn from our own field experiences, highlighting how the social, emotional and embodied awkwardness of each situation contributed to acquiring reflexive insights. This article is thus a call to initiate prospective researchers earlier into the messy backstage of anthropological research, including by clarifying how the embodied and affective aspects of our interactions offer potential for deepening reflexive knowledge. In the hopes of facilitating the development of our pedagogies of reflexivity, we conclude the text with four recommendations that we feel will encourage reflexive learning from awkward fieldwork encounters.
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Culture and tradition have long been the domains of social science, particularly social/cultural anthropology and various forms of heritage studies. However, many environmental scientists whose research addresses environmental management,... more
Culture and tradition have long been the domains of social science, particularly social/cultural anthropology and various forms of heritage studies. However, many environmental scientists whose research addresses environmental management, conservation, and restoration are also interested in traditional ecological knowledge, indigenous and local knowledge, and local environmental knowledge (hereafter TEK), not least because policymakers and international institutions promote the incorporation of TEK in environmental work. In this article, we examine TEK usage in peer-reviewed articles by environmental scientists published in 2020. This snapshot of environmental science scholarship includes both critical discussions of how to incorporate TEK in research and management and efforts to do so for various scholarly and applied purposes. Drawing on anthropological discussions of culture, we identify two related patterns within this literature: a tendency toward essentialism and a tendency to minimize power relationships. We argue that scientists whose work reflects these trends might productively engage with knowledge from the scientific fields that study culture and tradition. We suggest productive complicity as a reflexive mode of partnering, and a set of questions that facilitate natural scientists adopting this approach: What and/or who is this TEK for? Who and what will benefit from this TEK deployment? How is compensation/credit shared? Does this work give back and/or forward to all those involved?