27/04/2023 – Guilherme Moura Fagundes : “Making it Burn: Fire Techniques and the Government of Life in the Brazilian Savanna”

28 March 2023 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Dear Member of the Société des Américanistes,

We are pleased to invite you to the conference to be held on Thursday, April 27, 2023, from 5 to 7 pm by visioconference on the following link:

https://zoom.us/j/93875592450?pwd=c0JYYUhWSDRLN2cxUjkzL0VOWlRCUT09
ID de réunion : 938 7559 2450
Code secret : 971196

Guilherme Moura Fagundes
Associate professor at the University of São Paulo
and recipient of the 2022 Society of Americanists Prize

will present:

Making it Burn: Fire Techniques and the Government of Life in the Brazilian Savanna

Making it Burn: Fire Techniques and the Government of Life in the Brazilian Savanna is an ethnographic work on the different ways of conceiving wildland fires, as well as their effects on the treatment of human and non-human alterities. Alongside with Quilombola communities, environmental managers and firefighters from the Jalapão region, the study examines in detail the emergence of integrated fire management in Brazil and the place of local agropastoral knowledge in this new global environmental policy. Based on fieldwork, archival research, and audiovisual production, the study argues that different fire techniques (convivial, suppression, prevention, and management) provide not only specific ways of dealing with the pyric phenomenon, but also produce ecological systems and political institutions for the government of life forms.

The conference will be given in English

Publication prize and subsidies 2023

13 December 2022 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

CALL 2023

Young scholars Publication Prize of the Société des américanistes: (an award for young scholars to help publish a volume resulting from their doctoral thesis)
Publication subsidy (open to all)

The Young scholars Publication Prize aims to assist young scholars with the publication of a book resulting from their doctoral research and already accepted by a publishing house in France or abroad. The Société will not accept thesis manuscripts that have not been reworked into a book. The original dissertation should have been completed less than 5 years ago and the resulting book must make a contribution to the same disciplinary, thematic and areal fields as those covered by the Journal de la Société des américanistes. Manuscripts may be submitted in French, English, Spanish or Portuguese. The award amount is capped at 3000€.

The Publication Grant is intended to help publish books contributing to the same disciplinary, thematic and areal fields as those covered by the Journal de la Société des américanistes. Single-authored monographs as well as edited volumes are eligible. The submitted volumes may be written in French, English, Spanish or Portuguese but must have been previously accepted by a publishing house, based in France or abroad. A manuscript can only be submitted once. The allocated amount is capped at 2500€ (per project).

The deadline for submission shall be April 30, 2023. The candidatures will be evaluated by a panel of experts chosen by the Société’s executive board. Results will be announced in the fall of 2020.

The application package consists of:

– Author(s) or Editor(s)’s CV, including a list of publications

– Final Thesis Report or Examiner’s report for countries where applicable or letters of recommendation from at least two members of the PhD examination board (only for the young scholar’s Publication Prize)

– Description of the manuscript (approx. 5 pages: table of contents, detailed summary, main arguments…)

– Manuscript in pdf form

– Pre-acceptance letter from the publishing house

– Cost estimates from the publishing house (including other financial aids already obtained or solicited and the specific amount solicited from the Société)

– Person to contact at the Publishing house (role, email and postal addresses)

– Any other document deemed relevant

Any package either missing information will not be accepted.

Recipients of the Publication Prize or Publication Grant must commit to mention the Société’s contribution in the book, as well as its logo, in accordance with agreements made with the publishing house, which is also expected to give a number of copies free of charge. Award winners who are not members of the Société must commit to apply for membership before receiving their grant or Prize.

The application package should be sent by e-mail only to: societe.publi@americanistes.org. Please indicate in the subject line of the message the application category (Prize or Publication subsidy).

01/12/2022 – General Assembly and presentation of the book “Living Ruins” directed by P. Erikson and V. Vapnarsky

19 November 2022 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Dear members of the Société des Américanistes,

We are pleased to invite you to the General Assembly of the Société des Américanistes on Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 6:30 pm in the cinema room of the Musée du Quai Branly.

This assembly will be followed by a presentation-debate around the book

Living Ruins: Native Engagements with Past Materialities in Contemporary Mesoamerica, Amazonia, and the Andes, (University Press of Colorado) with the editors:

– Philippe Erikson (Université Paris Nanterre, LESC/EREA)

– Valentina Vapnarsky ( CNRS-EPHE, LESC/EREA and LAS )

As well as some of the contributors:

– Laurence Charlier ( University of Toulouse, LISST)

– Marie Chosson (INALCO, CESSMA)

– Antoinette Molinié ( CNRS, LESC)

and with the participation of the commentators :

– Charlotte Arnaud ( CNRS, ArchAm)

– Cédric Yvinec (CNRS, Mondes Américains)

Ruins and remnants of the past are endowed with life rather than mere relics handed down from previous generations. Living Ruins explores some of the ways Indigenous people relate to the material remains of human activity and provides an informed and critical stance that nuances and contests institutionalized patrimonialization discourse on vestiges of the past in present landscapes.

Ten case studies from the Maya region, Amazonia, and the Andes detail and contextualize narratives, rituals, and a range of practices and attitudes toward different kinds of vestiges. The chapters engage with recently debated issues such as regimes of historicity and knowledge, cultural landscapes, conceptions of personhood and ancestrality, artifacts, and materiality. They focus on Indigenous perspectives rather than mainstream narratives such as those mediated by UNESCO, Hollywood, travel agents, and sometimes even academics. The contributions provide critical analyses alongside a multifaceted account of how people relate to the place/time nexus, expanding our understanding of different ontological conceptualizations of the past and their significance in the present.

Living Ruins adds to the lively body of work on the invention of tradition, Indigenous claims on their lands and history, “retrospective ethnogenesis,” and neo-Indianism in a world where tourism, NGOs, and Western essentialism are changing Indigenous attitudes and representations. This book is significant to anyone interested in cultural heritage studies, Amerindian spirituality, and Indigenous engagement with archaeological sites in Latin America.

The conference will be held in French

Please come directly to the entrance of the museum (37 quai Branly), without going through the cashiers. Unless there are changes, you will be asked for your health pass at the entrance of the Museum. The Vigipirate plan requires the museum’s security guards not to authorize the introduction of suitcases (even cabins), travel bags, backpacks, sports bags…

Society of Americanists

Quai Branly Museum

222 rue de l’Université

Paris 75343 Cedex

France

Laureate 2022

2 November 2022 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Young Researcher Prize:

Guilherme Moura FAGUNDES, Fogos Gerais. Uma etnografia das relações com o fogo no Cerrado. Papéis Selvagens Edições.

Publication grants:

Laura FLETY, Les cortèges de la fortune. Danse, dévotion et prospérité (Bolivie). Editions Mimésis.

Rogelio VALENCIA RIVERA, K’awiil. El dios maya del rayo, la abundancia y los gobernantes. Archeopress Publishing Ltd.

02/06/2022 – Ian Merkel : “Terms of exchange: Brazilian intellectuals and the French social sciences”

7 May 2022 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Cher(e) membre de la société des américanistes,

Nous avons le plaisir de vous convier à la conférence qui se tiendra le jeudi 2 juin 2022, de 18 à 20h dans la salle de cinéma du musée du Quai Branly.

Ian Merkel

(Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, Department of History

Freie Universität Berlin, lauréat du prix d’aide à la publication 2021)

The terms of exchange: Brazilian intellectuals and the French social sciences

Les idées les plus iconiques des sciences sociales françaises auraient-elles pu se développer sans l’influence des intellectuels brésiliens ? Alors que toute historiographie des sciences sociales brésiliennes reconnaît l’influence des universitaires français, Ian Merkel soutient que l’inverse est également vrai : les sciences sociales « françaises » ont été profondément marquées par les penseurs brésiliens, notamment ceux de l’Université de São Paulo. En utilisant le concept de cluster, Merkel retrace les réseaux qui unissaient Claude Lévi-Strauss, Fernand Braudel, Roger Bastide et Pierre Monbeig à l’USP, ainsi que leurs échanges avec des chercheurs brésiliens tels que Mário de Andrade, Gilberto Freyre, Caio Prado. Jr. et Florestan Fernandes.

Dans cet essai de biographie intellectuelle des sciences sociales brésiliennes et françaises, l’auteur établit des connexions qui éclairent d’un jour nouveau l’émergence de l’école des Annales, du structuralisme et de la démocratie raciale, tout en interrogeant les conditions de la construction du savoir à travers le travail de terrain et le dialogue scientifique. À une époque de remise en question des canons disciplinaires, cette conférence propose un recadrage de l’histoire de la pensée scientifique sociale moderne.

Prière de vous présenter directement à l’entrée du musée (37 quai Branly), sans passer par les caisses. Sauf changements, le pass sanitaire vous sera demandé à l’entrée du Musée. Le plan Vigipirate impose aux agents de sécurité du musée à ne pas autoriser l’introduction de valises (même cabines), sacs de voyage, sacs à dos, sacs de sport…

02/03/2022 – Rodrigo Bulamah : “Les ruines circulaires : vie et histoire au nord d’Haïti”

7 January 2022 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Dear member of the Société des Américanistes,

First of all, we wish you all the best for the year 2022.

We are also pleased to announce that the next conference of the Société des Américanistes will take place on Thursday 3 February, at 6pm (Paris time) by videoconference.

We will have the pleasure of welcoming the winner of the Société des Américanistes’ Young Researcher Prize.

Rodrigo Bulamah

Circular ruins : life and history in the north of Haiti

Circular Ruins: Life and History in the north of Haiti is a historical work about the village of Milot, where different traces of past times overlap and intersect in the ritual and daily experiences of the inhabitants of the Haitian Mornes. By focusing on interactions with ruins, ancestors, animals and symbols, I propose an anthropology dedicated to the production of the past, present and future in this Caribbean context. Combining ethnography and archival work, I argue that history is a more-than-human process, actively produced by the work of various agents who generate contemporary forms of life in the ruins of colonial and revolutionary projects.

The login link will be sent to you a week before this session.

Laureate 2021

20 December 2021 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Young Researcher Prize:

Robrigo Charafeddine BULAMAH, Ruínas circulares: vida e história no norte do Haiti, Papeis Selvagens

Publication grants:

Ian William MERKEL, Terms of Exchange. Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences, University of Chicago Press

Anath ARIEL DE VIDAS, Combine in order to coexist. Ethnography of a Nahua people of the Huasteca veracruzana in times of modernization, the University of Colorado Press, English translation of Combinar para Convivir. Etnografía de un pueblo nahua de la Huasteca veracruzana en tiempos de modernización.

Joanna CABRAL DE OLIVEIRA, Marta AMOROSO, Ana Gabriela MORIM DE LIMA, Karen SHIRATORI, Stelio MARRAS, Laure EMPERAIRE (eds) Voix végétales. Diversité, résistances et histoires de la forêt, Éditions de l‘IRD, traduction of Vozes vegetais, Diversidade, Resistências e Histórias da Floresta, UBU Editora, Ed. de l’IRD, Sao Paulo, Marseille

15/12/2021 – General Assembly and film by M.A. Gonçalves and E. Altmann: “Under the clouds”

16 November 2021 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Dear members, we are pleased to invite you to the General Assembly of the Société des Américanistes, which will take place on December 15, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. (Paris time).

The Assembly will be followed by the screening of the film “Under the Clouds”, directed by Marco Antonio Gonçalves and Eliska Altmann in 2015.

Portuguese with english subtitles, 74 minutes

In 1961, for the first time in Brazil’s history, a woman, Carolina Maria de Jesus, living in a slum in São Paulo, writes about her daily life and has her diary published. Fifty years later the directors of the film, inspired by this diary, go to look for characters that somehow dialogue with Carolina. In the slum Complexo da Maré, in Rio de Janeiro, five women reveal different experiences and visions of their life in the slum, thus creating continuities and discontinuities with the poetic and critical vision of life expressed by Carolina de Jesus. The voices and visions of these women, Geandra, Iraci, Edilma, Maria da Paz and Vanessa, provide a revigorating and poetically rich image of life in the slums that escapes from the current themes of violence and male dominance, revealing a slum literally lived through a feminine soul. Through the voice of Geandra, an actress, the words written by Carolina gain a new life, in dialogue with the contemporary voices of the other equally strong characters of the women from the Maré complex.

Publication prize and subsidies 2022

27 October 2021 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Musée du quai Branly, 222 rue de l’université, 75 343 Paris cedex 07

CALL 2022

Young scholars Publication Prize of the Société des américanistes: an award for young scholars to help publish a volume resulting from their doctoral thesis
Publication subsidy (open to all)

The original dissertation should have been completed less than 5 years ago and the resulting book must make a contribution to the same disciplinary, thematic and areal fields as those covered by the Journal de la Société des américanistes. Manuscripts may be submitted in French, English, Spanish or Portuguese.

The award amount is capped at 3000€.

The Publication Grant is intended to help publish books contributing to the same disciplinary, thematic and areal fields as those covered by the Journal de la Société des américanistes. Single-authored monographs as well as edited volumes are eligible. The submitted volumes may be written in French, English, Spanish or Portuguese but must have been previously accepted by a publishing house, based in France or abroad. A manuscript can only be submitted once.

The allocated amount is capped at 2500€ (per project).

The deadline for submission shall be April 30, 2022. The candidatures will be evaluated by a panel of experts chosen by the Société’s executive board. Results will be announced in the fall of 2020.

The application package consists of:

Author(s) or Editor(s)’s CV, including a list of publications
Final Thesis Report or Examiner’s report for countries where applicable or letters of recommendation from at least two members of the PhD examination board (only for the young scholar’s Publication Prize)
Description of the manuscript (approx. 5 pages: table of contents, detailed summary, main arguments…)
Manuscript in pdf form
Pre-acceptance letter from the publishing house
Cost estimates from the publishing house (including other financial aids already obtained or solicited and the specific amount solicited from the Société)
Person to contact at the Publishing house (role, email and postal addresses)
Any other document deemed relevant

Any package either missing information or submitted after April 30, 2022, will not be accepted.

The application package should be sent by e-mail only to: societe.publi@americanistes.org. Please indicate in the subject line of the message the application category (Prize or Publication subsidy).

04/11/2021 – Carla Jaimes Betancourt : “Archaeology of the Llanos de Moxos: wealth is in diversity”

12 October 2021 Johann Begel Comments 0 Comment

Dra. Carla Jaimes Betancourt

Department of Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn, Germany

Archeology of the Llanos de Moxos: wealth is in diversity

For a long time, the Amazon region occupied a marginal position in the pre-Columbian cultural history of the Americas. However, over the past decades, archaeological research carried out within the framework of numerous projects has revealed a surprising complexity and diversity of cultural processes in the region. Based on the case of the Llanos de Mojos in Bolivia, this presentation summarizes the current debates and the different positions on the domestication of plants, the origin of ceramics, landscape transformations, anthropic forests and complex cultural developments in the pre-Columbian era in the southwest of the Amazon.

The plains of Mojos, in what is now Beni in Bolivia, are characterized by an almost entirely anthropized landscape, the result of several millennia of intense human occupation. From 300 AD, hundreds of monumental sites developed there which, thanks to pre-Hispanic techniques adapted to the management of natural resources, left strong imprints on the landscape. Mojos is an excellent illustration of how diversity can be the best driver of cultural development over time. This conference presents an overview of archaeological research in Mojos and case studies in specific fields.