Vital Diplomacy: The Ritual Everyday on a Dammed River in Amazonia

In Brazil, where forest meets savanna, new towns, agribusiness and hydroelectric plants form a patchwork with the indigenous territories. Here, agricultural work, fishing, songs, feasts and exchanges occupy the Enawenê-nawê for eight months of each year during a season called Yankwa. Vital Diplomacy focuses on this major ceremonial cycle to shed new light on classic Amazonian themes such as kinship, gender, manioc cultivation and cuisine, relations with non-humans and foreigners, and the interplay of myth and practice, exploring how ritual contains and diverts the threat of violence by reconciling antagonistic spirits, coordinating social and gender divides, and channelling foreign relations and resources.

Chloe Nahum-Claudel is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. She previously held research fellowships at the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge, and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.