Suchergebnisse

Indigenous Colombia -- Tukanoan culture and the issue of "culture" -- The state's presence in the Vaupés increases -- The indigenous movement and rights -- Reindigenization and its discontents -- Conclusion : indigeneity's ironies and contradictions

INTRODUCTION The topic of pain offers a treasure trove of anthropological research projects that pose intriguing intellectual challenges. To begin with an obvious point, pain, especially chronic pain, is a hugely important issue: 40 percent of patients seeking medical attention cite pain as the reason; approximately 45 percent of people will experience chronic pain at some point during their lives (Taylor 2006: 237); an estimated 86 million Americans have some form of chronic pain (Sullivan 2007: 263); and over US $100 billion is spent yearly in treatment-related costs and lost-work productivity due to chronic pain (Sullivan 2007: 268). Also, pain medicine intersects in complex, anthropologically fascinating ways with powerful institutions like the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and government. Another reason to encourage more research is that new insights emerging from social science investigations can potentially ameliorate the distress experienced by pain sufferers and those around them.

1. INTRODUCTION This essay examines the emergence of Colombia's indigenous people as a political force, focusing in particular on the unequal relationship between indigenous communities (pueblos) and the state, as well as the effects of the half-century of violence. I first provide some general information about the pueblos and a brief history of indigenous organizing. A summary of changes brought about by the Asamblea Nacional Constituyente (ANC), and the Constitución Política of 1991 follows. I then provide a short overview of the Constitution's successes and failures with respect to indigenous concerns, a brief comment on language loss, and, finally, Discussion and Conclusions.

Más que un indio (More Than an Indian): Racial Ambivalence and Neoliberal Multiculturalism in Guatemala. By Charles R. Hale. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press, 2006. Pp. xii + 292. $34.05 paper. The Stroessner Regime and Indigenous Resistance in Paraguay. By René D. Harder Horst. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007. Pp. xi + 224. $50.05 cloth. Who Defines Indigenous? Identities, Development, Intellectuals, and the State in Northern Mexico. By Carmen Martínez Novo. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006. Pp. ix + 187. $23.95 paper. Now We Are Citizens: Indigenous Politics in Postmulticultural Bolivia. By Nancy Grey Postero. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007. Pp. xvi + 294. $26.05 paper. The four books under review address several of the most compelling issues that have arisen following the democratic transitions of the 1980s and 1990s in Latin American countries with indigenous populations. The main concerns shared by the authors, all anthropologists, are indigenous mobilization, indigenous-state relations, and official multiculturalism. Reforms that sought to bring marginalized indigenous populations into the political process receive particular attention. The paradox of neoliberal multiculturalism, according to Charles R. Hale, "is that a progressive response to past societal ills has a menacing potential to perpetuate the problem in a new guise" (12). The reforms "intended to heal the rift between the state and the populace," writes Nancy Grey Postero (220), did not work as planned, and the books reviewed here seek to understand why. Although the authors address several other topics, I focus on how they deal with indigenous organizing, neoliberal ideologies and policies, democratization, and the role of structural racism. The differences among the books are substantial, as a result of different research sites and the various interests, methodologies, and research scope of the authors.

The effects of development, emergent nationalism, & neocolonialism on small-scale societies (hunter-gatherer or horticulturalist) are examined, using examples from cross-cultural records & personal anthropological fieldwork among tropical forest horticulturalists in the northwest Amazon region of Colombia & Brazil. Four kinds of negative effects can occur: (1) genocide, (2) loss of economic options & autonomy, (3) disruption in population equilibrium & deterioration of health, & (4) reduction of cultural autonomy & self-determination. Reduction in land base & greatly increased sedentarization are inevitable. Important factors are the type of change being promulgated & the goals of the change agents; short of extermination campaigns, homesteading seems the most inimical to continued well-being of indigenous groups. Geographical location, especially involving international boundaries, & the nature of exploitable resources (natural, labor, native manufacturers) play a crucial role. Reasons why small-scale societies are especially disrupted by development are outlined, & suggestions made for discovering & avoiding harmful changes not necesssary to fulfilling a project's goals. 1 Figure, 88 References. AA.