Le corps, le rythme et l’esthétique sociale chez André Leroi-Gourhan

The article seeks to shift away from the centrality attributed to the idea of ‘control’ in the debate on participatory fire management. To do so, it addresses three modes of existence of the phenomenon in the Brazilian savannah - queimada (burned place), fogos gerais (fire that spreads or general fires) and fogo fora do tempo (fire out of time) - aiming to explore the perceptual disparities between wanted and unwanted fires with quilombolas and environmental managers in the Jalapão region (Tocantins, Brazil). This problem is discussed in light of the concept of normativity formulated by the epistemologist George Canguilhem in dialogue with the anthropology of techniques. The goal is to contribute to a research agenda in which the distinction between ‘good fire’ and ‘bad fire’ is thematized in specific ethnographic contexts rather than from pre-given normative criteria. I conclude by arguing that the current fire management policies concern not only the legal protocol of fire authorization, but also the modulation of technical and vital processes.

Section: Beyond 'Control': the Anthropology Of Techniques And Vital Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire normativities: environmental conservation and quilombola forms of life in the Brazilian savanna

Fagundes

2019

“…With his vitalist perspective, Leroi-Ghouran takes the structure of the body, or, more precisely of human energy, as a way of approaching the activities by means of which humans make themselves in relation to the medium they inhabit (cf. Bidet 2007). In this sense, rhythm allows him to approach the dynamic of the insertion of humans in the world as the very genesis of the social.…”

Section: On Modes Of Huntingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hunting paths in the Amazon: technics and ontogenesis among the Panará

Bechelany

2019

This paper presents a description of hunting and an analysis of its technical relations among the Panará, an indigenous group which inhabits southern Amazonia. The paper is focused around two genetic processes of hunting: the individuation of the hunter and the constitution of a hunting territory. In this sense, it approaches the constitution of the hunter as person in relation with his weaponry, a technical object that is the mediator between the hunter’s action and the prey; afterwards, it approaches the forms of environment that emerges from the movement across the forest and through the production of hunting paths where the prey is encountered. The analysis of these aspects allows us to get insight of the hunting activity from the point of view of its actions, materials and interactions with the environment, from the analysis of technical elements which are socially relevant and construct important modes of relation between Panará and their territory.

“…Leroi-Gourhan had already addressed this issue. As Alexandra Bidet (2007) notes, his work is shot through by an anthropology of rhythm. Through the revaluation and amplification of this concept, he turns to the empirical aspects of human existence, with a view toward the relation between corporality and sociality.…”

Section: Gestures Rhythms Effects and Formsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sound of Technique: Gesture, rhythm and form in bobbin lacing in the Brazilian Northeast

Brussi

2019

Knocking the bobbins is how lace-makers refer to “lacing”. It is an act that, at first sight, does not present any specific technical function, but which, on closer inspection, reveals itself as a fundamental elementary act for elaborating a good lace, since it ensures the firmness of the weave. Through an analysis of the different meanings of this category, the article discusses the relationship between, on the one hand, gesture and rhythm, and, on the other, effects and resulting forms. Each of the senses of knocking the bobbins analysed here are, in turn, tied to different levels of action, since all involve gestures, rhythms, effects and specific forms.