Southern Epistemologies: Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding in the Andes and Western AmazonH. Clark Barrett, Michael L. Cepek, Pablo Quintanilla, Emanuele Fabiano, Edouard Machery What does it mean to know, and how is knowledge practiced? How can Indigenous perspectives challenge conventional concepts of knowledge in the Global North? Drawing on Indigenous epistemologies from the Andes and Western Amazon, Southern Epistemologies investigates how knowledge, wisdom, and understanding are shaped by local cultures, languages, bodies, and environments. Bringing together linguists, philosophers, anthropologists, and Indigenous knowledge holders, the volume examines the dynamic interactions between culture, language, and place, showing how the unique linguistic histories and worldviews of Andean and Amazonian societies inform distinct ways of knowing. By interpreting these perspectives on their own terms, the book offers fresh insights into the plurality and diversity of human knowledge. As the first volume specifically focused on Indigenous South American epistemologies, Southern Epistemologies foregrounds Indigenous knowledge systems and science while fostering dialogue with academic traditions. By opening new interdisciplinary and cross-cultural conversations, this groundbreaking volume challenges conventional notions of knowledge and illuminates how engagement with Indigenous perspectives can expand and enrich our understanding of what it truly means to know. |
Contents
Chapter 1 Indigenous Epistemologies and Their Others | 1 |
The Expansive Body as the Foundation of Cofán Shamanic Epistemology | 35 |
Chapter 3 Representations of Shamanic Power in Siona Dream Narratives | 59 |
Chapter 4 Substantiating Kinship as Knowing Relation among Urban Uitoto Desplazados | 83 |
When Ideologies of Language Collide with Histories of Language Contact in the Altiplano | 107 |
Chapter 6 Linguistic Evidence for Body Parts as the Locus of Learning in Matses | 131 |
The Case of the Quechua Evidentiality System | 147 |
Chapter 8 A Postcognitivist Approach to the Emotional Experience of Language in Native Andean Speakers with Spanish as a Second Tongue | 163 |
Chapter 9 On the Ontological Diversity of Language in Indigenous South America | 189 |
Two Case Studies | 215 |
Indigenous Voices from Urarina Shuar and Shiwiar Communities | 241 |
The Plot Thickens | 269 |
| 285 | |