Eduardo Viveiros De Castro's 'Lo sguardo del giaguaro' offers Amerindian perspectivism

Meltemi publishes 'Lo sguardo del giaguaro. Introduzione al prospettivismo amerindio' by Eduardo Viveiros De Castro, translated by Cecilia Pamplenizza. The volume collects interviews on indigenous issues, advocating for a relational anthropology that rejects Western colonial perspectives. Viveiros De Castro argues that Western culture denies the soul and subjectivity of the world, while indigenous animism attributes souls to animals, plants, and stones. He emphasizes Brazil as his context but insists indigenous cultures are not part of Brazil; rather, Brazil belongs to indigenous contexts. The book cites leaders Mario Juruna and Ailton Krenak for achieving constitutional recognition of indigenous communities as collective subjects of rights. Viveiros De Castro proposes overcoming the nature-culture divide, inspired by indigenous mythologies where all beings are animals, with humans being the least animal. He calls for a new ecology, critiquing capitalism's excess principle and advocating for diverse ways of living. The work is reviewed by Marco Petroni.