The Yanomami of Brazil: Geography of an Amerindian Territory

Francois-Michel Le Tourneau
CNRS, IHEAL, U. Paris 3-Sorbone-Nouvelle
Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010


4pm at the Glenn A. Black Lab. of Archeology (9th & Fess)

Integrating cultural, historical, and geographical analysis, Dr Tourneau examines the current condition, distribution, and challenges faced by the Yanomami Indians on the Brazilian side of their territory. He analyses changes in their territorial arrangements, the evolution of threats, and the ways in which Yanomami groups are adapting, in their own terms, to new social and environmental challenges common to them and other indigenous peoples of the Amazon.
Dr. François-Michel Le Tourneau is a research fellow at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) since 1999. He participates in a research laboratory on Latin America in the Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris 3) University in Paris. He has been associated professor in the Center for Sustainable Development of Brasilia during 5 years (2002-
2005 and 2008-2010). As a geographer, his research area is the human dynamics of the Brazilian Amazon, with a special emphasis on isolated areas and/or areas devoted to “traditional populations”. He has recently published a major monograph on the Yanomami (Les Yanomami du Bresil: Geographie d’un territoire Ameridien. Paris: Belin) on the Yanomami Indians, and is currently responsible for a new research project that tries to combine geographical and anthropological approaches for studying the “territoriality” of traditional communities.



*Special thanks to the Glenn Black Laboratory of Archeology

Sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, First Nations Educational and Cultural Center, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, the Department of Geography, Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies