Becoming Primates: Ethnographic Notes on the Production of Human and Other-than-Human Multispecies Collectives

BOLLETTIN, Paride. Becoming Primates: Ethnographic Notes on the Production of Human and Other-than-Human Multispecies Collectives. In Frasin I., Bodi, G.;Bulei, S. and Vasiliu C. D. Animal Life and Human Culture: Anthrozoology Studies. Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Presa Universitara Clujeana, 2022, p. 59-74. ISBN 978-606-37-1599-0.

Basic information

• Original name: Becoming Primates: Ethnographic Notes on the Production of Human and Other-than-Human Multispecies Collectives
• Authors: BOLLETTIN, Paride (380 Italy, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Animal Life and Human Culture: Anthrozoology Studies, p. 59-74, 16 pp. 2022.
• Publisher: Presa Universitara Clujeana

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Chapter(s) of a specialized book
• Field of Study: 50404 Antropology, ethnology
• Country of publisher: Romania
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Publication form: printed version "print"
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14310/22:00127033
• Organization unit: Faculty of Science
• ISBN: 978-606-37-1599-0
• Keywords in English: Primates;Amerindian;Primatologist;Becoming;Multispecies
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

This work describes how the recognition of a relational engagement affects the description of multispecies human and other-than-human primate collective in two ethnographic cases. The first focuses on the Mebengokré of Brazilian Amazon and their relation with the kukoi, capuchins monkeys, as the actualization of alternative possibilities ranging from a prey-predator to a ritual relation. The second turns on primatologists studying capuchins monkeys in northeast Brazil as objectivated units in scientific reports, but also as engaged in direct and subjective relations during their fieldwork. The thesis is that, in both cases, despite the divergent taxonomic recognition, the core basis of the effective and affective relation is the reciprocal influence in the common becoming of human and other-than-human primates. The consequence is that such common becoming implies an ethnographic effort able to cross specie-specific frontiers in order to move beyond the anthropocentric description and include other-than-humans as proper subjects.