Indigenous Studies

The starting point of this article is the thesis developed in 1991 by Isabelle Combès and Thierry Saignes on the birth of Chiriguano ethnicity and identity, both mixed ‘in essence.’ The Chiriguano and the Chané appear to maintain a somewhat paradoxical relationship with miscegenation, however. Although considered paradigmatic examples of Amerindian miscegenation, some contemporary views anticipate the dissolution of the ethnic group precisely because of its mixture with whites. At the same time, the Chiriguano themselves reject any idea of mixture, proclaiming themselves to be simply ‘Guarani.’ Based on a double case study of the Bolivian Isoso and the Argentinean Northwest, the article casts doubt on the idea of the complete absorption of the Chané by the Chiriguano complex; it then analyzes the different types of miscegenation in existence and their relation to an asymmetrical schema that creates a scale of values between different ethnic groups. Finally, the authors suggest that the ideological ambivalence surrounding miscegenation is precisely due to the fact that it is a hybrid construct, the product of the fusion between Chané and Guarani ideologies.

In Latin America, young indigenous people have become visible subjects in ethnic and interethnic encounters. Their engagement with the global world, institutions, technology, religious ideas, and politics tells us how indigenous groups adapt, transform, and innovate in relation to wider social and cultural trends, and how resilient modes of thinking and practices are. We need to consider their transition to adulthood as a core dimension of personhood. Equally, if we are to understand young people, we must know how they shape their values, actions, and identity. So how do Amazonian native young people perceive, question and/or negotiate the new kinds of social and cultural situations in which they find themselves? Virtanen looks at how current power relations constituted by ethnic recognition, new social contacts, and cooperation with different institutions have shaped the current native youth in Amazonia. Using detailed ethnographic account of the Manchineri community, the study examines at indigenous youths' new transition to adulthood, their responsibilities, and experiences related to, for instance, urbanization, and global youth cultures.

"General Description
OSEA Heritage Ethnography Field School provides training in ethnographic field work and research methods.  The program is open to undergraduate and graduate students in any social science and humanities field, as well as to post-baccalaurates.  Participants enroll in two courses.  The core seminar provides an anthropological approach and the analytical foundations for understanding and investigating heritage in local and global contexts.  The ethnographic methods and fieldwork practicum consists of three components.  One unit is an intensive introduction to spoken Maya langauge for use in the conduct of fieldwork.  The second unit is a classroom seminar in which ethnographic methods are presented and discussed.  The goal is for students to design practical research projects on heritage issue in the Maya communities in the region of Chichén Itzá.  The third component is the fieldwork practicum in which students actually conduct the ethnographic research they have designed.  The fieldwork is closely supervised and punctuated with participation in a fieldwork forum or workshop in which students discuss their sucesses and difficulties and a student “conference” presentation of their research results.  Participants can choose to do ethographic projects with a traditional research agenda or as an applied/action-based research.  Projects are designed as individual fieldwork or as collaborative research articulated to the ongoing investigation of heritage and tourism development in the Pisté-Chichén Itzá socioeconomic microregion.
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