This dissertation explores the way Kotiria/Wanano (E. Tukanoan, Kotiria hereafter) women of the Brazilian Alto Rio Negro (ARN) contrive (McDowell 1990) kaya basa ‘sad songs’ using linguistic and musical resources to construct songs that express loneliness and other private emotions, while also creating alliances and separations from other women in their lives. A central concept is the practice of linguistic exogamy, in which Kotiria marry speakers of other languages, creating a multilingual and multivocal, cacophonic sound during po’oa exchange ceremonies. I compare these songs to mythological narratives depicting the beginnings of Kotiria society and the roles of men and women within it, as well as men’s ceremonial forms of speech and unmarried women’s joking songs as a way to think about the resonances of sound and meaning married women create in their songs. Drawing on resources from linguistic anthropology, ethnomusicology, semiotics, and intersectional feminism, I demonstrate that the singing of – and listening to – kaya basa is a fundamental social structuring event. Despite previous works (e.g., Brüzzi 1962) that saw men’s expressive practices like shamanic chanting or ritual instrument playing as those upholding the social order, I argue that the social order owes its stability equally to women’s public participation in musical practice. Following Hill’s formulation of musicalizing the other (1993, 2009, 2011, 2013), I demonstrate that kaya basa reflect on inter- and intra-community relations on the macro level, while also giving women the chance to comment on important life transitions on the micro level. Moreover, my combined linguistic and spectrographic analyses of the sounds of these songs illustrate the intricate relations between the sounds of language and the sounds of music, the methods by which one understands something is true or false, and how individual singers can contrive differently within the same genre to create a well-formed song. I propose further work on this genre, and on genres that seem to be related which are produced by other groups in the area. I extend Beier, Michael, and Sherzer’s (2002) conception of the greater Amazonian discourse area to one of a greater Amazonian soundscape in which sonic ways of producing and gathering meaning (acoustemologies, Feld 1996) have been and are a major driving force in the arraying of social life across language families in the ARN.

Commercial forestry has expanded across the Rio de la Plata Grasslands (RPG) of South America in recent decades. I conducted a resource-use based study on bird communities during the 2013-2014 austral breeding season in northern Uruguay. I assessed relationships between habitat types and bird abundance as a function of vegetation structure. To compare avian responses to treatments, I included native environments, pine and eucalyptus plantations of different ages and thinning regimes. I detected differences in species richness and composition and species-specific responses in abundance along structural gradients sampled. Although poorer in species than native habitat types, tree plantations were extensively used by birds. Birds associated with plantations were primarily habitat generalists and forest dependent species, with low incidence of grassland specialists. Results of my study provide baseline information for stand-level management and future landscape design of timber plantations to benefit conservation of bird communities in afforested landscapes in the RPG.

Isotopic investigations of speleothem CR1 from Cristal Cave in southeastern Brazil have established a high-resolution record of climate change extending 4,100 years prior to sample collection in 2007. A total of 14 subsamples were collected from CR1 for U/Th age determination. ICP-MS analysis yielded very precise ages with analytical errors (2σ) averaging ± 13 years. An initial growth rate of .062 mm y-1 for the first 2860 years is followed by a rate of .08 mm y-1 for the remaining growth period allowing for sampling of δ18O at sub-decadal resolution. Stable isotope analyses show a large range of δ18O values between -7.5 ‰ to -4 ‰. The data show a trend of steadily decreasing values over the past 4,000 y BP. The exception to this trend is the last 150 years BP when some of the least negative and most variable values for the record are observed. Variations in speleothem δ18O in southern Brazil have been shown to reflect changes in rainfall δ18O, which in turn indicate changes in rainfall source or rainfall amount (Cruz et al., 2006). In Southeastern Brazil, δ18O is controlled mainly by moisture source location, in particular South American monsoonal versus extratropical sources (Cruz et al., 2005). The relative contribution of monsoonal and extratropical moisture help to define the δ18O of regional precipitation via the mean location and southward extent of Hadley cell convective activity associated with the South American summer monsoon (Cruz et al., 2005). For example, decreases in precipitation δ18O are often interpreted as a decreased contribution of winter versus summer precipitation (Cruz et al., 2005). Assuming that the modern (observed) relationship between the seasonality and moisture source location effect occurring in southeastern Brazil have functioned for the past ~ 4,100 years, trends of more negative values towards modern day are likely due to increased summer precipitation and/or an overall increase in total yearly precipitation. The more enriched values of the past 100 years suggest a recent decrease in summer and/or total rainfall.

This thesis aims to address the topic of informal vernacular architecture in a focal group of chosen villages in South and Central America. With the goal to represent their informal architecture and its connection to identity, culture, and sustainability. What I’m referring to as informal architecture in this thesis, is something referred to by many names in the contemporary vocabularies. Many of them has been used through a derogatory undertone. Therefore, the prime setting that I want to underline is that this investigation is not to depreciate the informal architecture, in any kind of way. This is an investigation that aims to go deeper through what I hold in high regards – an informal language of architecture that generates another type of value than other languages of architecture do.  It’s an investigation through the tectonic system that defines the private, and the generated voids that holds space for the collected public life of the communities. How the culture, the life, the holistic beliefs, and the condition of the site is reflected on the tectonic structure and architectural expression.  My goal with this work is to not only give my analysis but also to generate an analysis with the viewer through expressing the different villages in a comparative language. Why? Because I want to share a fraction of the knowledge that the people of these villages gave to me.

No description available.

No description available.

No / Four recently discovered frozen child mummies from two of the highest peaks in the south central Andes now yield tantalizing evidence of the preparatory stages leading to Inca ritual killing as represented by the unique capacocha rite. Our interdisciplinary study examined hair from the mummies to obtain detailed genetic and diachronic isotopic information. This approach has allowed us to reconstruct aspects of individual identity and diet, make inferences concerning social background, and gain insight on the hitherto unknown processes by which victims were selected, elevated in social status, prepared for a high-altitude pilgrimage, and killed. Such direct information amplifies, yet also partly contrasts with, Spanish historical accounts.

The aim of this thesis is to understand spatiotemporal temperature variability in southern South America by identifying overarching temperature variability states and their associated synoptic-scale meteorological patterns. Further, the temporal frequency of occurrence of those temperature variability states is investigated as is the role of recurrent low-frequency modes of climate variability (El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode) on temperature variability. K-means cluster analysis is used to group all months during the period 1980-2015 into four primary categories for summer and winter separately. Monthly maps of temperature anomalies are provided as input to the k-means algorithm and the resulting temperature variability states are the composites of temperature anomaly maps for months assigned to each cluster, illustrating the primary spatial patterns of temperature variability over Southern South America. Composites of synoptic-scale meteorological patterns (wind, geopotential height, and moisture fields) are calculated for months assigned to each cluster to better diagnose the driving meteorology associated with these patterns of temperature variability. Results show that in summer surface wind direction and geopotential height are robust indicators of temperature variability patterns, while in winter jet stream winds are important for diagnosing equatorward excursions of cold air and poleward excursions of warm air. According to the results the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode exhibit some relationship with temperature variability state frequency, with some states more associated with these two modes than others, however they do not appear to be primary drivers of any of the temperature variability states.

Texte remanié de : Tesis doctoral : filosofia y letras : Buenos aires : 2003. / Les 9 premières pages sont en chiffres romains. Bibliogr. p. 179-196.

This thesis examines the social and economic relations of the Enxet indigenous people of the Paraguayan Chaco region who place a high value on egalitarianism, generosity and personal autonomy. However, during the twentieth century their land has been colonized by cattle ranchers and they have been obliged to enter the market economy. While anthropologists have proposed a range of theories to explain indigenous social and economic relations, the main concern of this thesis is to examine how the Enxet themselves explain their social behaviour. The Enxet make salient use of "emotion words" when discussing their social and economic practices. For instance, a fundamental dichotomy in Enxet thought is between "love" and "hate" and much of their discourse centres on these two concepts. The Enxet seek to create "good/beautiful" people who know how to act appropriately. In certain contexts they should practise "love" while in other contexts "hate" is acceptable. Enxet social organization should not be understood as a structure but as a process, as something that is being continually created. I will consider different aspects of this process through an examination of kinship, co-residence, marital relations, "brideservice" and inter-community contact, and I will describe how economic transactions are key elements in the generation of "loving" social relations. However, self-centred practices create many challenges to a harmonious community life and I will consider how the Enxet strive to overcome them. Of particular interest will be demand sharing which responds, in part, to a strongly-held egalitarian ethic but can also provoke disharmony and discomfort in community life. I will also discuss commodity relations within Enxet communities and challenge the common assumption that money is necessarily destructive of indigenous social relations. I will conclude that the overriding goal of the Enxet is the attainment of tranquillity in both their personal and social lives. For the Enxet, economic relations are not about gaining material wealth but about living well with other people. They recognize that personal affective comfort is dependent on engendering tranquillity in other people. Therefore, the "emotion words" they use to explain their social behaviour should not be regarded as merely referring to "feelings" but as encompassing an aesthetics of social behaviour.