The History and Environmental Impacts of Hunting Deities

This edited volume analyzes the belief in supernatural gamekeepers and/or animal masters of wildlife from a cross-cultural perspective. It documents the antiquity and widespread occurrence of the belief in supernatural gamekeepers at the global level. This interdisciplinary volume documents both the antiquity and the widespread geographical distribution of this belief along with surveying the various manifestations of this cosmology by way of studies from Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Some chapters explore the manifestations of this belief as they appear in petroglyphs/pictographs and other forms of material culture. Others focus on the environmental impacts of these beliefs/rituals and prescribed foraging restrictions by analyzing how they affect game harvests. The internationally recognized scholars in this volume assess the efficacy of this particular form of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and investigate if adherence to the belief in animal masters actually causes hunters to refrain from overharvesting wild game and thereby contributes to sustainable hunting practices.

This volume is of interest to anthropologists, archaeologists and other social scientists researching traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), indigenous conservation, biodiversity, and sustainability practices, and animal deities.

Analyzes if the belief in supernatural gamekeepers actually impacts local environments Brings together top scholars to see if traditional ecological knowledge can prevent environmental degradation Covers the antiquity and widespread occurrence of the belief in supernatural gamekeepers on a global level

Auteur

Richard J. Chacon is Professor of Anthropology at Winthrop University, USA. He conducts anthropological research throughout the Americas. He has documented the subsistence patterns and belief systems of the Yanomamö of Venezuela, the Yora of Peru, and the Achuar (Shiwiar) of Ecuador. Additionally, he has investigated the traditional belief patterns of the Kuna of Panama. He has studied ritual violence among the Otavalo and Cotacachi Indians of Highland Ecuador. He documents traditional beliefs and natural resource utilization among the Haida and the Nuxalk (Bella Coola) of Canadäs British Columbia. Currently, he conducts research on the rise of inequality and social complexity across the globe. His specializations include subsistence strategies, optimal foraging theory, conservation, natural resource utilization, warfare, ritual violence, slavery, history of the enslaved, native beliefs, leadership, collective action, inequality and the rise of social complexity, long distance exchange, secret societies, ethnohistory, the effects of globalization, the impacts of missionization of Indigenous peoples, and the African diaspora. He has a special interest in encouraging members of minority communities to pursue higher education. He is the Editor for Springer's Conflict, Environment, and Social Complexity (CESC) series and also for Springer's Anthropology and Ethics series. He co-organizes the Warfare, Environment, Social Inequality and Pro-Sociability (WESIPS) Biennial Conference in Seville, Spain. His publications include Archaeological and Ideological Manifestations of Domination in Indigenous Latin America, eds., Y. Chacon and R. Chacon. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (in press); Trade Before Civilization: Long Distance Exchange and the Rise of Social Complexity, eds., J. Ling, R. Chacon, and K. Kristiansen, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2022); Feast, Famine or Fighting? Multiple Pathways to Social Complexity, eds., R. Chacon and R. Mendoza, New York: Springer (2017); The Great Awakening and Southern Backcountry Revolutionaries (co-authored with Michael Scoggins) New York: Springer (2014); The Ethics of Anthropology and Amerindian Research: Reporting on Environmental Degradation and Warfare, eds., R. Chacon and R. Mendoza, New York: Springer (2012); North American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence, eds., R. Chacon and R. Mendoza, Tucson: University of Arizona Press (2007); Latin American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence, eds., R. Chacon and R. Mendoza, Tucson: University of Arizona Press (2007); and The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians, eds., R. Chacon and D. Dye, Springer: New York (2007). He has held visiting positions at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, at the Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia, and at the University of Costa Rica.

Contenu
Introduction to Supernatural Gamekeepers.- Antlered Mother: From the Paleolithic to the Modern Era.- Spirit Forces and Liminal Beings in North Asian Rock Art.- Humanoid Pillars and the Leopard's Paw: Thoughts on Animal Masters and Gamekeepers in the Ancient Near East.- Baghan Deo: An Indian Tiger God.- A Spirit-Ruled Landscape: Ecology, Cosmology, and Change among Katuic Upland Groups in the Central Annamites of Laos.- Shamans, Spiritualists, Shapeshifters, Healers, and Diviners among the Hunting and Gathering Societies of Africa.- Holy Enforcers: St. Cuthbert and St. Hubert as Modern Icons of Conservation.- Iconic Resources, Prestige and Conservation on Boigu Island of the Torres Strait, Australia.- Shadow of the Whale: West Coast Rituals Associated with Luring Whales.- Supernatural Gamekeeper: Yahwera, Sacred Narrative, and Rock Art, Tehachapi Mountains, California.- Supernatural Gamekeepers of Eastern North America: Animal Masters, Guardian Animals, and Masters of Animals.- Supernatural Gamekeepers among the Tsimane' of Bolivian Amazonia.- Supernatural Gamekeepers/Animal Masters among the Munduruku (Wuy Jugu), Tukano, Embera, and Achuar (Shiwiar) of the Neotropics.- Andean Guardian Mountains and the Ethical Obligations Underlying Resource Management: Between Reciprocity and Predation Supernatural Gamekeepers: Conclusions from an Archaeological Perspective.- Of Game Keepers, Opportunism, and Conservation.