Andean Camelids in the Transoceanic World, 1568-1960

Download or read book Andean Camelids in the Transoceanic World, 1568-1960 written by Marcia Stephenson and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This study is the first book-length work to "identify and address the unexpected role the four species of Andean camelids (llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos) have played in shaping transatlantic relationships among Europeans, criollos, and Indigenous peoples, beginning with the first contact of the Spanish in the sixteenth century and extending through the mid-twentieth century." The author studies the animals' natural histories in their native environments and foregrounds their un-natural histories when they are hunted, captured, transported overseas, exhibited, and dissected. Her analysis shows that throughout the five centuries in question, camelid bodies constitute a surprising meeting point around which the discourses of medicine, religion, the decorative arts, visual aesthetics, travel literature, and instrumental science converge. This convergence appears to have almost no other counterparts in New World flora and fauna, making it a particularly rich area for inquiry about what happens in such "contact zones," in this case, from the Andes to Europe, Australia, and the U.S. and involving the broadest possible cast of characters, from herders to aristocrats and royalty"--