Vital Diplomacy

Focusing on the major ceremonial cycle of the Enawene-nawe people, Vital Diplomacy sheds new light on classic Amazonian themes such as manioc cultivation and cuisine, predatory relations with non-humans, and the interplay of myth and practice, and to consider dynamics of kin, clan, and gender relations, the meaning of productive work, and practices of foreign diplomacy.

Chloe Nahum-Claudel is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. She previously held research fellowships at the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge, and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

Chloe Nahum-Claudel is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. She previously held research fellowships at the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge, and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

“Chloe Nahum-Claudel’s monograph is an excellent addition to anthropology’s repertoire. It weaves together elaborate description with a creative analytical approach that applies to local and regional politics. It also serves as an impressive introduction to Nahum-Claudel’s skills as a rigorous and attentive scholar…All Amazonian scholars and many other anthropologists interested in indigenous politics would benefit from reading Nahum-Claudel’s book, whose elaboration of the concept of diplomacy and use of it in analysing ritual practices represent an important and innovative contribution to the discipline.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“Chloe Nahum-Claudel’s excellent book is the first full-length ethnography in English of the Enawenê- nawê, an Arawakan-speaking group of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso... [It] shows how the concept of diplomacy can be used to frame indigenous struggles over rights and resources in a way which respects indigenous cosmological perspectives.” • Anthropos

“…interesting, thoughtful and well-written… a fine contribution to the ethnography of native lowland South America.” • Harry Walker, London School of Economics and Political Science