The Amazonian “Other”: Representations of Indigenous Peoples in Contemporary Cultural Texts

This book explores representations of Amazonian Indigenous peoples in contemporary cultural texts. It analyzes a variety of mediums from novels and films to games and exhibitions, uncovering a distorted image of Indigenous peoples of the Amazon in Euro-American common imagination. The author suggests that these texts rely on a stereotypical vision that was shaped in the first decades of colonization. The chapters consider the formation of the image of Amazonian Indigenous people throughout history and some of the contemporary issues they face, touching on daily life and themes such as shamanism and cannibalism. Together they highlight the misrepresented image of Indigenous groups in the Amazon, who are portrayed as different, even strange, in relation to Western culture. The argument put forward is that both “exotic” and “self-exoticization” rely on the notion of otherness, leading to romanticization, patronization, and caricature. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of Indigenous studies, Latin American studies, cultural studies, anthropology, and comparative literature.