Clark Erickson's Publications

Clark Erickson's list of publications is a chronicle of more than three decades of research in South America, much of it in the Llanos de Mojos. Full disclosure: he was my PhD advisor at the University of Pennsylvania, and continues to have a tremendous influence on how I research, write and teach. He has consistently advocated the position that in order to understand people who live in the Amazon, that anthropologists have to be directly and persistently engaged with them. From that long list of publications, I would single out this one on the bottom-up perspective, and this one reviewing landscapes in Mojos.

Update: I was a little embarrassed that I had not posted about Clark until now, but then I figure out that linked to his homepage in a previous post. So now I am a little embarrassed for forgetting. I will try to figure out how to get the search function to work better on this blog.

Wide Urban World

Michael Smith is an archaeologist at the Arizona State University School of Human Evolution and Social Change. He has been blogging for a long time, which is a bit of an inspiration. His Wide Urban World blog has a lot of great material, including this post about the connection between the archaeological study of raised field farming in the Titicaca Basin (both Peru and Bolivia) and the possibility of farming that way today. That post highlights the work of Clark Erickson, which has come up before on this blog. The archaeological study of cities might at first seem like a bit of a reach for the Amazon, or for the study of intensive agriculture, but many scholars have focused on links between the "urban" and the "rural," in societies around the world.

1491, by Charles Mann

Charles Mann's 1491 is a very readable and wide ranging introduction to many of the big issues raised by archaeological research in the New World. And it begins with the example of eastern Bolivia. Mann spent time with Clark Erickson, seeing firsthand the extent and complexity of the pre-Columbian earthworks in the Llanos de Mojos. He wrote a cover article for the Atlantic magazine, and then developed it into a full-length book. This is a new way of looking at one of the most important moments in modern history, and 1491 deserves to be read by anyone who is interested in the archaeology, history, geography, and modern societies of the Americas.

UNESCO and San Ignacio de Moxos

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will hold a meeting in Paris this December. Included on the agenda is the consideration of thirty-six nomination files, each of which supports the petition of an "element" of intangible cultural heritage. The UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage is truly amazing in its beauty and diversity, drawing from peoples around the world. One of this years files is in support of Ichapekene Piesta, the biggest festival of San Ignacio de Moxos. The festival of San Ignacio is a spectacular display of music and dancing, costumes and artistry that is more than 300 years old. San Ignacio was one of the first places I visited in Bolivia, when I worked with Clark Erickson in 1992. My full disclosure is that I was asked to be on the team of scholars who prepared this file (and I said yes). I very much hope that the intangible heritage of the Ichapekene Piesta is recognized in this international venue.