Fractality, materiality and culture: An ethnoarchaeological study of the Awá-Guajá (Maranhao, Brazil), commented by Félx Acuto, Benjamin Alberti, André Menard and Axel Nielsen

Authors

  • Almudena Hernando
  • Alfredo Gonzalez-Ruibal

Abstract

In this article we argue that there is a relationship of scale (i.e. fractal) and not of determination between the features that characterize a particular culture and those of the people belonging to that culture. We will argue that what we call “cultural change” is in fact a transformation of the way in which people are related to the world. This includes changes in the manifold relations between people and things. We argue that ethnoarchaeology, as a discipline that joins the concerns of anthropology and archaeology (the discipline of things), can significantly contribute to the study of culture and to recent debates in the social sciences. We will use an ethnoarchaeological study among the Awá-Guajá, a group of hunter-gatherers livin in NW Maranhão State, to prove our points.

Keywords:

Awá-guajá, Amazonas, Fractalidad, Cultura Material, Etnoarqueología.