Review\n“A perfectly grounded account of what it is like to live an indigenous life in communion with one’s personal spirits. We are losing worlds upon worlds.”―Louise Erdrich, New York Times Book Review\n“What does it mean when someone says they can understand the inner lives of animals, trees, or even forests? Bruce Albert and Davi Kopenawa provide a vivid sense of this in The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman. The Yanomami of the Amazon, like all the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Australia, have experienced the end of what was once their world. Yet they have survived and somehow succeeded in making sense of a wounded existence. They have a lot to teach us.”―Amitav Ghosh, The Guardian\n“One of the first and best autobiographical narratives by an indigenous lowland Amazonian…The book is a mix of autobiography, history, personal philosophy, and cultural criticism of whites for their destruction of the world, worship of the material, and lack of spirituality and vitality…The book is not only finely detailed and full of challenging philosophical points, it also contains much humor…Ultimately, it is Kopenawa’s voice that tells us who he is, who his people are, and who we are to them. It is complex and nuanced; I’d go so far as to call The Falling Sky a literary treasure: invaluable as academic reading, but also a must for anyone who wants to understand more of the diverse beauty and wonder of existence.”―Daniel L. Everett, New Scientist\n“I have just read your manuscript and am enormously impressed by this work of such powerful methodological interest and prodigious documentary richness. It wholly captivates the reader yet is simultaneously so complex, raising so many questions.”―Claude Lévi-Strauss, letter to Bruce Albert, July 10, 2006\n“The words of the Yanomami shamans are powerful: they conjure up another world responsible for this one. Davi Kopenawa proves it for us. Not only do his words give us an unparalleled experience of the life of the Yanomami, but his moving description of their struggle to save the forest and themselves from destruction by the whites reveals the modern tragedy of indigenous peoples in ways we never imagined.”―Marshall Sahlins, University of Chicago\n“Kopenawa provides a fascinating glimpse into his life as well as into Yanomami cultural beliefs and practices, setting his story against the various threats the Yanomami people and their forest have faced since the 1960s...Kopenawa's story is eloquent, engaging, and thought-provoking, exuding heartfelt wisdom. This extraordinary and richly detailed work is an outstanding explication of the Yanomami worldview as well as a plea to all people to respect and preserve the rain forest.”―Elizabeth Salt, Library Journal (starred review)\n“This engaging text, the autobiography of Yanomami shaman and activist Davi Kopenawa, translated with some prefatory remarks, appendixes, notes, and additional biographical comments by anthropologist Albert, offers a valuable insider perspective on a much-studied Amazonian society, with rich details on myth and religious practices, including shamanic initiation. Albert frames this story with a half-century-long history of exploitation by Westerners, ranging from anthropologists to government officials and developers. Kopenawa’s direct experiences with, and assessment of, his white interlocutors is often charged with a well-justified anger, but through the course of his personal history the need for mutual respect and, where appropriate, collaboration is likewise made evident. The text offers a trenchant critique of the characterization of the Yanomami as humanity’s primordial ‘fierce people,’ highlighting the beauty and virtues of these people while reminding readers of Western cultural and ecological destruction in the Amazon (an exceptionally virulent brand of fierceness).”―C. J. MacKenzie, Choice\n“Anthropologists and other specialists will find much to relish in this beautifully crafted evocation of Yanomami

The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman

Biographies & Memoirs

Kopenawa, Davi

Albert, Bruce

Community & Culture

Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press

The Falling Sky is a remarkable first-person account of the life story and cosmo-ecological thought of Davi Kopenawa, shaman and spokesman for the Yanomami of the Brazilian Amazon. Representing a people whose very existence is in jeopardy, Davi Kopenawa paints an unforgettable picture of Yanomami culture, past and present, in the heart of the rainforest--a world where ancient indigenous knowledge and shamanic traditions cope with the global geopolitics of an insatiable natural resources extraction industry.
In richly evocative language, Kopenawa recounts his initiation and experience as a shaman, as well as his first encounters with outsiders: government officials, missionaries, road workers, cattle ranchers, and gold prospectors. He vividly describes the ensuing cultural repression, environmental devastation, and deaths resulting from epidemics and violence. To counter these threats, Davi Kopenawa became a global ambassador for his endangered people. The Falling Sky follows him from his native village in the Northern Amazon to Brazilian cities and finally on transatlantic flights bound for European and American capitals. These travels constitute a shamanic critique of Western industrial society, whose endless material greed, mass violence, and ecological blindness contrast sharply with Yanomami cultural values.
Bruce Albert, a close friend since the 1970s, superbly captures Kopenawa's intense, poetic voice. This collaborative work provides a unique reading experience that is at the same time a coming-of-age story, a historical account, and a shamanic philosophy, but most of all an impassioned plea to respect native rights and preserve the Amazon rainforest.

History

Ce livre a été écrit à partir des paroles de Davi Kopenawa, chaman et leader des Indiens yanomami du Brésil, recueillies dans sa langue par Bruce Albert, ethnologue français auquel le lie une amitié de plus de trente ans. Davi Kopenawa retrace sa vocation de chaman depuis l'enfance et révèle une métaphysique séculaire basée sur l'usage de puissants hallucinogènes. Il relate, à travers son histoire personnelle souvent dramatique, l'avancée dévastatrice des Blancs dans la forêt et ses voyages à l'étranger pour défendre son peuple. Véritable Tristes Tropiques de la pensée sauvage...

La chute du ciel

Literature & Fiction

Classics

PLON

Product Description Ce livre a été écrit à partir des paroles de Davi Kopenawa, chaman et leader des Indiens Yanomami du Brésil, recueillies dans sa langue par Bruce Albert, ethnologue français auquel le lie une amitié de plus de trente ans. Davi Kopenawa retrace sa vocation de chaman depuis l'enfance et révèle une métaphysique séculaire s'appuyant sur l'usage de puissants hallucinogènes. Il relate, à travers son histoire personnelle souvent dramatique, l'avancée dévastatrice des Blancs dans la forêt, et ses voyages à l'étranger pour défendre son peuple. Ce témoignage exceptionnel est à la fois le récit d'une vie hors du commun, un vibrant manifeste chamanique et un cri d'alarme face à la crise écologique mondiale vue depuis le cœur de l'Amazonie. Véritable Tristes Tropiques de la pensée sauvage, c'est un événement dans l'histoire de l'anthropologie. Édition corrigée par l'auteur Inclus deux cahiers photos About the Author Bruce Albert, anthropologue, directeur de recherche à l'IRD, fervent défenseur de la cause des Yanomami du Brésil avec lesquels il travaille - et chez lesquels il séjourne très régulièrement - depuis 1975. Davi Kopenawa, porte-parole et chaman yanomami, reconnu au Brésil et dans le monde comme un des grands leaders amérindiens à la pointe du combat pour la protection de la forêt amazonienne.

La Chute du ciel

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Books by Kopenawa, Davi

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The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman

The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman

La chute du ciel

La Chute du ciel