Eduardo Viveiros de Castro quiz

More questions about Eduardo Viveiros de Castro

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1. 1 Easy

   Why is a shaman's journey considered a dangerous act?

   Answer: Losing human perspective

   Why: Shamans can take on a spirit's or animal's viewpoint and, unlike most people, come back to tell the story.

2. 2 Medium

   Which "Metaphysics" is the title of Viveiros de Castro's 2009 book?

   Answer: Cannibal Metaphysics

   Why: The French original of 2009 uses the plural, Métaphysiques, and the English translation did not follow until 2014.

3. 3 Hard

   What causes the problem of equivocation during anthropological fieldwork?

   Answer: Homonymous conceptual terms

   Why: Viveiros de Castro's example is the vulture, which sees the maggots in rotting meat as grilled fish: one word, two worlds.

4. 4 Easy

   How does an Amazonian shaman cross boundaries between species?

   Answer: Changing their perspective

   Why: Viveiros de Castro: shamans can cross and come back, into a world where what we see as blood is manioc beer to the jaguar.

5. 5 Medium

   What term does Viveiros de Castro use for non-human personhood?

   Answer: subjectivity

   Why: In his 1998 Cambridge lectures, the subjectivities filling the world include animals, gods, spirits, the dead, plants and occasionally even objects.

6. 6 Hard

   What task does Viveiros de Castro call 'controlled equivocation'?

   Answer: Translation

   Why: He calls it controlled in the sense that walking may be called a controlled way of falling: the translator works the gap rather than closing it.