Of Jaguars and Butterflies - by Geoffrey Lloyd & Aparecida Vilaça (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

What are we to make of statements that jaguars see themselves as humans, or of doubts about the boundary between dreams and waking? Jointly authored by an anthropologist and a philosopher, this book investigates some of the most puzzling ideas and practices reported in modern ethnography and ancient philosophy, concerning humans, animals, persons, spirits, agency, selfhood, consciousness, nature, life, death, disease and health. The study's twin aims are first to explore the possibility of achieving a better understanding of the materials we discuss and then to see what lessons we can draw from them to challenge and revise our own fundamental assumptions.

Review Quotes

"In this unusual and engaging book, a philosopher (Lloyd) and an anthropologist (Vilaça) spar and discourse around questions of reality, interpretation, ontology, culture, and metaphor... Readers interested in any or all of the topics will find much here that is enthusing and thought-provoking- and the free and lively form of the writing may make this short volume particularly well suited to whetting the appetite of students embarking upon these topics." - Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)

"This short, unusual, and absorbing book places a social anthropologist of Amazonia (Aparecida Vilaça) and a historian-cum-philosopher of antiquity (Sir Geoffrey E. R. Lloyd) into a productive dialogue. In doing so, it sheds new light on the well-established but often implicit relationship between the disciplines... There is value here for all students and scholars of anthropology, philosophy, and mythology. Yet perhaps the greatest contribution of this book is its encouragement to seek out these kinds of productive collaborations in 'the space between' our own often inward-facing disciplines." - American Ethnologist

"[This book] offers an important reflection about the processes involved in the formulation of theoretical models in Social Sciences and the Humanities; a function of intellectual dialogue that would have been so useful to have in other key collaborations of Amerindian studies...The reader might find in this book more jaguars than butterflies, but it is above all a very useful tool for those interested in continuing thinking the possible contributions of the most recent developments in Anthropology and Philosophy." - Anthropos

"This is a work of outstanding interest and originality, both in form and in content." - Nicholas Jardine, Cambridge University

"This is a rare treat: a sequence of conversations between an anthropologist and a philosopher who tease out a series of fascinating questions, notably those posed to the mind of the philosopher by the materials of the anthropologist. It is a hugely illuminating exercise, because of who they are and what they are discussing." - Marilyn Strathern, Cambridge University

About the Author

Aparecida Vilaça is a social anthropologist who has been working for three decades among the Wari' people (Amazonia, Brazil). She is a collaborating Professor at the Graduate Program in Social Anthropology at Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Her publications include Paletó and Me. Memories of my Indigenous father (Stanford University Press, 2021).