Children of the Rainforest

CAMILLA MORELLI is a lecturer in social anthropology at the University of Bristol, UK. ROLDÁN DUNÚ TUMI DËSI is an Indigenous Amazonian anthropologist with a degree in anthropology from the Universidad Nacional de la AmazonÍa Peruana (UNAP) in Iquitos, Peru.

"This brief summary of Children of the Forest barely conveys the significance of this grand accomplishment. Seldom has childhood been studied so thoroughly nor yielded so many original findings. This is a must read for anthropologists who study childhood and scholars across the spectrum interested in the process of social change." - David Lancy (Anthropology Book Forum) "A unique and meaningful contribution to the anthropology of Amazonian South America. Morelli's text provides depth of ethnographic detail while addressing a challenging and timely topic through an examination of culture change as experienced by Matses children/youth in the rural Peruvian Amazon." (Latin Americanist) "While it is often argued that children are the leading change agents in Indigenous communities, Camilla Morelli provides one of the first and the most thorough documentation of this phenomenon."  - David F. Lancy (author of The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings) "This is a highly innovative book that offers a remarkable perspective on the immense social change facing the Matses since the 1960s through the eyes and lives of children. It is as eminently readable as it is theoretically challenging and offers a truly exceptional ethnography that will appeal to a wide audience. This is one of the most insightful and inspiring books on Indigenous people that I have read in recent years."- Andrew Canessa (author of Intimate Indigeneities: Race, Sex, and History in the Small Spaces of Andean Life) "Children of the Rainforest is a much awaited and fine-grained analysis of Amazonian childhood! Morelli's ethnographic account is timely, highly informative, and moving." - Olga Ulturgasheva (coeditor of Animism in Rainforest and Tundra: Personhood, Animals, Plants and Things in Contemporary)

• Foreword by RoldÁn DunÚ Tumi DËsiIntroduction  1 The Child in the Forest: A Glimpse into the Childhoodof the Past 2 River Horizons: Moving toward the Big Water 3 The Sound of Inequality: Children as Agentsof Economic Change 4 Consuelo’s Dolls: Shifting Desires and the Subversionof Womanhood 5 Jean-Claude Van Damme in the Rainforest:The Spoken Weapons of Masculinity 6 Yearning for Concrete: Children’s Imaginationas a Catalyst for Change 7 Urban Futures: When Dreams of ConcreteCome True Conclusion   Afterword by RoldÁn DunÚ Tumi DËsiAcknowledgmentsNotesReferencesIndex