Announcing new volume

The Past Ahead: Language, Culture, and Identity in the Neotropics, Edited by Christian Isendahl, Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2012.

In Andean cognition the embodiment of the past is different from many other ways to spatially relate the position of the body to time. This epistemology is for instance expressed in the Quechua word ñawpa, which signifies that the past is 'in front of us;' it is known and can be seen. Seeing and knowing the past in this way reverberates within the historical ecological argument that the present is contingent with the past and is explicitly reflected within the contributions to this volume. 'The Past Ahead: Language, Culture, and Identity in the Neotropics' forms a collection of reworked papers originally presented in shorter format by archaeologists, anthropologists, and linguists at the research symposium 'Archaeology and Society in Bolivia' organized at Uppsala University by the editor. The volume includes chapters by Jan-Åke Alvarsson, Lisbet Bengtsson, Roger Blench, Sergio Calla, Christian Isendahl, Carla Jaimes, John Janusek, Adriana Muñoz, Heiko Prümers, Walter Sánchez, Per Stenborg, Juan Marcelo Ticona, and Charlotta Widmark examining a series of different aspects of agriculture, complex societies, identities, landscape, languages, and urbanism in the highland and lowland Neotropics that all highlight the significance of the past in the present.

"How can historical ecology deepen our knowledge of both the past and the future? Memories are always in front of us: they are stored in speech, body rhythms, urban forms, networks of passage, landscapes of labor. In the tradition of De Landa, this important book offers a compelling vision of nonlinear time in a rich neotropical setting."
-Carole L. Crumley, University of North Carolina

"With a focus on highland and lowland Bolivian archaeology and ethnography this edited volume is a must read for anyone interested in the historical ecology of the Neotropics."
-William I. Woods, University of Kansas

For more info or order details of hard copy (not sure of price but probably lower than postage) or pdf (free) please contact the editor at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it