Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Introduction
In the last days of May 2008, striking photos and accompanying stories of an Amazonian “Lost Tribe” found their way into an array of international news sources. One particularly arresting image of this previously “uncontacted” group – three natives in red and black body paint firing arrows from longbows at a low-flying aircraft – was beamed around the world (see Figure 8.1). By the end of June, however, a number of news organizations had dismissed accounts of the Lost Tribe as a hoax. Although others continued to energetically defend the story’s basic outlines – which were, indeed, true – it was now clear to all that the group in question had first been contacted a full century earlier and that the leader of the photographic mission had been fully aware of the “lost” tribe’s existence for some time.
The mission leader’s assertions that he had taken the photos expressly to rally worldwide opposition to illegal logging on the Brazil–Peru border made it easy for some news sources to write off the story as one more cautionary tale about news-hungry journalists and easily swayed publics. However, it is also possible to see the case as proof of the ongoing power of long-existing metaphors and myths that acquire new meanings within contemporary political and economic contexts. By “myths,” I do not mean fallacies, but rather symbolic expressions of collective beliefs and deep concerns that affect the perception and presentation of apparent facts. The often complex ways in which different groups of environmental actors use these tropes for different ends is both the focus of this chapter and the true moral of this story of a not-all-that-Lost Tribe.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.