Andrew WhitakerThe Landscape Imagination:Incorporating Amerindian Perspectivism into an Historical Ecology of KnowledgeIntroduction to the Landscape ImaginationHistorical ecology and Amerindian perspectivism are both regnant theoretical approaches in the contemporary anthropology of Amazonia.These two approaches have developed from very different intellectual origins and constitute both unique and separate orientations to the field.However, they are neither mutually eclusive nor unrelated.The intersection of these theoretical approaches constitutes a relatively open area for future study.Although tentative efforts have been made to bridge the theoretical divide, scholars have primarily remained rooted in one or the other theoretical approach.! propose an intersectional approach that focuses on cultural understandings of the relations between ontological entities" these relations articulate the landscape domain with the domains of cosmology and society.The goal of such research in a given society is to elucidate contemporary structural frameworks of #landscape imagination$ in that society.The landscape imagination consists of the categorical relations and ideational content, i,e., the structure%, that inform a society&s intervention into its landscape" both the agency and the intentionality of the society may be epressed, although not determined, in and through the landscape imagination.'andscape imagination does not determine landscape intervention.(ather it provides a set of relations and attached ideas from which the society takes influence.)urthermore, the structural frameworks that constitute it, i.e. the relations and ideas, change over time in dialectic accord with %This is not #structure$ in the sense of 'evi*+trauss.The phrase #categorical relations$ does not signify abstract relations between terms.(ather, it signifies #social relations$ between entities in the domains of landscape, society, and cosmology. ! have included a section below that further eplains my use of the term #structure$.continuing landscape interventions and the landscape transformations that result from the latter. Although these frameworks are mutable, they may still prove useful at times in interpreting the motivations and cultural intentions underlying anthropogenic landscape transformations in the past. This involves the use of synchronic research to construct interpretive tools for analyzing the data of diachronic research.)urther study is needed to understand how landscape imagination informs the practices that result in landscape transformation" further study is also needed to understand how previous landscape transformations, which involve the replacement of one set of beings ,wholly or partially- by another set of beings ,.al/e 01123 45*46-, influence structural frameworks..al/e ,01123 40- has eplained that historical ecology does not synthesize nature and culture" rather, it studies the reiterative dialectic interface between the two sets of domains.Towards this end, theoretical and methodological bridges are needed between historical ecology and Amerindian perspectivism.This paper is an attempt to create such a bridge, to ascertain the contour of an inductive research programme concerned with elucidating the structural frameworks of landscape imagination, and to move towards an #historical ecology of knowledge$ ,.al/e 7 8rickson 01123 9-.!n this paper, ! will begin with a description of the theoretical approaches known as historical ecology and Amerindian perspectivism" this will be followed by an attempt to show how these approaches can be fruitfully combined.The net section consists of an eploration of the concept of #landscape imagination$ and how it fits into an intersectional approach that attempts to bridge the theoretical divide.! will then discuss my understanding of the term #structure$ and how ! am using it in the sense of the landscape imagination being constituted by #structural frameworks$.A discussion of possible methodology for undertaking intersectional empirical research is presented.)inally, ! will discuss how the landscape imagination can be inductively uncovered and how this kind of research may further our understanding of the intentionality underpinning previous landscape transformations.Historical EcologyHistorical ecology goes beyond the #standard model$ of Amazonian anthropology ,:iveiros de ;astro %9923 %41*%90- by viewing human societies as agents within their ecological milieu, rather than as limited adaptators to a static environment ,.al/e %994" .al/e 0112" 8rickson 0114-.The adaptationist view of the #standard model$ posited a #...determining action of the environment...$ on Amazonian cultures and societies ,:iveiros de ;astro %9923 %41-..etty ulian +teward ,%9=2*%951- are most associated with the cultural ecological position that Amazonian societies are environmentally limited and characterized by cultural adaptation.:iveiros de ;astro refers to this position as the #+teward*effrey B. 'ake" ;onstanza Wcamp*(aeder" Andrew Townesmith" and ames Andrew.01%%b.#;ontemporary Anthropological Lnderstandings of the +oul in Amazonia$.Haper Hresented at I++A !nterdisciplinary ;olloquium +eries, +chool of 'iberal Arts, Tulane Lniversity.August 05, 01%%.,Lnpublished-.