Darrell A. Posey (1947-2001)
Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: From the time he began his fieldwork among the Kayapó Indians of Brazil in 1977 until his death in March, 2001, Darrell Posey was as engaged with his chosen field of anthropology as one could be.Born and raised on a farm in rural Kentucky by a family with deep roots in American history and proud traditions, Darrell brought to this work an extraordinary preparation as an entomologist and geographer, with degrees in these fields from Louisiana State University.He then studied ecology with the legendary Eugene Odum while a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Georgia.In a little over 20 years from the time he received his Ph.D. in 1979 until he became terminally ill in 2000, Darrell had an enormous impact on the people around him as well as institutions and academic disciplines.According to various sources, he was the author or co-author of three books, editor or co-editor of four books, the author or co-author of some 154 articles and book chapters, and 22 book reviews.He assisted in the production of 15 documentary films and videos about the Kayapó and the Amazon.Beyond this prodigious output as a scholar, he was a teacher, an organizer, and an inspiration to many.Appalled by the destructive protential of the proposed Xingu River hydroelectric project and what it would do to the native lands of the Kayapó, Darrell took two Kayapó leaders to New York City to protest the project and managed to convince the World Bank to withdraw its $1 billion dollar funding for the project, a coup which got him in serious trouble with the Brazilian government and placed him in personal danger.He and his Kayapó colleagues were arrested with the charge that they were "harming the national reputation."Encouraged by his success and unphazed by his unpopularity with the authorities, not to mention threats on his life, Darrell organized the First International Congress of Ethnobiology in Belém, Brazil in July, 1988.This landmark event resulted not only in the later origin of the International Society for Ethnobiology but more immediately in the Declaration of Belém, which asserted the human rights of native peoples and called for protection of their knowledge, use, and management of ecological resources.The response to this action was so universally positive that the Brazilian government decided not to harm its own reputation further and dropped the charges against Darrell Tipití (2004)
Author: Warren M Hern
Institution: University of Colorado Boulder
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4404538414
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