Paper short abstract:

The paper addresses geoengineering through the perspective of non-Western populations. It discusses how two specific groups relate to the question of the "manipulation" of the atmosphere, and how these same groups understand Western attempts to manipulate the atmosphere through technological schemes.

Paper long abstract:

The paper addresses geoengineering from a comparative perspective. The goal of the research is to contribute to the current understanding of: 1) how specific non-Western populations relate to the question of the "manipulation" of the atmosphere, and 2) how these same groups understand Western attempts to manipulate the atmosphere through technological schemes. The research compares ethnographic and bibliographic materials on the Amazonian Yanomami indigenous group, on practices associated with the African-Brazilian tradition of Umbanda. The research is an attempt to think the climate crisis, its causes and the strategies for dealing with it, through the perspective of non-Western populations. In more specific anthropological terms, the project intends to contribute both to the current debates on the theoretical significance of the concept of Anthropocene, and to the ongoing critical reappraisal of animism.