Universität zu Köln

Horisberger, Nora Aurelia ORCID: 0000-0001-7752-5604 (2024). 'In the Rhythm of Shrimp Tides' More-than-human Temporalities and Relations on the Islands of the Parmaíba Delta (Brazil). PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

PDF dissertation_horisberger.pdf - Accepted Version Download (56MB)

Abstract

Everyday life in the Parnaíba River Delta in Northeast Brazil unfolds in continuous, sometimes abruptly changing, and often difficult-to-predict movements – new lands emerge, shores erode, salt- and freshwater boundaries shift, sand dunes move, tides come in and out, humans and nonhumans migrate, market prices fluctuate and traders vanish suddenly. This ethnographic study explores delta inhabitants’ perceptions and understandings of movements, change and temporalities, as well as the shifting terrain they inhabit, and focuses on people’s everyday practices in navigating and attending to continuous movements and shifting temporalities. By tracing how more-than-human lifeways interweave and co-shape rhythms, I acknowledge both humans and nonhumans as lively and active participants in the deltaic world, and thus move beyond seeing the historically marginalized delta inhabitants overall either as vulnerable populations suffering from unruly change or on the contrary as actively impacting a passive, natural landscape. Contrary to widespread assumptions on stability as primary and change as secondary, my ethnography shows that delta inhabitants perceive the deltaic world as founded on and emerging from movement. Their understandings of the deltaic islands challenge common perceptions of land as stable and bounded and of water as neatly separated from land. Apprehending delta life, I suggest, requires shifting our attention away from binary oppositions (e.g., land/water, wet/dry or solid/liquid) towards processes of becoming. A lens of becoming also offers alternative ways to explore delta inhabitants’ multiple and shifting self-references and identities. I show that in a world of continuous movement flexibility and creativity are crucial; restricting oneself to single practices, skills, beliefs, religions, or identities makes little sense. Everyday deltaic life is indeed much about aligning and resonating with diverse human and nonhuman temporalities. Throughout this dissertation, I look at how temporal alignments matter and how time arises from relations. I argue that time is locally understood as embodied, lived and emerging from more-than-human practices, rather than an externally imposed frame. In a world of continuous movement, stability cannot be taken for granted. Besides movement and temporalities, a third question that runs through this thesis is thus that of how things hold together in the deltaic world. I analyze this by looking at how women’s practices of caring for plants, animals and younger fishermen essentially contribute to creating continuity and by exploring narratives about the deltaic islands as a refuge where a peaceful life is possible. The latter, my ethnography shows, offers a strikingly contrasting perspective to the recently growing number of doomsday narratives portraying deltas predominantly as hot spots of crisis, coping with sea-level rise and other inevitable catastrophes.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Horisberger, Nora Aurelia nora.horis@hotmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7752-5604 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-814982
Date:	2024
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 4: Außereuropäische Sprachen, Kulturen und Gesellschaften > Institut für Ethnologie
Subjects:	Social sciences Customs, etiquette, folklore Natural sciences and mathematics Geography and travel
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language anthropology, ethnography, environmental anthropology, delta, water, brazil, northeast, more-than-human, multispecies, temporality, rhythm, hydrosocial, volatility, fluid landscape English antropologia, etnografia, antropologia do meio ambiente, delta, água, brasil, nordeste, ribeirinhos, temporalidade, ritmo Portuguese Ethnologie, Sozial Anthropologie, Umweltethnologie, Delta, Wasser, Brasilien, Nordosten, Zeitlichkeit, mehr-als-menschlich, Rhythmus, hydrosozial, Volatilität, unstete Landschaften German
Date of oral exam:	2 December 2024
Referee:	Name Academic Title Krause, Franz Professor Kurfürst, Sandra Professor de Carvalho Cabral, Diogo Doktor
Funders:	DFG Emmy-Noether Junior Research Group
Projects:	DELTA - Volatile waters and the hydrosocial anthropocene in major river deltas
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/81498