Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to compare Amazonian natives, primatologists and Italian hunters actions of tracking and trapping animals. These actions reflect specific finalities and animal classifications, but their comparison will illustrate possible encounters in humans/animals interrelations

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, the theme of humans/animals relations returned at the core of anthropological reflections. Due to the emergence of new theoretical approaches, such as the animism, the anthropology of science and the study of skills, the hegemonic assumption of the separation between the two spheres become more ambiguous. The paper will present three ethnographic cases: the Mebengokré in the Brazilian Amazon, the work of primatologists and the hunters in central Italy. Each of them develops proper skills, techniques and learning processes for tracking and trapping animals, such as following the father, studying at universities or joining an association. They also respond to specific finalities. In the Amazon, hunting serves to feed or to obtain pets. Primatologists track and trap primates to radio-collaring or morphological measurement. Italian hunters are moved from a desire of competition and socialization. Each of them, however, incorporate symbolic values and objectives, and a discussion of these will lead into different ways of conceiving frontiers between species. The hypothesis of the paper is that some common traits can be identified among them, such as the permeability of the reciprocal conditions of prey and predator. This ambivalence illuminates the condition of ambiguity in which the acts of tracking and trapping an animal collocate the tracker. In this direction, the paper will discuss not only the attention on humans and animals relations in recent anthropological discussions, but also the dichotomy between traditional or local attitudes and scientific attitudes in producing knowledge about animals.