Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to discuss how the relations between humans and non-humans shape the vanishing landscape of riverine peasants of the Amazonian wetlands.

Paper long abstract:

In Brazil, seasonal flooding of the Amazon river and then subsequent lowering of the water originate drastic changes in riverine landscapes, such as the formation of water retentions called "lakes", the opening or enclosing of water trails, the emergence and immersion of pieces of land in the form of "islands" and of sandy beaches, etc. This movement goes along with annual transformations of the previously mentioned features of the landscape: from one year to the other, lakes open or close definitely, new trails appear while others withdraw, islands are said to move around as they come along and go away, and the morphology of sandy beaches is changing as they elongate or vanish. As these transformations are correlated with the intensification of outstanding floods in recent years, they are presented by the riverine dwellers as manifestations originated by non-human beings living underneath the water. As "the real owners of dwelling places" - as they are referred to - the subaquatic "enchanted" people shape the landscape at their convenience. The changing landscape present itself then as a mirror of the evolution of intersubjective relations weaved between non-humans and their human co-dwellers.