The Nambikwara Case

The article interprets the anthropo-scene – the stage on which the anthropos appears – as constituted by law, specifically by European law grounded in the rights that humans can claim. This modern notion of rights is fuelled by what Christoph Menke calls the “juridification” of nature. However, ‘nature’ as the source of rights is not a given; it is also a European concept, as Philippe Descola demonstrates, among others. The case of the Nambikwara before the Fourth Russell Tribunal in 1980 challenges the European notion of rights. Its reconsideration is accompanied by a critical reading of Jacques Derrida’s analysis of Claude Lévi-Strauss’s account of his time spent with the Nambikwara.