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This article explores different modes of understanding such atmospheric phenomena that in English are described as ‘weather’ and ‘climate’ applying Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis. In consequence, focus is not on the physical phenomena as such but on ontological differences as reflected in expressions and practices pertaining to indigenous Matsigenka people and migrants from the Andean highlands to the tropical lowlands, centring on their respective interaction both with each other and, more generally, with the social, natural and supernatural dimensions of the environment. Adhering to ideals of modernity and modern science, the Andean migrants employ the climate change discourse as an indication upon social advancement to promote and legitimize their superiority over the allegedly backward and irrational Matsigenka to whom the climate discourse makes little sense. The climate change discourse thus serves here as a means of environmental colonialism in order to turn Matsigenka people into proper citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laughing and humour are of great importance to most people in their everyday life and these phenomena have attracted attention from many social thinkers. It has been noted that laughter often is provoked by something that is considered to be absurd and paradoxical. This essay focuses specifically on the meaning of laughter among Matsigenka people of the Peruvian Amazon. The paper discusses how absurdity is employed within narrative genres as a structuring principle within the specific ethos that is predominant among this people and how it serves to generate and manifest conviviality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Matsigenka notions of morality as evidenced in central mythological texts. The focus is on myth since, it is argued, myths provide a means whereby fundamental conditions of everyday life as conceptualized by their conventional audience can be understood and interpreted. Although myth does not provide a uniformly accepted cultural blueprint of social reality, a certain intersubjective consonance is to be expected. It is argued that to the Matsigenka morality is primarily a means to maintain conditions of conviviality. Matsigenka moral considerations are thus context‐dependent and can only be reflected upon casuistically. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]