"Culture" and Culture - Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Rights

Brazilian anthropologist Manuela Carneiro da Cunha examines here the complex meaning-and anthropological implications-of the word -culture- for indigenous peoples. Caneiro da Cunha explores the contradictions inherent in the interface between Western and traditional understandings of knowledge and intellectual property rights.-Distinguishing culture from -culture,- the latter being a reflexive awareness of one-s culture, Carneiro da Cunha then poses questions such as: What are the cognitive and pragmatic consequences when -culture- and culture coexist? She shows how the word -culture,- as used in the anthropological sense, is employed by indigenous people to distinguish the different interpretations and avoid contradictions. -Culture- and Culture offers a concise and innovative anthropological study of a crucial issue faced by indigenous peoples the world over.