Llamas beyond the Andes

Untold Histories of Camelids in the Modern World

By: Marcia Stephenson

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Hardcover | 10 January 2024

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Hardcover
448 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.9 x 15.2 x 4.1

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Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuna and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas beyond the Andes tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas.

Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South.

Industry Reviews

This is a highly scholarly work, recommended for academic libraries with graduate programs in Latin American studies. * CHOICE *
By searching the documentation for evidence of the bonds that camelids and humans may have developed, and by trying to understand a llama's needs through ethological observations of their behaviors, we can write something about their experiences as inhabitants of Earth. For a brief moment, Llinda Llee Llama experienced the strangeness of an automobile ride in New York City. She had a unique history, which Marcia Stephenson records. She is now remembered, after being used and discarded as a cultural contact zone. * ReVista *
A milestone for many historiographies, a mandatory stop for many classrooms, and a must-read for everyone interested in understanding the llama. * HAHR *

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