What is different between this book and that of Guaman Poma, Rigoberta Menchu, and the Word as Our Weapon, is that the Yanomami people had never came into contact with foreigners prior to the mid 20th century. Thus, Davi Kopenawa and his most recent ancestors are able to recount their cultural histories vividly, as well as the threat of demise of their culture through sickness and greed so vividly as well. Bruce Albert is very reflective on his identity as a well educated white man and explicitly writes in the introduction and at the end to legitimize his name on the cover of this book.  There are some concepts which have been introduced to encapsulate this neo-ethnographic processes such as an ethnographic pact, collaborative ethnography and a heterobiography. Through these concepts, Bruce Albert supposes the merging of the two “I”s seen throughout the work. This reconciling comes from the act of trusting, and the act of self-objectification and othering on both the narrator and the ethnographer. I liked what Albert said about him becoming something other, as necessary to convey the dutifully the words of Davi, than himself. Here he writes, “[t]he listening required for ethnobiographical writing demands an immersion in and deep empathy for the ideas, history, and personality of the narrator” (p. 446); from this comes a lyrical depersonalization which allows for Bruce Alberts “I” to transform into the Other, into the “I” of Davi Kopenawa.

Davi Kopenawa is legitimized as the “real deal” whose stories and knowledge of the Yanomami culture ought to be taken seriously and preserved through his 30 year friendship with Bruce Albert, and Alberts dedication to the Yanomami region prior to even meeting Kopenawa officially. In contrast with our previous readings, both of the authors of this novel met seemingly by chance; the making of a renowned book pushing the boundaries of ethnography through this collaborative ethnography was not the purpose of Alberts original endeavours. Kopenawa, as resourceful as he is, produced this accord and this relationship with Albert through his own agency; in a way, Albert was also chosen much like Marcos to be a screen on which important messages shall be projected. This book is an in-between of Rigoberta’s story and Marcos posts regarding, in real time, the Zapatista struggle. Albert, Burgos, and Marcos, all partly embody a culture and doctrine which have served to sever Indigeneity from Indigenous lands for half a millenia. Albert has done the most explicit job of pushing older forms of academic mediums while still understanding the importance of active participation in the struggle one is studying and the merging of one’s “I” to that of the Other, such as how Marcos did.