Audrey Butt Colson facts for kids

Audrey Joan Butt Colson was born on March 15, 1926. She is a social anthropologist. This means she studies human societies and cultures. Audrey is especially interested in the Amerindian peoples of Guyana, Brazil, and Venezuela.

She helped start the study of Amazonian cultures at the University of Oxford. Oxford University even has a special fund named after her. It helps support studies about South American Amerindian peoples.

Studying at Oxford University

Audrey Butt studied at Oxford University. She learned from a famous professor, Edward Evans-Pritchard. Audrey traveled to Guyana in 1951-1952 and again in 1957. There, she did fieldwork among the Akawaio people.

Later, she expanded her studies. She included other groups like the Pemon and Kapon. These groups live in Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela. Audrey earned several degrees from Oxford. She got her D.Phil. (a high-level degree) in 1955. After that, she spent a year in Spain. She learned Spanish to prepare for more work in South America. In 1956, she taught about South American societies at Oxford.

Working with the Pitt Rivers Museum

The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford has many items from South America. Audrey Butt Colson donated 310 Amerindian objects to the museum. These items were collected during her fieldwork.

The museum also has old films and music recordings. These were made with Audrey's help. They include films shot in 1952 and a BBC recording of Akawaio music from 1961.

Helping Amerindian Communities

Audrey Butt Colson has also helped Amerindian communities. She has supported them in important land discussions. In 2013, she published a report. This report was called Dug out, dried out or flooded out?.

It showed that plans for new dams in Guyana would flood the land. This would affect the entire territory of the Akawaio people. Her report helped bring attention to these issues.

Her Published Works

Audrey Butt Colson has written many books and articles. These share her knowledge about the Amerindian peoples.

Books

• Trances (London: Allen & Unwin, 1966) - written with Stewart Wavell and Nina Epton.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• Butt, Audrey J. (1958). "Secondary urn burial among Akawaio". Timehri. Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana.
• Butt Colson, Audrey J. (1976). "Binary oppositions and the treatment of sickness among the Akawaio", in Loudon, J.B. (ed.), Social Anthropology and Medicine.
• Butt Colson, Audrey J. and Morton, J. (1982). "Early Missionary Work among the Taruma and Waiwai of Southern Guyana". Folk. Journal of the Danish Ethnographical Association.
• Butt Colson, Audrey J. (1983–84). "The Spatial Component in the Political Structure of the Carib Speakers of the Guiana Highlands: Kapon and Pemon". Antropológica.
• Butt Colson, Audrey J. (1985). "Routes of Knowledge: An Aspect of Regional Integration in the Circum-Roraima Area of the Guiana Highlands". Antropológica.
• Butt Colson, Audrey J. (1989). "La naturaleza del ser: conceptos fundamentales de los Kapón y Pemón (Area del Circum-Roraima de las Guayanas)", in Bottasso, J. (ed.), Las religiones amerindias. 500 años después.
• Butt Colson, Audrey J. (1994–96). "'God's Folk'. The evangelization of Indians in Western Guiana and the Enthusiastic Movement of 1756". Antropológica.

Reports

• Dug out, dried out or flooded out? Hydro Power and Mining Threats to the Indigenous Peoples of the Upper Mazaruni District, Guyana, Survival International, September 2013.