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Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Volume 5, Number 1, June 2007

Hanne Veber                         Merits and Motivations of an Ashéninka Leader

William H. Crocker               The Canela Diaries: Their Nature, Uses, and Future

Suzanne Oakdale                   Anchoring "The Symbolic Economy of Alterity" with Autobiography

Pierre Déléage                       A Yaminahua Autobiographic Song: Caqui Caqui

HANNE VEBER

Merits and Motivations of an Ashéninka Leader

Recent approaches to life history studies emphasize the power of biography in processes of social construction, highlighting the individual—storyteller and social being—as creative and created in relation to others. Situated in collective meaning systems and their dynamics, autobiographical narration is transformed
into agency as it provides definitions of situations and encodes models for action. This essay discusses alternative interpretations of the autobiographical narrative of an Ashéninka leader, Miguel Camaiteri, in Peru's Upper Amazon, focusing on the exposition of his motivations for becoming an indigenous activist and contemplating the way his self-presentation is contingent upon the political agenda he is pursuing in telling his story. Camaiteri's narrative permits an up close examination of the interplay between the personal and the collective, and between given structures and visions of change, with the acting individual as the dynamic axis that sets the story into motion and gives it direction. In presenting the details of his struggle, what initially appeared to be the celebration of a hero turns into an invocation of "groupness," as well as a recognition of tradition and indigenous identity. Even if linked with a verifiable past, the autobiographical narrative is clearly a product and a means of signification that is associated with the present.

Enfoques rccientes en estudios de historias de vida valoran el poder de la biografía en procesos de construcción social acentuando el individuo—de narrador y de ser social—como creador y creado en relaciones con otros. Situado en sistemas de significado colectivo y sus dinámicos, la narración, suministrando
definiciones de situaciones y codificando modelos de actuación, se transborda en agenda. La autora considera unas alternativas de interpretación de la narrativa autobiográfica de un líder ashéninka, Miguel Camaiteri, en la Alta Amazonía peruana, enfocándose en su exposición de sus propias motivaciones de hacerse activista indígena y contemplando la manera en que su auto-presentación queda condicionada de la agenda política seguida en contar su historia. Su narrativa permite una percepción de cerca de la interacción entre lo personal y lo colectivo y entre estructuras instituidas y visiones de cambio poniendo el indivíduo actuador como el eje dinámico que pone la historia en marcha y la da dirección. En exponer las dificultades de su lucha, lo que al principio parecía la celebración de un héroe se convierte en una invocación de la colectividad y reconocimiento de la tradición y la identidad indígena. La narrativa autobiográfica, aunque vinculado a un pasado verificable, queda producto y medio de significación asociado al presente.

WILLIAM H. CROCKER

The Canela Diaries: Their Nature, Uses, and Future

In 1966, three Canela Indians of Brazil started writing diaries about their lives and tribal events for me. Since then, I have collected about 150,000 manuscript pages and 2,000 hours on tape. About twenty-two diarists have contributed through the years, though never more than twelve at once. The Canela diary program grew out of my predilection for a personal approach to field work as well as my preference for qualitative over quantitative research methods. Excerpts from the diaries are included, one set to provide different points of view about a murder and others to show how I have used diarists' statements to supplement points made in my publications. I have requested, on occasion, that the diarists respond to specific questions in their next months' diaries. One such request was that they comment on the diary program. Some of their thoughts are included. Procedures for collecting these materials are described, principles for encouraging the diarists are discussed, and ethics for managing such a program are debated. A principal purpose of the article is to inform colleagues and other interested people of the existence and nature of the collection to interest them in using it.

Em 1964, três índios Canelas começaram a escrever para mim manuscritos sobre suas vidas e sobre os acontecimentos tribais. Desdc então já recebi deles umas 150.000 páginas escritas e 2.000 horas em fita. Cerca de vinte-dois Canelas tem contribuído com seus diários ao longo destes anos, porem nunca mais de doze ao mesmo tempo. O programa de diáarios Canelas cresceu além do que esperavam minha predileção por uma abordagem pessoal de pesquisa de campo e minha preferência pelos métodos de pesquisa qualitativos sobre os quantitadvos. Extratos dos diários estão incluídos. Um certo número deles oferece pontos de vista diferentes sobre um assassinate. Outros extratos mostram como usei as palavras dos autores dos diários para suplementar meus pontos de vista apresentados nas minhas publicações. Tenho-lhes pedido as informações de que preciso fazendo-lhes perguntas a serem respondidas nos seus diários dos meses seguintes. Um pedido foi para comentarem o próprio programa dos diários. Inclui alguns de seus pensamentos. Os procedimentos para coletar este material estão expostos, os princípios para encorajar os autores de diários estão discutidos, e a ética para gerenciar um programa deste tipo está debatida. O propósito principal deste artigo é informar colegas e outras pessoas interessadas da existência e da natureza desta coleção para motivá-los a usá-la. [Translation thanks to Júlio César Melatti]

SUZANNE OAKDALE

Anchoring "The Symbolic Economy of Alterity" with Autobiography

This essay addresses the usefulness of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro's concept of the "symbolic economy of alterity" for understanding the subjectively meaningful historical details of individual lives. My focus is the autobiographical narratives of two Kayabi men from central Brazil whose lives have spanned the twentieth century. Their accounts show that these men do, in fact, speak of identity, with kin as being fashioned gradually out from alterity, in keeping with Viveiros de Castro's model. However, this process, when seen over a significant span of time, is highly reversible, causing others and selves to become very ambiguous figures with respect to identity and alterity.

Este ensaio explora a utilidade do conceito da "economia simbólica da alteridade" de Eduardo Viveiros de Castro para entendcr o significado subjetivo dos detalhes htstóricos da vida de indivíduos. Este artigo focaliza as narrativas autobiográficas de dois índios Kayabi que viveram ao longo do século vinte no Brasil central. Essas narrativas mostram de fato que esses índios apresentam uma identidade familiar que foi formada gradualmente a partir da alteridade, de acordo com o modelo de Viveiros de Castro. Entretanto, quando esse processo é analisado durante um período de tempo mais longo ele é altamente reversível, levando outros
e eles mesmos a se tornarem figuras muito ambíguas com respeito à identidade e à alteridade.

PIERRE DÉLÉAGE

A Yaminahua Autobiographic Song: Caqui Caqui

This essay proposes a theoretical framework of the relationship between autobiography and tradition. In support of this framework, I present a transcription and translation of an autobiographical song recorded among the Yaminahua (in the Western Amazon of Peru). My account of this song allows me to define an original discursive genre: the traditional autobiography. Two contradictory features characterize this genre. On the one hand, it is autobiographical because it makes reference to the personal life of the speaker. On the other hand, it is traditional in the sense that it is inherited from another speaker and faithfully reproduced. I explore the implications of this apparent paradox.

En prenant appui sur la transcription et la traduction d'un chant yaminahua (peuple d'Amazonie péruvienne, de langue pano), je propose de réfléchir à la relation qu'un récit autobiographique peut entretenir avec la tradition orale. Une telle réflexion m'amène a proposer une catégorie discursive originale, celle d'autobiographie traditionnelle, où d'une part le discours est autobiographique puisqu'il se réfère à la vie du locuteur, mais où d'autre part il doit être défini comme traditionnel puisqu'il est hérité d'un autre locuteur et intégralement répété.
J'explore ensuite les implications de cet apparent paradoxe.

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