Amerindian Groups of Nortwesth Amazonia-Their Regional System of Political-religious Hierarchies

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Amerindian Groups of Northwest Amazonia. Their Regional System of Political-Religious Hierarchies Author(s): Silvia M. Vidal Source: Anthropos, Bd. 94, H. 4./6. (1999), pp. 515-528Published by: Anthropos InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40465018Accessed: 22-05-2015 18:51 UTC

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Anthropos 94.1999: 515-528

Amerindian Groups of Northwest Amazonia Their Regional System of Political-Religious Hierarchies

Silvia M. Vidal

Abstract. - Through the comparison of Arawakan-, Tukanoan-, and Makuan-speaking groups from the Northwest Amazon, the article shows that these peoples are organized in a regional system of political-religious hierarchies. This regional multiethnic system is characterized by extensive multilingualism, exogamy, and varied modalities of interethnic relationships. [North- west Amazon, Arawakan, Tukanoan, and Makuan Amerindian groups, regional system of political-religious hierarchies]

Silvia M. Vidal, Dr., works at the Department of Anthropology of the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Investigation (IVIC), Caracas. Since 1973 she has done field research among the Arawakan-speaking groups of Northwest Amazon. In 1993 she finished her doctoral studies at IVIC. - Her publications include: Liderazgo y confederaciones multi-tnicas amerndias en la Amazonia luso-hispana del siglo XVIII (Antropolgica 1996); Introduccin. El noroeste amaznico como epicentro de las matrices culturales arawakas y tukanas y centro importante dei horizonte civilizatorio Orinoco-Amazonense (in: Alberta Zucchi and Silvia Vidal [eds.], Historia y etnicidad en el noroeste amaznico. Mrida 1998). See also References Cited.

1 Introduction

Arawakan-, Tukanoan-, and Makuan-speaking groups have traditionally been classified as "tropical forest tribes or cultures." But in this article, through a macroregional analysis of the Northwest Amazon, I will compare these groups to show that they are organized into a complex regional system of political-religious hierarchies.1 This regional multiethnic system is characterized by multilingualism, exogamy, and varied modalities of interethnic relationships. I will also discuss the ethnohistorical evidence to show that regional systems with complex sociopolitical structures were common in the Northwest Amazon and that the contemporary regional system of Arawakan-, Tukanoan-, and Makuan-speaking groups was generated in the 16th century by complex processes of ethnogenesis.

My analysis focuses on: 1) the northern Mai- puran branch of the the Arawakan family of languages (Table 1), 2) the eastern and middle branch of the Tukanoan family of languages (Table 2),

and 3) the Maku-speaking populations (Table 3). These Amerindians number between 30 and 40,000 individuals (Chernela 1993; Jackson 1995; Vidal 1993) who occupy diverse riverine and hinterland areas of the upper Negro and upper Orinoco basins between Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia (see map).

Tukanoan-speaking groups' social structure, in ascending order of inclusion, are the local descent group, the clan or sib, the exogamous language group, and the phratry. Arawakan-speaking groups are sociopolitically structured, in ascending order of inclusiveness, by local descent group, exogamous, patrilineal, ranked sib or clan, and exogamous patrilineal phratry. Makuan-speaking groups, however, are organized by patrilineal clan, independent local group (band), and endogamous regional group.

In the anthropological approaches to the cultural history of the Amazon-Orinoco region, these groups have been classified into different typol- ogies and "culture areas" (Oberg 1973; Steward 1948, 1949; Steward and Faron 1959) that pre- suppose a great homogeneity in their contemporary social formations as well as in their historical transformations. In these theoretical models, Makuan-, Arawakan- and Tukanoan-speaking groups have been classified as "marginal tribes," "tropical forest cultures," "ranked social systems," and "Circum-Caribbean chiefdoms." However, the groundbreaking work of Goldman (1968) among the Cubeo Indians began to change this percep- tion of the Northwestern Amazonian indigenous groups. Moreover, this author inspired a new gen-

1 The idea of Amerindian groups being organized into regional systems was first brought to my attention by Nelly Arvelo- Jimenez (1980 and in personal communications 1976, 1983, 1987; Arvelo-Jimnez, Morales Mndez, and Biord-Castillo 1989; Arvelo-Jimnez and Biord-Castillo 1994; Morales Mndez and Arvelo-Jimnez 1981). She and her associates have studied the "System of Orinoco Regional Interdependence" which has organized ancient and contemporary Amerindian societies.


516 Silvia M. Vidal

V o t u> V

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 1. Kamaa 1. Hupd Jupda 1. Yuhup o Yuhpde 2. Dao o Dow Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 1. Nadd 1. Kakwa o Bar-Mak 1. Nukak

cultural complexity in the past. Furthermore, recent ethnohistorical studies of indigenous groups occupying the area between the Orinoco and the Amazon rivers reveal three important facts (Roose- velt 1994; Vidal 1993; Whitehead 1994): 1) there are marked differences between ancient and contemporary Amerindian social formations; 2) these differences were generated by complex processes of ethnogenesis; and 3) there is cultural continuity between ancient and contemporary systems and ethnohistorical data is the basis for such a state- ment.

Sociocultural anthropologists generally have defined ethnogenesis as the historical emergence of a culturally different people. But, according to Hill (19962?: 1 f.), ethnogenesis represents the synthesis of the political and cultural struggles of a people to create enduring identities in general contexts of radical change and discontinuity, and to build their historical conscience. Thus, it is "a creative adaptation to a general history of violent changes - including demographic collapse, forced reloca- tion, enslavement," epidemics, and ethnic soldiering - "imposed during the historical expansion of colonial and national states in the Americas" (Hill 1996: 1; 1998: 166).

Amerindian Groups of Northwest Amazonia 517

Table 1: Groups of the Maipuran Branch of the Arawakan Family of Languages

Wainuma-Yukuna-Guar- Kabiyar-Piapoco-Achagua

Tariana-Uainambeu Proto-Kurripako Resigaro

Warekena Mariat Kurripako

Bare Madwaka-Guinau-Mawakwa-

Jabaana-Anauy Proto-Bar Igneri-Caqueto

Wapishana-Pauishana-Atorai- Mapidian

Cauishana u Wirina North u

Baniva-Yavitero-Maipure- Lokono-Taino-Guajiro- Paraujano

Proto-Baniva Manao Yumana Pase Marauha Marawa

Palikur-Marawan Waur

Proto-Palikur Yaulapiti Custenau Mehinacu Aru o Arun

Proto-Amuesha Pre-Andean Maipuran Proto-Piro-Apurin

Proto-Ashaninca (Campa) Proto-Harakbut

Proto-Moxo South Maipuran Proto-Shani

Paressi

eration of sociocultural anthropologists to further study among Tukanoan, Makuan, and Arawakan groups, whose results radically transformed former understandings about these peoples.2 These groups of peoples cannot be categorized as marginal tribes or as chiefdoms. Rather, they represent an inter- nally hierarchized political-religious organization which is unique among the Amazonian societies that survived the colonial system.3 Moreover, in this multilingual and ranked social system, there still prevail sociocultural patterns which seem to suggest that these societies had a greater socio-

Table 2: Tukanoan Family of Languages

I. Eastern Tukanoan

A. North B. Middle C. South

1 . Tucano 1 . Bar and related groups 1 . Macuna 2. Wanano a. Bar 2. Barasano 3. Piratapuyo b. Tuyuca

c. Ppiwa 2. Desano and related groups a. Desano b. Sirano 3. Tatuyo and related groups a. Tatuyo b. Carapano

II. Middle Tukanoan

1. Cubeo

III. Western Tukanoan

Table 3: Makuan Family of Languages

2 Arhern 1981; Chernela 1983; Hill 1983; Jackson 1983; Journet 1980-81, 1988; Silverwood-Cope 1990, Sorensen 1972; Vidal 1987, 1993.

3 Chernela 1983, 1993; Goldman 1968; Jackson 1983; Hill 1983, 1989, 1993; Vidal 1987, 1993; Wright 1981.

Anthropos 94.1999


518 Silvia M. Vidal

2 The Northwest Amazon as a Regional System

2.1 Ethnogenesis and the Cultural History of the Northwest Amazon

Ethnohistorical evidence of Amerindian groups occupying the area located between the Orinoco and the Amazon rivers, reveals two important facts that challenge former simplistic approaches to the cultural history of Amazonia.4 First, there are marked differences between ancient and contemporary Amerindian social formations; and second, the differences were generated by complex processes of ethnogenesis.

Simplistic interpretations of the cultural history of Amazonia considered that the differences observed between the older Amerindian formations (16- 18th centuries) and the relatively recent ones (19th and early 20th centuries) were mainly the product of European intervention and disruption (colonial expansion), which gave rise to processes of "acculturation" and "detribalization" in Amer- indian populations. These interpretations are based on: 1) static, reductive, and essentialist portrayals of culture, history, and society (Gupta and Fergu- son 1997); and 2) projections of the ethnographic present into the past (Whitehead 1993, 19936; Rooselvelt 1994).

For other authors, however, these differences were the result of complex processes of sociocultural continuity and change which generated the emergence of new and ancient indigenous sociopolitical formations (Whitehead 1988, 1989, 1993a; Vidal 1993; Vidal and Zucchi 1996), and of the progressive substitution of Indian economies and geopolitical and social interconnections with the European colonial pattern (Whitehead 1993a: 286).

Although European colonization of the Negro River basin began in the middle of the 17th century, the occupation and the definitive control of the Amazon region did not occur until well into the 18th century. Indeed, it is only by the mid- 18th century, when one can speak of the implantation of the colonial system and of the intensification of social, ethnic, and cultural relationships between Europeans and Indians.

In the context of long-term processes of ethnogenesis, the indigenous peoples adopted at least

three strategies to face colonial systems: 1) open military resistance; 2) political and economic alliances with sectors of one or more colonial powers; and 3) avoidance of direct contact with Europeans. Open military resistance forced the redefinition of the ethnic identities and the establishment of new alliances. Economic alliances promoted the emergence of new alignments among European, Criollos, and Amerindian (for example, as partners in trade of slaves and material resources). The latter originated strong competition and internecine wars among natives for the control of the commercial routes of European goods, as well as the appearance of "ethnic soldiering" or "martial tribefs]" (Whitehead 1990: 357). Avoiding direct contact with Europeans followed by migrations, influenced in realigning of indigenous and In- dian-European political alliances as well as the redefining of group identities. Each of these three alternatives, or the combination of them, gave rise to new ethnic and sociopolitical formations.

2.2 The Historical Background of Contemporary Amerindian Sociopolitical Formations

From the 16th to the mid- 17th centuries, the ancient forefathers of the contemporary Arawakan-, Tukanoan-, and Makuan-speaking groups were part of the groups belonging to the Manoa and Oni- guayal (or Omagua) Macro Polities (also known as macroregional political and economic systems; see Vidal 1993) of the Northwest and Central Am- azon. These macro polities were multiethnic, multilingual, sociopolitical, and economic systems, which had an internal interethnic hierarchy led by a paramount chief ("lord" or "king") and a powerful elite of secondary chiefs; leadership was hereditary (Whitehead 1994; Vidal 1993). Early European documents of the great river basins of the Orinoco and the Amazon refer to the existence of extensive connections among groups (riverine and hinterland peoples) within and among macro polities.5 According to Whitehead (1993a), these connections were based on regional trade systems. But I consider these regional trade systems to be the most visible probe of Amerindian sociocultural connections and political relations.

European colonization of the Negro River basin began in the mid- 17th century. However, Portu-

4 Chernela 1993; Cipolletti 1991; Hill 1996a, 1996b; Morales Mndez 1979; Oostra 1991; Parra 1991; Vidal 1987, 1993; Vidal y Zucchi 1996; Whitehead 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996; Wright 1981.

5 Acuna 1864; Almesto 1986; Cuervo 1893-94; Cruz 1986; Federmann 1916; Llanos Vargas y Pineda Camacho 1982; Simon 1882; Whitehead 1988, 1993a.

Anthropos 94.1999



guese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British colonial empires were competing among each other and with some Amerindian leader groups of local macro polities in order to take control over the indigenous populations and regional trade systems of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. Although, Oniguayal leadership disappeared by the early 17th century, it looks as if the powerful leadership of the Manoa macro polity was able to survive until the late 1650s when it began to lose its total political and economic hold on the region. By the end of the 17th century, the Manoa and other macro polities of the Negro, Orinoco, and Amazon rivers were experiencing dynamic processes of transformation and disintegration. Internal sociopolitical contra- dictions and conflicts, the demographic decimation of Amerindian populations (diseases, enslavement, and the like), and the European colonization of the Negro River led to radical disruptions; these processes caused the mobilization and regrouping of indigenous peoples, and by the early 18th century they gave rise to new sociopolitical formations which I coined as "multiethnic confederacies" (Vidal 1993).

The multiethnic confederacies were flexible and varied in their ethnic membership and were led by charismatic shaman-warrior chiefs. Whitehead (1994: 39) has described this political system as having a "trading-military" mode of leadership. Powerful chiefs based their political authority on their ability to build a personal following (kinfolk, in-laws, and allies), on their skills as regional traders, especially of European goods, and on their shamanic knowledge and power.6 European written records and the oral history of Arawakan- speaking groups both lead to the conclusion that these powerful indigenous chiefs or "captains" and their followings celebrated big multiethnic ritual festivals that were related to the Kuw religion and included sacred places, special men's houses, whipping and fasting ceremonies, and musical performances such as dancing, singing, and the playing of trumpets, flutes, and drums.

From 1700 to 1770 there were as many as 15 multiethnic confederacies led by Arawakan-speaking groups (Tables 4-6). Between 1700 and 1730, most of these confederated groups and their leaders

were devoted to an intense trade of their own commercial products and slaves with each other as well as with Portuguese, French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies in exchange for guns and other

Table 4: Multiethnic Confederacies (1700-1725)

1. The Manao Confederacy

Groups: Manao, Bare, Mak, Tibur, Maba- zar, Javar, Bumajana, and Maya- pena

Principal warrior-chief: Ayuricawa o Ajuricaba Other chiefs: Debajar, Bejar, Basuriana, Caricu,

Camandary, Aduana

2. The Cauaburicena Confederacy

Groups: Bare and other peoples of middle and lower Negro River

Principal warrior-chief: Curunam

Other chiefs: ?

3. The Aranacoacenas Confederacy

Groups: Bare and other groups of middle and upper Negro River (?)

Principal warrior-chief: ?

Other chiefs: ?


1. The Demanao Confederacy

Groups: Bare, Manao, Warekena, Cubeo, Mak

Principal warrior-chief: Camanao

Other chiefs: Maa, Manacaari, Ignacio, loa, Ma- babire, Jauinuman, Immo, Cocui, Dau- ema, Auajari, Juviary, Cayamu, Mur, Caunarao, Mab, Inao, Yune

2. The Madavaka Confederacy

Groups: Bare, Mabana, Warekena, Yahure, Guinau, Anauy, Baniva, Desana, Mak, Guariba, Ye'kuana

Principal warrior-chief: Guaicana (1725-1745), Amuni (1745 -1754), Mavideo (1755-1760)

Other chiefs: Mabi, Mar, Amuni, Arucun, Cavi o Caavi, Tape, Guarena, Guaipure, Guarape, Yurico, Mapure

3. The Boape-Pariana-Maniva Confederacy

Groups: Baniwa or Kurripako, Mabana, Meo- ana or Arapao, Mbei, Cubeo, Yapoa, Mak, Bare, Warekena, Puinave, Des- ana, Tariana, Chapuena, Guaipunavi

Principal warrior-chief: Cunaguari or Cunaguasi Other chiefs: Yavita, Boap, Macapu, Cuceru or

Cruceru

6 Some of these forms of political, religious, and economic relationships still prevail among contemporary Amazonian groups and have been named by Smith (1996: 154- 163) as "economies of the gift" because as global system they are essentially economies of reciprocity with social purposes: to maintain and reproduce local societies and to establish ties among indigenous peoples.

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520 Silvia M. Vidal


1. The Darivazanas Confederacy Groups: Bare, Warekena, Piapoco, Puinave,

Cubeo

Principal warrior-chief: Mara Other chiefs: Davipe or Dauipe, Dojo, Mabiu

2. The Amuisana Confederacy Groups: Baniva, Bare, Yavitero, Desana

Principal warrior-chief: Amuni Other chiefs: Dauiba, Teyo, Arucun, Yavita

3. The Tariana-Maniba Confederacy Groups: Tariana, Kurripako, Cubeo, others (?) Principal warrior-chief: Boap Other chiefs: ? 4. The Guaipunavis Confederacy Groups: Guaipuinavi, Parcune, Docionavi,

Puinave, Megepure, Warekena, Ma- cirinavi

Principal warrior-chief: Cuceru Other chiefs: Capi, Guayucava 5. The Marabitana Confederacy Groups: Bare, Manao, Guinao, Catarapene,

Yahure, Mak, Guariba

Principal warrior-chief: Immo (1755-1764), Cocui Other chiefs: Cocui, Cayamu, Inao

6. The Madawaka Confederacy Groups: Bar-Madwaka, Baniva, Haruca,

Mawakwa, Anauy, Ye'kuana

Principal warrior-chief: Davillape or Davicape Other chiefs: Caavi

European goods. During this period there were many different European camps, also known as arraiales or corrals, which were used to keep captive indigenous slaves and for the control of Indian and European trade between colonies.

On one hand, the instability of these new ethnic formations, their possession of a great number of European weapons, and their definitive integration with the colonial commercial networks of Euro- pean goods, led to competition and internecine conflicts among leading groups of these indigenous confederacies. On the other hand, European economic ambitions and fears of these powerful indigenous peoples pushed colonial authorities not only to intensify their explorations and patrolling of some of the more important commercial routes, but also to compete with the Amerindian polities and other rival colonial powers to gain control

over strategic areas of the Negro and Orinoco basins. Thus, the European colonial system itself and interactions among Europeans and Indians were decisive for the creation and transformation of these new ethnic sociopolitical formations.

The process of European economic dominion over the Amerindian political economy began in the 1750s and continued until the late 1770s. Dur- ing this period the Crowns of Spain and Portugal signed a delimitation treaty to demarcate their respective oversea possessions. The border demar- cation implied the expansion of colonial frontiers, whose goal was to obtain definitive territorial control by expelling intruders and competitors. Achieving a forced political, legal, economic, and cultural amalgamation implied the integration of indigenous populations to imperial crowns.

As a consequence, new sociopolitical changes and violence took place in the Orinoco-Negro region. Between 1755 and 1767, there were many indigenous rebellions in the middle and upper Negro as well as in the upper Orinoco rivers.7 While some rebel groups were defending their lands and sacred places against European encroachment, others were fighting to regain control over strategic trade networks. Yet these events meant a deeper involvement of these indigenous groups with the colonial system. This involvement produced a continuous desertion of some indigenous groups from European towns and villages, while for other groups it entailed a decline of their economic and political autonomy.

Between 1756 and 1760, both Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to define their limits were in the upper Negro-upper Orinoco region. Mili- tary and civilian authorities tried to impose some changes in the organization of their respective colonies; the foundation of new towns and for- tresses began, and mission towns were transformed into secular villages under the control of imposed European and Indian authorities. Europeans even prohibited indigenous peoples to freely move within and between colonial territories.

A great contingent of Portuguese soldiers, officials, and experts traveled along the Negro River, and began using indigenous chiefs and groups as mediators and ethnic militia against other independent Indians groups. This Portuguese campaign generated a great Indian rebellion in 1757. Indeed, several, allied indigenous confederacies and in-

7 Caulin 1841; Fernandez de Bovadilla 1964; Ferreira 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888; Mendoa Furtado 1906; Ramos Prez 1946.

Anthropos 94.1999



dividual Indians and groups from mission towns confronted the Portuguese army at So Gabriel Falls.

This war broke Indian-Portuguese relationships and caused many indigenous migrations from middle Negro basin to the Spanish colony in upper Negro-upper Orinoco region. However, Spanish authorities caused more changes with their intervention in the nature of Indian-European interactions. Spaniards tried to negotiate their political protection against the Portuguese and ethnic soldiers in exchange for indigenous subjection to the Spanish Crown. By 1759, many powerful indigenous leaders of major confederacies were per- forming public ceremonies of vassalage to Spanish authorities. This vassalage weakened Arawakan- speaking groups' leadership and directly impacted their confederacies, causing their progressive disintegration.

By the end of the 18th century, most of the village sites along the major river routes, (upper Orinoco and upper Negro) were virtually unin- habited,8 and several groups of the Negro River had been changed from gentiles, or independent peoples, into abalizados, or assimilated individuals and families (Neto 1988), or groups undergoing drastic reductions in their political autonomy (Vid- al 1993). During this same period, a new kind of indigenous category emerged; that of canicur or traitor (Neto 1988: 52 f.; Stradelli 1929: 395). It was used by the Manao, Bare, and other groups of the upper Negro region to refer to both individuals and groups who were at the service of the colonial powers.

The introduction in the literature of ethnic (trib- al) denominations to refer to indigenous groups of the Northwest Amazon began in the 19th century. By this century, the indigenous population had decreased drastically and migrations had increased from major river towns to places and communities located in sectors far from the colonial control. However, ethnolinguistic groups led by shaman- chiefs, who conducted important ceremonials of Kuwai religion, continued organizing, not only their identities, but also military and/or religious rebellions as well as passive resistance to the decadent colonial regimes.

These ritual activities continued until the first three decades of this century, and several visitors and ethnographers reported that, between 1831 and 1851, the natives continued celebrating important multiethnic ritual and religious ceremonies in the

Vaups, Isana and Negro rivers.9 In fact, there are references that indicate that: a) indigenous groups as well as the mestizos or caboclos carried out in their towns, with or without the presence of priests, ritual festivals in honor of the Catholic saints, and b) the Arawakan- and Tukanoan-speaking groups performed sacred ceremonies of the religion of Kwai or Yurupari. In short, migratory movements, sociopolitical revitalization processes, and sociopolitical and religious reorganizations were structured around interethnic alliances, male secret societies, and the adoption of specific rituals related to the Catholic calendar.

During the second half of the 19th century, multiethnic religious ceremonies and the indigenous resistance had materialized in the emergence of important pan-indigenous messianic movements (Hill and Wright 1988; Wright and Hill 1986). These messianic movements, led by Tukanoan- and Arawakan-speaking shamans, were able to guarantee both the physical survival and sociocultural continuity of the peoples, the consolidation of a regional system of political-religious hierarchies that still persists today and the organization of the Arawakan, Tukanoan, and Makuan societies of the Northwest Amazon.

3 The Regional System of Political-Religious Hierarchies

3.1 A Comparison of Arawakan, Tukanoan, and Makuan Models

A profound comparative analysis of Arawakan, Tukanoan, and Makuan sociopolitical, economic, and religious structures reveal both distinctive and compatible levels of political integration. The levels of political integration among the Tukanoans could embrace or extend to a whole area (i.e., a regional system of marriage alliances) but their leaders' political influence is restricted to the sib level. In part, this characteristic owes its existence to the Tukanoan practice of linguistic exogamy. But it is also related to the polarization of the relationship between each phratry and their in-laws in two groups: 1) in-law sibs who are close kindred and with whom a balanced reciprocity is practiced; and 2) the other nonrelated and distant sibs (and phratries) with whom the negative reciprocity is the prescriptive norm.10 Arawakan-speaking

8 Ferreira 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888; Humboldt 1956; Jerez 1960, 1960?; Ribeiro de Sampaio 1825.

9 Chernela 1993; Spruce 1996; Wallace 1969; Wright 1981. 10 Chernela 1983; Hill 1987; Hugh-Jones, C. 1979; Jackson

1983.

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522 Silvia M. Vidal

groups, on the other hand, practice a nonlinguistic exogamy and place all their in-laws ("the other") in a single category, allocating them ambivalent and contradictory meanings ("people," "non-people," "relative" or "brother-in-law," potential "allied" or "enemy," and so on) (Hill 1987: 190 f.). These social relationships are added to both the system of religious beliefs and the possibility to verticalize and horizontalize hierarchical structures. These factors have influenced their forms of leadership, their control and expansion of their alliances, and the emergence of interregional political alliances and multiethnic confederacies.

On the other hand, when the Bar Mak de- scribe their social structure, they make reference to the term kulu or patrilineal clans (Silverwood- Cope 1990: 78, 99). From the ego-centered perspective of an individual of a given clan, any other clan member is an agnate (de-wa kulu) or an in-law (bay'na kulu). Agnate clans are related in a hierarchical relationship as older or senior (mata kulu) and as younger or junior (tsapedit kulu) brothers. This association between junior and senior clans is also described in the same terms in the relationship of the Bar-Mak with their neighboring Tukanoans: younger clan members pay services to or are servants (anan) of the older clans (Silverwood-Cope 1990: 1 19). There are two groups of exogamic and hierarchized clans which, in some cases, are very similar to an organization of moieties (119 f.). However, it should be emphasized that clan exogamy is not rigid and that they are dispersed in the several regions they occupy (120 f.). These social groupings of the Mak (kulu) and the larger units in which clans are hierarchically organized, are diffused along regional, local, and domestic groups.

Among the Mak of different regions there is little if any contact. However, each regional group knows the existence of others from oral tradition (Silverwood-Cope 1990: 81). Silverwood-Cope at- tributes the isolation and independence of each regional group to endogamy; that is to say, as a result both of the presence in each region of two patrilineal descent groups tied by affinity to each other and to the exchange of sisters among the masculine members of each group. However, the regional group is not a limited political and social unit, because agnatic and affinity ties exist among the members of local groups from different regions. These ties are invoked in conflicts and fission processes within a local group or when there are not marriageable women in the region (81). In addition, the local groups of a region can get together or not, depending on the existent po-

litical relationships among them. Silverwood-Cope (1990: 81) reports that in the region of the Mac- Paran, they and their riverine neighbor groups (i.e., the Desana) celebrate ritual and exchange ceremonies which are attended by all local groups of the area.

Although cross-cousin marriage is practiced among the Arawaks, the system is focused on widening alliances in order to incorporate other groups who are not their traditional affinal kins (Hill 1987, 1989; Vidal 1993). This is the result of a complex relationship that exists between these practices and the service paid by sons-in-law to their fathers-in-law, the localization of the descent units, the rule of patrilocal residence, the establishment and increment of political networks, and the cycle of ceremonial exchange of goods of different class or value (i.e., smoked fishes, and other aquatic and terrestrial animals for vegetable products) among affinal kins. Hill (1987, 1989) has pointed out that among the Wakunai, the service paid by sons-in-law constitutes the only legitimate means of establishing alliances among affinal sibs of different phratries; it also contrib- utes to balance the social relationships and the access and distribution of the resources of diverse areas, by means of the ceremonial exchange between receivers and suppliers of wives. He also mentions that the continuous occupation of the riverine territories by sibs and phratries is based on the rule of patrilocal residence. Access to resources of particular territories can be negotiated among affinal relatives through ample agreements negotiated between son-in-law and father-in-law, when the first one pays bride service to the second. Negotiations for the permission to exploit resources on affinal relatives' territories have been described by Wright (1981) for the Hohdene and the Warperdakna, and by Vidal (1987) for the Piapoco and the Achagua.

As Silverwood-Cope (1990: 117) mentions, the marriage alliances among the Mak are characterized by endogamy at several different levels: 1) ethnic group (with few exceptions they marry other Mak); 2) regional group; and 3) local group with bilateral composition. On the other hand, Oliveira (1995: 70) underwrites the importance of linguistic endogamy11 as a differentiating element

1 1 Like the Mak, Arawakan-speaking groups do not practice the linguistic exogamy as it is practiced among the Tukanoan groups, because they marry within their linguistic community or ethnic group. In general, the exogamy practiced by the Arawakan-speaking groups is at the level of sibs and phratries; this is, they do not marry people of their same sib and phratry, and they also emphasize the

Anthropos 94.1999



among groups of interfluvial (Mak) and riverine (Tukano) areas. Although patrilineality organizes the bonds of ancestral identity and of descent among the Mak, the author also highlights the existence of the rule of uxorilocality that guides men to marry outside of their local groups. This last factor also contrasts with the virilocality of Tukanoan and the patrivirilocality of Arawakan groups (Oliveira 1995: 58).

The enormous potential that the Arawakan system of marriage networks has for politico-regional alliances is also evident in the prohibition of marriage among individuals that belong to descent units sharing the same totemic symbol and possibly the same mythical ancestors (Vidal 1993). Thus, this means the inclusion as kin of a larger number of segments and populations both at regional level in the category of "siblings" ("we/us"), and the ampliation of alliance networks among affinal kin of diverse groups ("they/the others"). This system of regional exogamy, in turn, is related to and based on their religious system as well as their traditional beliefs on regarding the origin of the world and the ancestors.

The religious system of the Arawakan-speaking groups is divided in two or more mythical cycles whose more salient personages are the Creator or Npiruli (or Inpirrkuli) and Kwai (Kuai, Kuw or Yurupari). Each one of these cycles consists in a corpus of narratives (stories, myths, mythohistories, songs, prayers, advice, and so on.), rituals, knowledge, masculine secret societies, initiation ceremonies, and parties, which include a wide variety of ideological-symbolic and practical codes. These codes contain important knowledge and information that have influenced and guided the strategies selected by these groups in order to confront events and processes throughout their history. For the Arawakan-speaking groups, the origin of people is linked with an unique, and special place that is shared by all groups. In this place, the first ancestors emerged in a hierarchical order from older to younger siblings, and from where they were dispersed throughout the Orino- co-Amazon region. This hierarchical emergence not only refers to the sibs of each phratry but also to each Arawakan- and non-Arawakan-speaking group of the Northwest Amazon.

Although Tukanoan-speaking groups also have the cult of the Kuwai (He), they don't relate the origin of the world and their ancestors to a specific place. Their origin is bound to one

or several ancestral "anaconda(boa)-canoes" that were left by the founding members of descent units in different places of the Amazon region.12 The Mak, according to Silverwood-Cope (1990: 134), share diverse aspects of their religious and cosmo- gonie beliefs with Arawak and Tukano. In effect, Idn Kamni, or the Creator, for the Mak, is a trickster whose great powers go hand in hand with his failures and difficulties. On these and other aspects, Idn Kamni resembles the trickster Kwai of the Cubeo and Arawak. Also in their lore on the origin of the world, the Mak narrate that people were created of Idn Kamni' s saliva, blended with powder of stones from a stream located somewhere at the Isana or Ayari rivers (Silverwood-Cope 1990: 139 f.). Later, this first people began to travel in anaconda(boa)-canoes through an extensive area which includes the region between the city of Manaus and the Vaups, Papur, and Macu-Paran rivers. In that way, Idn Kamni allocated each clan and indigenous group a place or territory on this earth. Finally, Oliveira (1995: 80) indicates that the Mak, as do the Arawakan- and Tukanoan-speaking groups of the northwest Amazon, also perform the ritual ceremonies of Kwai, He, or Yurupari, following the same patterns and restrictions that the riverine groups established for this cult.

On the other hand, the flexibility observed among the Tukanoan-speaking groups to identify the place of the first people's emergence (ancestral anaconda-canoes), contrasts with the rigidity of their rank system in which men are organized by age between older and younger brothers. This system is synchronized with the hierarchical order of sibs in each linguistic group and phratry; a characteristic that is influenced and closely related to Tukanoan political (chiefs of towns or local communities) and ritual (powerful ritual specialists) leadership. In contrast, among most Arawakan groups (Wakunai, Baniva, Warekena, Tariana), the distinction between older and younger brothers is more flexible in daily life since it is possible for a younger brother to achieve a higher status as chief of a community or ritual specialist (Hill 1987). Wright (1981) has pointed out, however, that this flexibility is not present among the Hohdene (a Wakunai phratry), since the oldest siblings are the ones who have the highest possibility of access to positions of power in ritual and secular leadership. Vidal (1987, 1993) has also found this same rigidity in rank principles between older and younger siblings among two

prohibition of marriage between individuals who have the same totemic symbol and mythical ancestor.

12 Chernela 1983; Corra 1980-81; Goldman 1968; Hugh- Jones, C. 1979; Jackson 1983; Reichel-Dolmatof 1971.

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524 Silvia M. Vidal

other Arawakan-speaking groups: the Piapoco and the Bare.

The expansion and contraction mechanisms constitute two aspects of the same dynamic process in sociopolitical relationships among Arawakan- speaking groups. Hill (1983, 1984, 1987, 1989) has clearly documented these two aspects among the Wakunai, indicating their close relationship with the religious system and ritual power. This author (1989: 3-5) points out that the Wakunai define ritual power throughout two dimensions of their social relationships: 1) the vertical dimension (or "developmental-generational") is associated with the hierarchy of descent units, the mythical powers of creation and the recreation of life, attributed to the patrilineal ancestors, ritual specialists, and to the old men and women of the group; and 2) the horizontal dimension (or "of exchange relationships") that opens the relatively closed social world of local groups toward a dynamic and expansible universe of political-historical relationships among consanguineous relatives (us) and a plurality of affinal kins of other descent groups and peoples. These dimensions evidence the existence of mechanisms and processes of fission and fusion (Vidal 1987) that form part of the social reproduc- tion of Arawakan-speaking populations (i.e., the recreation and constant reinforcement of descent units and ethnic groups).

The contraction/expansion processes and the fusion/fission mechanism have made possible: a) the integration-assimilation of segments, descent units or complete groups to Arawakan-speaking populations; b) the division of sectors and/or descent units of a given Arawakan group (by fusing with another Arawakan or non-Arawakan group) in order to progressively transform itself into a new social entity; c) the alternated or combined access to the territory of a phratry from another subgroup and group and the exploitation of the resources within; d) the political alliance of one or more groups and subgroups in warfare or ethnic conflicts; and) the articulation or the separation of supracommunitarian levels of sociopolitical integration.

3.2 Discussion

Although anthropological studies of Northwest Amazonian groups have underwritten the existence of regional systems, they emphasize a regional system at a given river basin (i.e., Vaups River) or for a given family of ethnolinguistic groups (i.e., Eastern Tukanoan). But even in these analysis one

can perceive that these societies are united in a more complex system. Thus, Jackson (1983: 6) has indicated that in order to understand the regional system of Eastern Tukanoan groups, it is necessary to envision a model of dispersed hunter-gatherers, with independent local groups, flexible territorial borders, and fluid membership of local communities. Silverwood-Cope (1990: 74, 78) has men- tioned that model of the Maku could be characterized as a system of professional hunters with high circular mobility, related but independent local and regional groups, flexible territorial borders, and fluid membership of local groups. The Arawak- an-speaking groups, however, could be defined by a model of localized groups of fisher-gatherers in continual expansion, with interdependent local and regional groups, flexible territorial borders, and fluid membership of local communities (Vidal 1993).

As we have seen, ethnological studies of Ara- wakan-, Tukanoan-, and Makuan-speaking groups of the Northwest Amazon, indicate that their complex regional system of political-religious hierarchies is characterized by the differentiation of status (rank), multilingualism, exogamy, cult or religion of the Kuwai or Yurupari, interdependence among groups, specialization of individuals and groups in certain occupations and economic activities, and the intense exchange or trade of goods.13

This is a regional system of intra- and interethnic hierarchies (Table 7), in which each ethnic unit shares sociocultural elements or is sociocul- turally compatible with the other units or groups. Goldman (in Chernela 1993: 10 f.), after revisiting the Cubeo in 1981, concluded that the Vaups system (Eastern Tukanoan and other groups) can be characterized as an "elementary hereditary ar- istocracy." Chernela (1993: 6) mentions that rank among the Eastern Tukanoan groups "is manifest on a daily basis in the terms of relative address used by speakers in conversation and greeting." This is also the case among the Wakunai or Kurri- pako (an Arawakan group) (Hill 1993) and among the Cubeo (a Tukanoan group) (Goldman 1968). Hill (1993: 11) states that in Northwest Amazonia "ritual hierarchy is intrinsically connected to the ecology of blackwater rivers and to competitive, egalitarian relations of exchange among phratries and language groups." This author also concludes

13 Arhern 1981; Chernela 1983, 1993; Goldman 1968; Hill 1983; Hugh-Jones, C. 1979; Hugh-Jones, S. 1979; Jackson 1983; Oliveira 1995; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1968, 1971, 1985; Vidal 1987, 1993; Wright 1981.

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Table 7: Amerindian Regional System of Political-Religious Hierarchies of Northwest Amazonia

Interethnic Regional System of Political-Religious Hierarchies

Arawakan Tukanoan Makuan

Enwi o Maku (chiefs) hara (chiefs) ? Tna, dana (masters, wisers) Bayaroa (dancers, singers) ? punawa (warriors) Guaramara (warriors) ? Minani (owners, specialists) Kumua (shamans) Kulu (clan, group) Mak (servants) Muno yori masa (servants) Anan (servants) Others (in-laws, enemies, others ("mak," foreigners) allies, foreigners)

Intraethnic System of Political-Religious Hierarchies

Arawakan Tukanoan Makuan

Ni (people) Mahsa (people) Ho (people) -nne (children, ) (unnamed) Kulu (clan)

Hik pon (children, L.G.) Mata kulu (senior clan) -daknai (grandchildren, S) Kurua o Kuduri (grand- Tsapedit kulu (junior clan) -nwi ("the/' L) children, S) -muna ("the," R.G.) In-laws in-laws Bay'na kulu (in-law clans,

in-laws) Others other people

= phratry, L = lineage, S = sib, L.G. = Linguistic group, R.G. = regional group

that "hierarchically ranked forms of social organization like those found in the Northwest Ama- zon today were undoubtedly more widespread and common in Amazonia and adjacent areas prior the arrival of European peoples . . ." (10).

As we have seen, both ancient and contemporary Amerindian formations differ in their ethnic and linguistic compositions, in their levels of political integration, in their economic and social complexity, and in the economic and political autonomy of their ethnic entities. Notwithstand- ing, they also share multilingual, multiethnic, and hierarchical systems. Thus, the persistence and transformation of these three complex character- istics must be included in interpretative schemes of the cultural history of Amerindian peoples of the Northwest Amazon.

4 Conclusions

As we have seen, Arawakan-, Tukanoan-, and Ma- kuan-speaking groups are organized by a complex regional system of political-religious hierarchies resulting from a long-term process of ethnogenesis which began in the 16th century. This regional system is characterized by multilingualism, mul-

tiethnicity, social and ritual hierarchies, exogamy, and varied forms of interethnic relations.

As discussed in the introduction, there have been simplistic and partial approaches and interpretations of the ancient and contemporary cultural history of Amazonia. Most of them were the result of an emphasis of anthropological field studies on a single Indian group as a closed system, or on a topic or specific process in several groups of a given family of languages. However, there also are studies that have centered their analysis on regional approaches and in complex multiethnic relations. These efforts have resulted in insightful interpretations of Amerindian peoples and history. For example, Oliveira (1995) has analyzed the Northwest Amazon region as a "complex border culture." This has lead this author to conclude that this "complex border culture" is the product not only of singular sociocultural formations that reveal specific symbolic and cognitive systems, but of social actors such as indigenous peoples, missionaries, governmental officials, military authorities, and other individuals of diverse ethnic and socioeconomic origins.

In this paper, I suggest that in order to understand the cultural history of the Northwest Ama- zon and the nature of contemporary Amerindian

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526 Silvia M. Vidal

regional systems, one must base the analysis on a macroregional perspective that includes the socioeconomic, political, multilingual, and multiethnic contexts in which ethnic identities and groups are created and developed.

This paper also demonstrates that in the history of the Northwest Amazon indigenous groups fluidity, flexibility, and interdependence are three important aspects of their sociopolitical structures that are always present in both the processes of transformation and the emergence of new social formations in different historical periods.

I would like to thank Nelly Arvelo-Jimnez and Werner Wilbert for their useful academic comments and the English revision of this article.

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Anthropos 94.1999


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Issue Table of ContentsAnthropos, Vol. 94, No. 4/6 (1999) pp. 351-698Volume InformationFront MatterEdwin W. Smith and His "Raw Material" Texts of a Missionary and Ethnographer in Context [pp. 351-367]Rural and Urban Bira Women. An Anthropological Case Study from Central Africa [pp. 369-379]Mode und Kleidung im kolonialen Zentralafrika. Begegnung zweier Welten [pp. 381-400]Les "nkita" comme pantomime des personnages extraordinaires chez les Kongo du Bas-Congo [pp. 401-418]From Clarifying Pearls and Gems to Water Coagulation with Alum. History, Surviving Practices, and Technical Assessment [pp. 419-430]Hierarchy and Symbolic Construction of the Person among Rural Egyptians [pp. 431-445]Historical Ethnology. The Context and Meaning of the A. B. Lewis Collection [pp. 447-465]The Enigma of the Unfinished Male. An Entry to East Bird's Head Mytho-Logics, Irian Jaya [pp. 467-486]The Fox's Wedding [pp. 487-499]Zur Bedeutung Drogen-induzierter Wahrnehmungs vernderungen bei den Kashinawa-Indianern Ost-Perus [pp. 501-514]Amerindian Groups of Northwest Amazonia. Their Regional System of Political-Religious Hierarchies [pp. 515-528]"Hitting the Bottom of My Life". An Apache Talks about Jail [pp. 529-537]Berichte und KommentareEric R. Wolf (1923-1999) [pp. 539-541]Benin Prehistory: The Origin and Settling down of the Edo [pp. 542-552]Esquisse ethnologique d'un spectacle sportif: Les matchs de Douala et de Yaound [pp. 552-554]Wird die Polygynie in der modernen Gesellschaft berleben? berlegungen zur Mehrfrauenehe am Beispiel der Mafa in Nordkamerun [pp. 554-563]Anmerkungen zu einer schamanistischen Sitzung im Sdwesten Madagaskars [pp. 564-568]Supplementary Notes on Nage Bird Classification and Ethnoornithology [pp. 568-574]

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Miszellen [pp. 646-647]Neue Publikationen [pp. 649-664]Zeitschriftenschau [pp. 665-683]Back Matter

Documents

Amerindian Groups of Nortwesth Amazonia-Their Regional System of Political-religious Hierarchies