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Honorable Mentions
FELICE SEA WYNDHAM
Department of AnthropologyUniversity of British Columbia6303 NW Marine Dr.Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1Canada
In the Chaco
In the Chacopeople send out messagesfor the deadon radio waves;do they get radio pa’i pukuin heaven?
In the Chacoowl throat callsfull yellow moon month night,white shroud chrysalisand soft candle light.
In the Chacospring is yellowacacia sweetbuzzing day and new life waitingfor asôjná.
In the Chacoyour floor is never dirtyit is just dirt,and when it rainsyou make clay people and laugh.
In the Chacochickens chase dogs,hoping for a peckat the shiny blood-filled ticksaround their necks.
In the Chacogreen glint of parrotson the wing;world washed cleanafter the noche tormentosa.
In the Chacodry bread
254 Anthropology and Humanism Volume 34, Number 2
and hot sugar watertaste great.
In the Chacosmooth skin bathed inmoonlight, curvesthrough fire-warm waterand the trees calledtujiñie and ají’ac.
In the Chacorattlesnakes walk at night,when the north wind blows.
Leaving the Chacoon a bus,ghost palms in the headlightswearing leaf skirts.I lost track of timeor time lost track of meand what was left of her was mostlycheekbone, elbow,knee.
In the Chacothe world moved beneathmy pen,describing itselfto me.
Reflections
“In the Chaco” was written in 1998 during my first field experience as an anthro-pologist in the small Ayoreo community of Jesudi in the Paraguayan Chaco. I wasturned inside out by the intense sociality and environmental sensuality of the place.As I worked hard to write down everything my hosts (and adoptive clan relations)instructed me about their language, their stories and their landscapes, poems also arosefor me and made their way to paper. After many years I remain profoundly gratefulto my Ayoreo teachers who invited me into their lifeworlds, where everything relates:story, song, bird, tree, dream, thoughts, theory.
Wyndham 2009 Society for Humanistic Anthropology Contest Winners 255