Huaorani Transformations in Twenty-First-Century Ecuador: Treks into the Future of Time

352 Pages·2016·4.011 MB·English

by  Laura Rival

Huaorani
TransformaTions in
TwenTy-firsT-CenTury
eCuador

Laura riVaL
HUAORANI
TRANSFORMATIONS
IN TWENTY-FIRST-
CENTURY ECUADOR
Treks into the Future of Time
TUCSON
To Blanca Muratorio (1930–2014), Bogueney (193?–2013),
and Hélène Rival (1932–2013)
x
The University of Arizona Press
www.uapress.arizona.edu
© 2016 The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved. Published 2016
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-13: 978-0-8165-0119-9 (cloth)
Cover designed by Nicole Hayward
Cover photo by Romelia Angelica Papue Mayancha
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are by the author.
Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds of a permanent endowment created
with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal
agency.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rival, Laura M., author.
Title: Huaorani transformations in twenty-first-century Ecuador : treks into the future of time /
Laura Rival.
Description: Tucson : The University of Arizona Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references
and indexes.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015034538 | ISBN 9780816501199 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Huao Indians—Ecuador.
Classification: LCC F3722.1.H83 R57 2016 | DDC 986.6/01—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn
.loc.gov/2015034538
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
ConTenTs
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
introduction 3
PART I: AMONG FOREST BEINGS 37
1 domesticating the Landscape, Producing Crops, and
reproducing society in amazonia 47
2 naming Trees 73
3 Historical ecology in amazonia 91
PART II: IN THE LONGHOUSE 113
4 Human Birth: Hosting a new Life 123
5 Living well: Huaorani sensuality and Happiness 147
6 femininity and masculinity in Huaorani Land 169
PART III: IN THE MIDST OF ENEMIES 197
7 forests of abundance 205
8 Prey at war 223
9 inside President Correa’s Citizen revolution 244
vi contents
appendix a. Letter to President Correa 262
Notes 267
References 303
Index 333
iLLusTraTions
FIGURES
1 Taromenani necklace 8
2 Well-known leader on a museum visit in Manaus 9
3 Women singing at a meeting 9
4 Teacher watching on his tablet pictures of a massacre
taken on a smart phone and sent to him via e-mail 10
5 Young men running from tree to tree 40
6 Trekkers in their forest camp 40
7 Two brothers resting in the forest 41
8 Going home with chonta palm fruit 42
9 Visit to a manioc and plantain garden 43
10 A well-known shaman 44
11 Well-known leader preparing curare poison 45
12 Giving birth today 116
13 Mother and daughter resting in a hammock 117
14 The good life, the Huaorani way 117
15 Girl sharing her sweet with her pet monkey 118
16 Little girl in forest camp with pet monkey 119
17 Tamed deer 120
18 Guests resting at a festival 120
viii illustrations
19 Bameno villagers getting ready to present their traditions
at the Amazon State University, Puyo 199
20 Young men at a school festival 199
21 Leader preparing a conservation management plan for
his community 200
22 Use of the tribal leader’s picture by government officials 200
23 Housing along an oil road 201
24 Author in conversation with secondary school pupils 201
25 Participatory workshop 202
MAPS
1a Huaorani territory within Ecuadorian Amazon 6
1b Huaorani communities within the old protectorate created
by the Summer Institute of Linguistics 7
TABLES
1. Comparison of Ka’apor and Guajá names for nine species
of the Inga genus 76
2. Comparison of Ka’apor and Guajá names for three species
of the Theobroma genus 77
3. Huaorani and Quichua names for twenty-one species of the
Inga genus 83
4. Huaorani and Quichua names for seven species of the
Theobroma genus 84
5. Huaorani names for plants growing in alluvial and high forests 85
aCknowLedgmenTs
T
His Book is dediCaTed
to three exceptional women who departed
this world before I had a chance to say goodbye. Each taught me in
their unique ways that thinking for oneself and refuting conventions
that do not stand up to scrutiny are key ingredients of a life well lived. My
mum, Hélène Rival, died when I was still in Ecuador, trying to make sense of
the attack in which Bogueney lost her life. I owe much of what I know about
Huaorani existential values to Bogueney and her kin. Blanca Muratorio, who
introduced me to social and cultural anthropology at the University of British
Columbia, changed the course of my life when she asked me to spend the aca-
demic year 1986–87 with her in Ecuador as her research assistant.
I have accumulated many debts over the years with so many Huaorani friends
and collaborators that naming them individually would be impossible. I am
particularly grateful to the inhabitants of Dayuno, Quihuaro, Zapino, Dam-
ointaro, QuehueireOno, and Bameno, who welcomed and sheltered me in the
late 1980s and early 1990s for months at a time. As their children and grand-
children are to be found in every Huaorani community throughout the ethnic
territory today, I feel at home everywhere I go! I keep a special thought deep
in my heart for all the Huaorani friends—young and old—who have left this
earth for heavenly abodes. I have used pseudonyms throughout the book to
refer to friends, informants, and collaborators, except when talking about well-
known public figures.