People of the Water: Change and Continuity Among the Uru-Chipayans of Bolivia

245 Pages·2012·4.606 MB·English

by  Joseph William Bastien

People of the Water

People
of the
Water
Change and Continuity
among the Uru-Chipayans of Bolivia
Joseph W. Bastien
The University of Utah Press
Salt Lake City
Copyright © 2012 by the University of Utah Press. All rights reserved.
The Defiance House Man colophon is a registered trademark
of the University of Utah Press. It is based upon a four-foot-tall,
Ancient Puebloan pictograph (late PIII) near Glen Canyon, Utah.
16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bastien, Joseph William, 1935–
People of the water : change and continuity among the Uru-Chipayans of Bolivia /
Joseph Bastien.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eisbn 978-1-60781-219-7 (ebook)
1. Chipaya Indians — Religion. 2. Chipaya Indians — Rites and ceremonies. 3. Chipaya
Indians — Social life and customs. 4. Indigenous peoples — Ecology — Bolivia — Chipaya.
5. Traditional farming — Bolivia — Chipaya. 6. Traditional medicine — Bolivia — Chipaya.
7. Chipaya (Bolivia) — Social life and cusotms. I. Title.
F3320.2.C388B37 2012
305.898'9 — dc23
2012004768
This book is dedicated to
John V. Murra and Richard Schaedel,
my mentors at Cornell and the University of Texas.
Yuspagarsunki Uqhamaphan.

Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xiii
Foreword by Mauricio Mamani Pocoaca xv
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction 1
1. Journey to Santa Ana de Chipaya 9
2. Lorenzo’s Cure 38
3. History of Chipayans 54
4. Subsistence and Economy: Ritual, Mythology, and Practice 79
5. People of the Common 107
6. Modernization: Changing Chipayans 119
7. Ayllus Tajata and Tuanta and the Uru-Chipayan Nation 140
8. Inez’s Burial 156
9. Fiesta of Santa Ana 171
10. Comparisons and Conclusions: Reinvention of Uru-Chipayan Culture 185
Appendix 199
References 203
Index 217
vii

Figures
I.1. Welcomed by a family in Ayparavi. 1 1.21. Santos Paredes examining women
I.2. Woman being treated by Santos and children for skin infection. 29
Paredes in the clinic. 3 1.22. Family herding sheep. 33
1.1. Map of Lake Titicaca, Altiplano, to 1.23. Lorenzo offering a ritual for
Chipayan territory bordering on a safe journey. 34
Salt Lake Coipasa. 10 2.1. Lorenzo Condori, yatiri and sacristan,
1.2. Elderly man enjoying the sun. 10 in front of Santa Ana tower. 39
1.3. Lauca running through the village. 11 2.2. Lorenzo and his assistant offering
1.4. Youth with required apparel for coca and quinoa in Santa Ana
school. 11 Church. 42
1.5. Alonso showing a newly born lamb. 13 2.3. Lorenzo and his wife, Paulina Lázaro,
1.6. Map of the Department of Oruro at a healing ritual. 42
with the territory of Chipayans. 16 2.4. Lorenzo ordering Dos Glorias on
1.7. Map drawn by Chipayans. 19 the wayllasa (ritual cloth). 43
1.8. Crossing the Río Lauca in 2004. 19 2.5. Kintos bound with keril offered
1.9. Map of the Santa Ana de Chipaya to sacred places. 47
village center. 20 2.6. Fire, José, Lorenzo, and Santos
1.10. Map of the hydrography of Chipayan Paredes sacrificing a sheep. 49
territory. 21 2.7. María resting after the ritual. 50
1.11. Vitoriano Lázaro harvesting salt 2.8. Receiving quinoa. 50
in Lake Coipasa during the 2.9. Lorenzo dispatching us with
dry season. 22 a blessing. 51
1.12. Approaching Santa Ana de Chipaya. 23 3.1. Tower in Sabaya that the Chipayans
1.13. Phutucu (pyramidal house on the claim to have built. 60
outskirts). 24 3.2. Pablino preaching in the Unión
1.14. Family around a wallichi koya Cristiana Evangélica, Ayllu Tajata. 70
(cylindrical hut). 24 4.1. Jilaqatas of Ayparavi in the alcaldía
1.15. Parabolic-shaped phutucus and Henri (mayor’s office). 82
Migala doing fieldwork in 1992. 25 4.2. Silvia and Jacinta Quinta, Manuel
1.16. Wallichi koya in Ayparavi. 25 Chino, and José Paredes at a
1.17. Celebrating a ritual with Lorenzo Quillpa de Cordero. 82
Condori inside a wallichi koya. 27 4.3. Zacarías Paredes Quinta. 83
1.18. Village of Santa Ana. 28 4.4. Milda and her granddaughter
1.19. María asking for coca leaves. 29 Lucila Paredes Quinta. 84
1.20. Alcalde (mayor) inviting me to stay. 29 4.5. Lucila. 84
ix