Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia

345 Pages·2009·1.951 MB·English

by  Bartholomew Dean

Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia
University Press of florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola

Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History
in Peruvian Amazonia
Bartholomew Dean
University Press of Florida
Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton
Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers/Sarasota
Copyright 2009 by Bartholomew Dean
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
All rights reserved
14 13 12 11 10 09 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dean, Bartholomew, 1963–
Urarina society, cosmology, and history in Peruvian Amazonia/
Bartholomew Dean.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8130-3378-5 (alk. paper); ISBN 978-0-8130-3838-5 (e-book)
1. Urarina Indians—Material culture. 2. Urarina cosmology. 3. Urarina
Indians—Social life and customs. 4. Shamanism. 5. Loreto (Peru : Dept.)
6. Loreto (Peru : Dept.)—Social life and customs. I. Title.
F3430.1.U83D43 2009
305.898'085449–dc22 2009019225
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the
State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M Univer-
sity, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida
International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida,
University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North
Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
To my parents, Stella Keeper and Warwick Randall Dean, for the gift of life,
and to Luz Angélica, Maxwell Eric Amauta, Isadora Ursula Beatríz,
and Gideon Jack Malachi Dean for making this life worth living.

“Straying maps the path”
Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, thirteenth-century Sufi poet

Contents
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Power, Belief, Wealth 1
1. The “People from Downstream”: The Chambira Basin and
Urarina Society 27
2. Ninichú: Homeland of the Ancients 54
3. Historicizing Amazonia: Domination, Unequal Exchange,
and Value Extraction 85
4. Localizing Webs of Power in the Chambira Basin: The Urarina
and Forest Extraction in Contemporary Perspective 116
5. “When There Were No Women”: Gender and the Experience
of Peonage 132
6. Forbidden Fruit: Affinity and the Economy of Kinship 157
7. Multiple Regimes of Value: Unequal Exchange and the Circulation
of Palm-Fiber Wealth 185
8. Mitayo, Myth, and Meaning: Alienation and the Circulation
of Urarina Forest Game 207
9. Chanting Rivers, Fiery Tongue: Ayahuasca Shamanism and
Resistance in Amazonia 234
Notes 261
Bibliography 273
Index 313