The Shuar-Jívaro of the Eastern Ecuadorian Jungle: Village ... - Smu

The Shuar-Jívaro
Shuar varo
of the Eastern
Ecuadorian
Jungle:
Village-Level
Village Level
Warfare
Ethnographer:
Michael J. Harner
(Topic 8)
Michael J. Harner
THE
JIVARO
People of the
Sacred Waterfalls

THE SHUAR/JIVARO:
• Only tribe of American Indians ever known to have successfully
revolted against the empire of Spain and to have thwarted all
subsequent attempts to reconquer them.
• From 1599 onward they have remained unconquered in
the Amazon forest east of the Andes, despite the fact that
they were known to occupy one of the richest placer gold
regions in all of South America.
• Their warlike reputation spread in the late 19 th and early
20 th centuries when Jívaro J varo ‘shrunken shrunken head’ head trophies, or
tsantsa, tsantsa,
found their way to the markets of exotica in the
Western world.

Michael J. Harner
THE
JIVARO
People of the
Sacred Waterfalls
Non-P.C. Non P.C. P.C.

ENVIRONMENT

SUBSISTENCE:
(marriage preferences: 2 wives, 1 wife, 3 wives)
GARDENS: Each household has either a single large swidden garden
or several smaller ones. ones.
These are the exclusive source of
carbohydrates for the Jívaro J varo, , providing, in terms of calories,
perhaps about 65 per cent of the diet. diet.
Besides sweet manioc, manioc,
the Shuar-Jívaro Shuar varo cultivate:
1. Tuberous crops including two varieties of sweet potato, potato,
papa
china, china,
three members of the Araceae family, the carrot-like carrot like maya
(arracacha arracacha), ), and peanuts. peanuts
2. Non-tuberous Non tuberous food plants including plantains and ‘white white’ maize. maize
3. Other crops including squash, squash,
red pepper, pepper,
tomatoes, tomatoes,
onions, onions,
the
‘gold gold’ banana, banana,
pineapple, papaya, papaya,
sugar cane, cane,
tobacco, tobacco,
achiote, achiote,
gourds, and cotton. ... various fish poisons, poisons,
and
medicinal plants, plants,
and …

Hallucinogenic drugs, especially Banisteriopsis
sp. sp.
and Datura arborea, arborea,
are both cultivated in
the garden and collected wild in the forest. ...
Ayahuasca

MANIOC BEER: BEER:
“The The manioc beer (nihamanch
( nihamanchï) ) is
prepared by first cooking the manioc. Then it is mashed
and stirred to a soft consistency ... while the woman stirs
the mash, she chews handfuls and spits them back into
the pot, a process which is essential to the proper and
rapid fermentation of the brew.” brew.
Average daily beer
consumption:
consumption
3-4 4 gallons (adult males)
1-2 2 gallons (adult females)
½ gallon (9-10 (9 10-year year olds)
1-5 5 days for fermentation
to maximum alcoholic
content, but too much
demand for this to happen
except for feasts

HUNTING

SETTLEMENT
THE DWELLING AS
FORTIFICATION:
FORTIFICATION
�� Windowless wall built
of chonta palm staves
�� staves ~ 1” 1 apart to allow
light to enter and to
peek out for enemies
�� Wooden door is locked with a chonta palm crossbar
�� Chonta palm staves are lashed to the house wall near the beds, beds,
palm logs
added around base of interior if feuding is particularly frequent frequent
�� Foxholes are also sometimes dug into the floor to permit firing from low
points and to provide shelter for the women and children.
�� A secret escape tunnel occasionally extends underneath the wall, coming up
in the garden.

DWELLING SIZE AND
FEASTING/DEFENSIVE
FACTORS:
FACTORS:
�� Average family size is
nine persons, persons,
although
houses are almost always
larger, or enough to
accommodate several times
more people than this
�� Reason: Feasting/alliance
formation requirements
�� Dancing at feasts is never
done outdoors, outdoors,
where persons would not be protected from rain and
possible attackers, a large floor area is essential, especially especially
when a
tsantsa feast is given, since large numbers of guest dance and sleep
within the house on such occasions.

… the Shuar
version of a
treacherous
feast ….

SPACING OF LOCAL HOUSEHOLDS:
HOUSEHOLDS
�� Each house is isolated, isolated,
2-3 2 3 miles
from other houses
�� Adjacent houses, when they occur,
invariably belong to close relatives, relatives,
usually a half-mile half mile apart
�� Usually consist of a man and his sons-
in-laws in laws
�� Even such limited concentrations are
not very permanent, because of
quarreling between the neighboring
relatives or the gradual depletion of the
local wild game supply.

DISTRIBUTION:
DISTRIBUTION:
DEMOGRAPHY
Overall population = 7,830 persons in 1956-57 1956 57
Interior Jívaro: J varo: ~ 245 houses over an area of 4,775 km² km
(1844 mi²). mi ).
Estimated interior Jívaro J varo population: 2,200 persons, or
.46 persons/km²
persons/km
Population is not concentrated in villages, rather it is
dispersed in loose-knit loose knit neighborhood groupings.

SEX RATIO: RATIO:
The emphasis on polygyny, in part, reflects the
fact that the ratio of adult females to adult males is
approximately 2:1, largely as a consequence of the attrition of
the adult male population through killing. (100 males ÷ 200
females X 100 = S.R. of 50) 50
PREFERRED SEX OF FIRST CHILD: CHILD:
Both men and women
say that the preferred first child is a boy, boy,
which is justified on
the basis that the father needs ....a son to go hunting with
him. him.
Ideally, the birth of a son should be followed by that of a
daughter. There is no clear-cut clear cut prejudice against offspring of
one sex as against the other.
other

SEXUAL RELATIONS AND HUNTING: HUNTING:
�� Usually the preferred companion for ... hunting trips is the youngest wife. wife.
�� However, having sexual relations on the hunt is viewed as dangerous by
the man, since it is believed that after intercourse he is particularly
susceptible to being bitten by a poisonous snake. Nevertheless, men
often engage in sexual activity when they take their wives hunting hunting.
.
�� [But], since babies interfere with the mobility of their wives to accompany
them in hunting, hunting,
men usually are reluctant to engage in sexual intercourse
more often than about once every six to eight days. days.
LONG LACTATION: With the birth of a new baby women do not usually usually
wean an earlier one; thus, it is common to see an infant and a four- four or five-
year-old year old being fed by the mother, with one at each breast. breast.
Weaning is not
emphasized and may not take place until the child is six or seven years old.
old

SOCIALIZATION
CHILDREN’S’ CHILDREN ATTITUDE TOWARD THE WORLD AROUND THEM: THEM
�� A sense of alienation from the rest of the tribe
�� Early morning lectures by fathers telling children to ‘be be careful’ careful of
anyone beyond the household since all are seen as potentially potentiall
deceitful and treacherous.
CHILDREN: PUNISHMENT WITH CHILI PEPPERS: PEPPERS:
If a child is
extraordinarily bad, and, despite nettle spanking, continues [being [being
bad] the parents may undertake the harshest punishment they ever
use on children. This consists of dropping a large quantity of hot
peppers into a small fire and forcing the child to remain over the the
fire
under a large cloth until he becomes unconscious.

WARFARE
WARFARE--
WARFARE--CAUSES
CAUSES:
�� “hostile hostile acts” acts
�� A high proportion of persons
accused of hostile acts probably
did not commit them at all
�� There is a tremendous emphasis
among the Jívaro J varo on ascribing almost all non-epidemic non epidemic illnesses and deaths, deaths,
and non-violent non violent deaths, to witchcraft and poisoning.
�� The fundamental assumption ... is that bewitching shamans are continually
attacking one’s one s person and family (tsentsak ( tsentsak darts are hurled out at enemies). enemies).
�� This leads in the cases of assumed witchcraft death, to retaliation, in the
form of homicide, against the presumed bewitchers.
bewitchers.

It is also considered completely proper
to kill a woman or child if the act is in
retaliation for the previous murder of a
woman or child. Great pains are
usually taken to kill only one person in
retaliation for one murder (“tit ( tit for tat”). tat ).

KILLING AND WARFARE:
WARFARE:
�� The majority of young men expressed a strong
desire to kill, kill,
not only to avenge the deaths of
their fathers or other relatives, but to become
known and feared as kakaram, kakaram,
or powerful
war leaders and killers.
�� To be accepted as a kakaram, kakaram,
a man must have
killed at least several persons. If he acquits himself
well—e.g., well e.g., fires the first shot into the victim—word
victim word
will spread of his power. power.
�� Soon he will be approached by others to lead them
in killing expeditions against their own enemies. enemies
The kakaram, kakaram,
anxious to further his reputation and
gain supernatural power through more killing,
rarely refuses such a request, even if he is agreeing
to kill a fellow tribesman who is not even his enemy.
enemy

But to be an effective killer,
each Jívaro J varo man must acquire
a ‘killer killer soul.’
soul.

1. The
Shuar Soul Power-- Power-
three kinds of souls are recognized:
The arutam wakanï wakan (killer soul) is the most
significant. It is an acquired soul, and a man
may possess as many as two arutam souls at one
time.
Arutam soul …

2. The second type of soul is the
muisak wakanï, wakan or avenging soul.
Muisak wakanï
soul …

3. The third is the
nekás nek wakanï, wakan ,
the ‘true, true,’ ‘real, real,’
or ‘ordinary ordinary’ soul.
Nekás Nek s wakanï wakan
soul …

KILLING EXPEDITIONS:
EXPEDITIONS:
“Jívaro varo killing expeditions usually attack the
victim’s victim s house just before dawn. Late in the afternoon of the day prior prior
to the attack, the expedition halts in the forest about a quarter quarter
of a
mile from its intended object. ... the participants must declare declare
what
kind of arutam they had each seen ... as each ... does this, the soul of
his arutam leaves his body forever, to roam the forest again as a wind,
for arutam souls ‘are are satisfied with one killing.’ killing. ... Although each of
them has just lost an arutam soul, the power of that soul remains in
the body, only ebbing away gradually.”
gradually.

Tsantsas… Tsantsas the
object of
Jívaro varo war

Tsantsa preparation:

The ultimate
purpose of
acquiring tsantsas:

Jívaro edition
It’s a jingle-jangle-jungle out there!
Gardening
with a
Vengeance
Fun Ideas
for Decorating
with Tsantsas
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Jívaro edition
Ideas for Poisoning
Your Holiday Punch

Trade in Guns, Tsantsas, and Tsentsak

Shuar emic on warfare in their
society and taking tsantsas? tsantsas?
…
… our etic??? etic???

Shuar emic on warfare in their society and
taking tsantsas? tsantsas?
… our etic? etic?
…
Harris:
eating
energy expenditure
sexy
emotionally needy
Wrangham:
ethnocentrism
xenophobia
… and Barash (The Hare and the Tortoise), E.O. Wilson (Sociobiology),
(Sociobiology),
Doyne Dawson (The Origins of Western War), and Wrangham Wrangham
(Demonic Males)

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“Prefewential
Female ...”
WHAT?