The Life and Times of Grandfather Alonso: Culture and History in the Upper Amazon

317 Pages·1991·9.42 MB·English

by  Blanca Muratorio

The Life and Times of
Grandfather Alonso
Hegemony and Experience: Critical Studies in Anthropology and History
A series edited by William Roseberry and Hermann Rebel
The Life
and Times of
Grandfather Alonso
CULTURE AND HISTORY
IN THE UPPER AMAZON
BLANCA MURATORIO
• ..JII
Rutgers University Press
~~ New Brunswick, New Jersey
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Dllta
Muratorio, Blanca.
IRucuyaya Alonso y Ia historia social y econ6mica del Alto Napo,
1850-1950. English}
The life and times of Grandfather Alonso: culture and history in the upper Amazon I Blanca
Muratorio.
p. cm.-(Hegemony and experience :critical studies in
anthropology and history)
Translation of: Rucuyaya Alonso y Ia historia social y economica
del Alto Napo, 1850-1950.
Includes bibliographical references (p. )and index.
ISBN0-8135-1684-6(cloth) ISBN0-8135-1685-4(pbk.)
1. Indians of South America-Ecuador-Napo (Province)-Social
conditions. 2. Andi, Alonso. 3. Quechua Indians-Biography.
4. Quechua Indians-Social conditions. 5. Indians of South America
Ecuador-Napo (Province)-Economic conditions. 6. Quechua Indians
Economic conditions. I. Title. II. Series.
F3721.1.N3M8613 1991
305.898'PR3-dc20 90-21012
CIP
Copyright C> 1991 by Blanca Muratorio
All Rights Reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
In Memory of Rucuyaya Alonso

Contents
List of lliustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. The Forest Travelers 18
2. Ethnicity, Language, Culture :36
3. Family and Youth 50
4. The Forest and the River 64
5. The State, Missionaries, and Native Consciousness,
1767-1896 72
6. Christianity and the Missions 94
7. Liberalism and Rubber: The Early Twentieth Century
in the Oriente 99
B. The Days of the Varas, the Apu, and the Patrons 122
9. The Company and the Auca 133
10. Gold, Oil, and Cattle: The· Twentieth Century
in Tena-Archidona 141
11. My Friends the Yachaj 181
12. Dreams and Death 191
13. Reflections 196
14. The Cultural Bases of Resistance 202
Epilogue 230
Appendix 1. Employment Contract of a Rubber Laborer, 1909
(AGN) 237
Appendix 2. Settlement of Peon's Account, Marking the Articles
in Dispute, 1930 (AGN) 239
~otes 243
Glossary 259
References 269
Index 283
The chapter titles of Grandfather Alonso's narratives are in italics.

Illustrations
FIGURES
1. Rucuyaya Alonso, 1985
2. Crossing a ford of the Cosanga River
3. Osculati abandoned by his Indian guides
4. Napo Runa carrying a whiteman
5. Traveler arriving at Archidona in 1847
6. Gathering of Indians in Tena
7. Rucumama Rebeca Cerda, Rucuyaya Alonso's wife, 1985
8. Families in the Andi muntun living with Rucuyaya Alonso and
Rucumama Rebeca
9. Pano River
10. Aerial view ofTena, 1985
MAPS
1. Northern Oriente area, showing Tena-Archidona region in
Napo Province 3
2. Tena-Archidona 19