Under a Watchful Eye: Self, Power, and Intimacy in Amazonia

249 Pages·2013·3.397 MB·English

by  Harry Walker

Under a Watchful Eye
ethnographic studies in subjectivity
Tanya Luhrmann and Steven Parish, Editors
1. Forget Colonialism? Sacrifice and the Art of Memory in Madagascar,
by Jennifer Cole
2. Sensory Biographies: Lives and Deaths among Nepal’s Yolmo Buddhists,
by Robert Desjarlais
3. Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African
Community, by Kathryn Linn Geurts
4. Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment in a Papua New
Guinea Society, by Joel Robbins
5. Jesus in Our Wombs: Embodying Modernity in a Mexican Convent,
byRebecca J. Lester
6. The Too-Good Wife: Alcohol, Codependency, and the Politics of
Nurturance in Postwar Japan, by Amy Borovoy
7. Subjectivity: Ethnographic Investigations, edited by João Biehl, Byron
Good, and Arthur Kleinman
8. Postcolonial Disorders, edited by Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good, Sandra
Teresa Hyde, Sarah Pinto, and Byron J. Good
9. Under a Watchful Eye: Self, Power, and Intimacy in Amazonia,
by Harry Walker
Under a Watchful Eye
Self, Power, and Intimacy in Amazonia
harry walker
University of California Press
berkeley los angeles london
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2013 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walker, Harry, 1977–
Under a watchful eye : self, power, and intimacy in Amazonia /
Harry Walker.
p. cm. — (Ethnographic studies in subjectivity vol.9)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-27359-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-520-27360-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Urarina Indians—Psychology. 2. Urarina Indians—Social
networks. 3. Urarina Indians—Social life and customs. I. Title.
f3430.1.u83w35 2013
305.898—dc23 2012025913
Manufactured in the United States of America
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally
responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has
printed this book on 50-pound Enterprise, a 30% post-consumer-
waste, recycled, deinked fiber that is processed chlorine-free. It is
acid-free and meets all ansi/niso (z 39.48) requirements.
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue: Learning to Stand-Leaned-Together 1
1. Spaces of Refuge 7
2. Vital Shields 34
3. Conceiving the Conjugal Body 59
4. Mutuality and Autonomy 94
5. Authority and Solidarity 133
6. Mastering Subjection 164
Epilogue: An Accompanied Life 203
Notes 217
Bibliography 227
Index 235
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Illustrations
figures
1. Preparing for a canoe journey 19
2. Rolling felled logs 31
3. A grandmother watches over a baby 50
4. Husband and wife mend their canoe 69
5. Boys encourage their baby sister to stand 97
6. Sharing a meal 110
7. Drinking manioc beer during a communal work effort 121
8. A son-in-law carries building materials for his father-in-law 145
9. A woman boils manioc to make beer 154
10. A hunter repairs his blowpipe 172
11. Girls with a pet monkey 177
map
1. Area inhabited by the Urarina 18
vii
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Acknowledgments
Getting started on this project was certainly a lot easier than finishing
it, and it is consoling to think that an undertaking of this nature is never
truly finished. There is always so much more to say; the subject matter
will always resist finalization. That this book exists owes a great deal
to the patience and goodwill of the inhabitants of the communities of
the upper Chambira River, where I spent one of the most rewarding and
challenging chapters of my life. To the many Urarina who contributed to
my project, each in his or her own way, I am profoundly grateful. I wish
especially to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to Luis Ojaicate Ignacio
and Elias Ojaicate Ahuite, without whose innumerable reflections and
articulate, intelligent insights this book would have been much impover-
ished. Their amicable hospitality and kindness greatly enriched my time
in the field.
In Iquitos and along the Chambira and Marañon Rivers, the Tuesta
brothers, Marlo, José Luis, Marco Antonio, and especially Orlando,
offered me friendship and crucial logistical support and taught me much
about commerce in the region. Ron and Phyllis Manus warmly extended
to me their hospitality in Iquitos and generously gave me a copy of their
unpublished data on the relationship terminology. I wish to thank all the
doctors, nurses, and support staff of the Clinica Tucunaré, for their much-
appreciated hospitality during my brief visits, especially Berbel Würth,
Arjan Noot, Eva Ackermann, and Malte Bräutigam, as well as Patricio
Zanabria of CEDIA for his help and friendship. Ana Monge Sandoval
provided invaluable support, assistance, and companionship throughout,
for which I am deeply grateful.
Conversations with Filip Rogalski helped to shape many of the key
ideas in this book, and his brief visit to the Chambira opened my eyes to
ix