Upriver: The Turbulent Life and Times of an Amazonian People

332 Pages·2014·2.03 MB·English

by  Michael F. Brown

Upriver

Upriver
The Turbulent Life and Times
of an Amazonian People
Michael F. Brown
Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, En gland
2014
Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First printing
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Brown, Michael F. (Michael Fobes), 1950–
Upriver : the turbulent life and times of an Amazonian people /
Michael F. Brown.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-674-36807-1 (alk. paper)
1. Indians of South America—Peru—Amazonas—Social
conditions. 2. Indians of South America—Peru—Amazonas—
Social life and customs. 3. Indians of South America—Peru—
Amazonas—Folklore. 4. Amazonas (Peru)—Social conditions.
5. Amazonas (Peru)—Social life and customs. I. Title.
F3429.1.A3B76 2014
306.0985'46—dc23 2014004981
Contents
A Note to Readers vii
Introduction 1
Part One 1976– 1978
1 Andean Prelude 19
2 Armadillo for Breakfast 39
3 Puzzle Pieces 71
4 Jesus versus the Warrior Spirits 99
5 Four Weddings and a Funeral 122
6 Trouble in Mind 151
7 Hard Lessons 182
Part Two 1980– 2012
8 Civilization’s Twisting Road 207
9 Boundary Condition 237
10 Looking Back 269
Notes 281
Sources on the Awajún and Related Societies 305
Ac know ledg ments 311
Index 315

A Note to Readers
Spelling of words in the Awajún (Aguaruna) language follows
the orthography developed by missionary linguists from SIL
International and now used by thousands of literate Awajún. In
general, pronunciation is consistent with Spanish. The letter j, for
example, is pronounced like the En glish h; Awajún, therefore, is
pronounced like “Awahoon.” The letter e, however, represents a
midcentral vowel closer to the u in the En glish “put” than to
the Spanish e; the Awajún g approximates the ng of the En glish
“ring.” For the con ve nience of readers, I have included stress
accents in most Awajún personal names even though the Awajún
use them only when required by Spanish writing conventions.
Unless otherwise noted, all translations of Awajún and Spanish
texts are mine.
Most Peruvians follow the Iberian practice of using both
their father’s and mother’s surnames in formal settings. To
avoid confusing English-s peaking readers, I normally use only
the fi rst (patrilineal) surname in the main text.
Following standard practice in anthropology, a handful of
personal names have been changed to protect individuals whose
stories might cause embarrassment or expose them to harm.

Upriver