Beinghood and people-making in native Amazonia

Wild-grown medicinal plants used by the Asháninka people from the Tambo River, Peruvian Amazonia

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The Asháninka people are the largest Peruvian Amazonian group, yet the knowledge of their medicinal plants is scarce. This study on Asháninka herbal medicine offers an insight into the Asháninka aetiological system, resting within the wider ontological framework of animism, and cultural expressions of the biomedical understanding of illnesses.

AIM OF THE STUDY

To document wild-grown (non-cultivated) plant species in current use by the Asháninka people and look closer at their herbal practices during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study examines whether the knowledge and use of medicinal plants is gendered in this society. It also compares the findings with available literature concerning the Arawakan groups from Peruvian Amazonia.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The fieldwork was conducted in 13 native communities of the Asháninka people along the Tambo River (Selva Central), Peru, between 2016 and 2018 and in 2022. The main field technique were guided walks in the forest with 27 female and 28 male participants, during which voucher specimens were collected and relevant information was recorded. Semi-structured interviews were performed with specialists in Asháninka traditional medicine and with lay Asháninka people to better understand Asháninka illness aetiologies. The analysis of medicinal plants included medicinal categories and uses, modes of preparations, the frequency of use and the knowledge about the plants between the genders. It also presents and discusses detailed testimonies of herbal remedies during the Covid-19 pandemic. The list of recorded plants was compared with ethnobotanical studies of other Arawakan groups from Peruvian Amazonia.

RESULTS

Altogether, 169 wild-grown medicinal plant species were documented. Our findings highlight the importance of the Piperaceae and Acanthaceae botanical families in the Asháninka pharmacopoeia. The plants were used for 23 medicinal categories, of which dermatological disorders, digestive problems and venomous bites were the most prevalent. Over 70% of recorded plants were commonly and moderately known by the study participants. More exclusive species were found among the men than women; however, 64 % of all recorded plants were known to both genders. Sixty-one percent of recorded plants were not mentioned by any other study of medicinal plants among other Arawakan groups in Peruvian Amazonia. During the Covid-19 pandemic, nobody in the native communities at the Tambo River died directly due to the virus, which was attributed, amongst others, to effective and culturally-appropriate prophylaxis and treatments with medicinal plants.

CONCLUSION

To this day, the Asháninka people at the Tambo River conserve the knowledge and practices related to medicinal plants which meet the daily needs of dwelling in subtropical forest; these are deeply rooted in animistic ontology, with the emphasis on spirit predation and retaliation. And yet, numerous applications of plants are compatible with the biomedical notion of illness and symptoms. Plant knowledge is shared between the genders, although specific plants exist for men and women, which are related to their gendered social and family roles. Some overlap and consensus exists with other studies regarding medicinal uses, which reflects the rich and diverse knowledge of medicinal plants among the Arawakan groups in Peruvian Amazonia, and this deserves further study.

Healthy food, unhealthy food: Indigenous perspectives on the nutrition transition

Amazonian Indigenous Peoples are undergoing drastic changes in their ways of life including the quality and availability of food and its impact on their health and well-being. Indigenous populations have their own perspectives and interpretations of dietary changes unfolding in their communities. Based on in-depth interviews, observations and validation workshops we explored the way Awajún describe and problematise the concept of healthy and unhealthy food in the context of the nutrition transition. We learn that the characteristics of 'good food' are informed by their capacity to give strength, protect health and enable them to be hardworking people. On the contrary, food that comes from the city weakens the body and may result in health problems. For the Awajún, chicken with hormones, fish preserved in cans, and powdered milk negatively affect their health. We argue that the dichotomy 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' used to classify food provides information not only about Indigenous conceptualisations of health and die, but is also a critique of broader structural processes affecting their well-being. The terms, explanations and idioms used by the Awajún to talk about food, provide an insight into Indigenous perspectives and knowledge key to informing global health interventions in culturally appropriate ways.

Sensory Ecology, Bioeconomy, and the Age of COVID: A Parallax View of Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge

Drawing on original ethnobotanical and anthropological research among Indigenous peoples across the Amazon, we examine synergies and dissonances between Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge about the environment, resource use, and sustainability. By focusing on the sensory dimension of Indigenous engagements with the environment-an approach we have described as "sensory ecology" and explored through the method of "phytoethnography"-we promote a symmetrical dialogue between Indigenous and scientific understandings around such phenomena as animal-plant mutualisms, phytochemical toxicity, sustainable forest management in "multinatural" landscapes, and the emergence of new diseases like the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Drawing examples from our own and other published works, we explore the possibilities and limitations of a "parallax view" attempting to hold Indigenous and scientific knowledge in focus simultaneously. As the concept of "bioeconomy" emerges as a key alternative for sustainable development of the Amazon, we encourage a critical and urgent engagement between dominant Western conceptions and Indigenous Amazonian knowledge, practices, and cultural values. Cognitive science, which has long contributed to studies of Indigenous categorization and conceptualization of the natural world, continues to play an important role in building bridges of mutual communication and respect between Indigenous and scientific approaches to sustainability and biodiversity conservation.

As vespas que caçam com seus dentes: Artefatos multiespécies, ritual e relações entre humanos e não humanos entre os Karitiana (Rondônia)

Resumo Na interseção da etnologia indígena, a antropologia das relações humano-animais e os estudos sobre artefatos, este artigo analisa um ritual masculino entre os Karitiana, povo indígena Tupi-Arikém no sudoeste da Amazônia brasileira. O Osiipo consistia, sobretudo, no emprego de picaduras de uma variedade de vespas para a fabricação de caçadores. Os dados de que dispomos sugerem que os principais agentes dessa constituição da pessoa masculina eram os insetos, replicando nos homens suas qualidades de ferozes predadores e guerreiros. Nesse processo, destacava-se a presença de cintos de dentes de macaco, signos dos grandes caçadores, e que também são portados pelas vespas. A análise deste objeto específico - as fileiras de dentes de macaco - torna possível compreender como agências outras-que-humanas diversas se interpenetram no ritual que fabricava bons caçadores, cuja versão integral não é mais realizada. Tais artefatos multiespécies tornam-se, assim, expressões materiais privilegiadas para a investigação das interações dos Karitiana com muitos outros seres não humanos com os quais partilham o mundo.

Plasticidade e pessoalidade no espiritismo crioulo cubano

Neste artigo defendo que as formas crioulas do espiritismo cubano propõem uma sofisticada cosmologia do Self, na qual a psique humana e seu universo circundante de espíritos protetores são incorporados em uma só relação de produção mútua. Estas teorizações subvertem leituras lineares de identidades (entidades) espirituais como fragmentos de imaginários nacionais, sugerindo em seu lugar a importância de um cosmos fluido, plástico, onde as formas espirituais dependem de repertórios culturais e pessoais, formas estas que também permanecem parcialmente "outras" para quem as apreende, retendo assim a sua capacidade transformadora. Estes temas são explorados por meio de uma justaposição de discursos antropológicos e indígenas sobre a psicologia das manifestações espirituais, e também através da observação de casos de mais amplo alcance de plasticidade ontológica no espiritismo e na religião afro-cubana.