An Ethnography of the Waorani Notion of Living Well and Its Contemporary Challenges Along Oil Roads
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Vitality, peace and happiness: an ethnography of the Waorani notion of living well and its contemporary challenges along oil roads. Andrea Bravo Díaz Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology University College London October 2019 1 I, Andrea Bravo Díaz, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract This research explores the Waorani notion of waponi kewemonipa (living well). The Waorani are indigenous people from Ecuadorian Amazonia. The anthropological fieldwork that informs this thesis was carried out among Waorani people living in settlements along oil roads, a particular milieu which is highlighted by Waorani as a contemporary marker of intraethnic difference. In this context, I investigate how the Waorani conceptualize and perform their living well, and how they respond to contemporary challenges, notably: liquor-related conflicts, oil-related pollution and inequalities for accessing external resources. Thus, this research endeavour is a contribution to the growing literature on Amazonian notions of living well and wellbeing. Chapter 1 introduces the notion of living well and its main dimensions which are further explored in relation to: health and vitality (chapter 2), environment and infrastructures (chapter 3), livelihoods (chapter 4), relations with the encroaching society (chapter 5), death and engagement with social media (chapter 6). Peaceful conviviality and collective happiness are at the core of the Waorani living well, these ideals require healthy people and abundance of resources for sharing among those who live together. Both health and abundance imply the constant replenishment of vitality, which I call the generative dimension of living well. There is also an ecological dimension: the Waorani relate living well with the forest of plenty as opposed to the road of “heat” and noise. Strategies for living well include aspects as varied as: opening of new settlements far from the roads, promoting football tournaments, State public services, and for some even new Christian conversions. But overall, what Sahlins called the hunter-gatherer ‘Zen road to affluence’, is ubiquitously present among the Waorani, and it has a background of laughter, encouraged through the narrative style anka totamonapa (how much we laughed) and other forms of collective happiness. 3 Impact Statement When finishing the writing up of this thesis, indigenous people across Ecuador were leading a new Paro Nacional (national strike); they protested against governmental austerity measures but were severely repressed. This protest resembles their historical mobilization in the 1990’s. During these three decades, Ecuadorian laws and Constitution have recognized some indigenous claims. Resonating with indigenous and other social movements’ proposals, a recognition of rights for Nature or Pacha Mama (Mother Nature) was included in the Art. 71-74 of the Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008; the latter also establishes a developmental regime called Buen Vivir (living well). The implementation of this regime during the last decade has not managed to integrate the variety of living well notions that coexist in the Ecuadorian plurinational country. Therefore, a thesis offering in-depth ethnographic material about an indigenous notion of living well has the potential to contribute to the process of rethinking the national Buen Vivir, which so far has relied heavily on oil extraction. While this research is not about oil interventions, it is set in an oil field, and indigenous voices included throughout this thesis show that environmental and social damage is beyond the calculation of “permitted” levels of pollution that are considered in technical impact assessments in Ecuador. Moreover, the way in which the so-called “social compensations” are delivered in Waorani territory does not have a positive impact for indigenous living well. Finally, this thesis presents a preliminary study of sensorial ecologies of living well, an approach that might also prove to be helpful to rethink the debate regarding the rights of Pacha Mama in Ecuador. The impact of this research for academia is within Amazonian studies. This thesis contributes to anthropological studies of indigenous notions of good life in Amazonia, taking the discussion beyond the sphere of conviviality, and offering a consideration of how a series of relationships with the environment have effects on people’s willingness to engage in convivial living well. To do this, the thesis also offers an innovative methodological approach – including an art-based research method– to explore indigenous conceptualizations of living well. 4 CONTENTS Abstract ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Impact Statement ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 List of acronyms and abbreviations ----------------------------------------------------------- 9 Acknowledgements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10 List of Figures ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12 A note on Waorani orthography and the typography ----------------------------------- 13 Map 1. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 The Waorani people. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 The Waorani in anthropological literature. ----------------------------------------------- 23 Fieldwork context. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Methods. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Thesis outline. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 33 CHAPTER 1: LIVING WELL --------------------------------------------------------------- 35 Anthropology of living well. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Living well among the Waorani. ------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Convivial living well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 Ecological living well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 43 Generative living well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 52 Waponi kewemonipa as a whole. -------------------------------------------------------------- 53 CHAPTER 2: HEALTH, VITALITY AND COURAGE ------------------------------- 55 5 Vitality and health. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 56 Amazonian theories of beinghood. ---------------------------------------------------------- 56 Vitality in Amazonia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59 Waorani vitality. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63 Healthy and courageous people as an identitarian category. ----------------------------- 65 Disrupted vitality. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 71 Health as a collective concern. --------------------------------------------------------------- 72 Local treatment. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 74 God, dreams and healing. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 78 Kichwa and other powerful healers. --------------------------------------------------------- 80 Biomedical health services. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 80 Tiname, harmful vitality. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 82 Tiname as an external pathogen. ------------------------------------------------------------- 84 Tiname as becoming “mad”.------------------------------------------------------------------ 86 Conclusion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 88 CHAPTER 3: THE LOCUS OF LIVING WELL ---------------------------------------- 91 The forest as a socio-biological milieu. ------------------------------------------------------ 91 Relational body and the “beautiful” forest. ------------------------------------------------- 95 Isolated people. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------100 Sensorial ecology of living well. --------------------------------------------------------------102 Hearing, smelling, sensing the forest. ------------------------------------------------------105 The road. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------110 Making “sense” of pollution along the roads. ---------------------------------------------113 Living well and houses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------116 Movements in the Waorani house.----------------------------------------------------------117 Domestication of cement houses. -----------------------------------------------------------122 Facing neo-colonial projections. ------------------------------------------------------------124 Conclusion: senses and design. ---------------------------------------------------------------125