Lisa K. Grund Phd Thesis

AASENÎKON! MAKUSHI TRAVELOGUES FROM THE BORDERLANDS OF SOUTHERN GUYANA Lisa Katharina Grund A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2017 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12167 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence Aasenîkon! Makushi Travelogues from the Borderlands of Southern Guyana Lisa Katharina Grund Abstract This ethnographic account focuses on the conceptions and practices of movement, as narrated by the Makushi people who live along the triple frontier of southern Guyana. The journeys - individual experiences, in particular of women – depict visits to other Makushi communities, to their neighbours and cities in Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela. The travelogues disclose Makushi premises on knowledge and its acquisition: gender, age, temporality and alterity. Exploring these concepts in practice, the ethnography points out the value the Makushi attribute to their encounters with others, situations in which risk and unpredictability are creatively incorporated as part of their sociality. 3 Contents Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 12 Mobility in the Guianas 15 On Movement 18 Feminine voices 23 Fieldwork 24 The terminology of travel 26 Outline of chapters 28 Chapter 1 – Roads and Crossings: Experiences of Movement 30 The road 31 A line between poles 31 Through a line of connections 33 The e’ma kure’nan 36 Shifters and switchers, encounters along the road 42 Going up or coming down 43 Life on the road 48 The travelling experience 51 A journey back home 56 Vehicles and drivers 59 Crossings 63 Border issues 69 A journey to Venezuela 72 4 Chapter 2 – “Coming Down” and Moving Together: Narratives of Settlement Histories 75 Tipuru – Arrival 78 Coming across 84 Kuwariana and Arekuna 87 The Karina, Tigers and Bamboo 90 Tawailing: a place of refuge 92 Inkarisimî and the last fight 94 Moving together 96 The time of Tavi and the time of Pedro 96 Chapter 3 – Takutunen: A Collective Journey 100 Stars, animals and us: seasons and movements of life 101 The procedure of a journey 109 Fish, fishermen and the tuwama 114 Mapping the land through narratives 125 Chapter 4 – The virtue of impermanence: A woman’s roots and routes 151 Celia and I 152 The rooting of womanhood 153 About “getting stuck” 154 Roots 156 Becoming “wild” and being “tamed” 158 The time of aurono’pî 160 Anxious Movements 163 5 The exploitation of fear and bodies 167 The food industry of human slaughterhouses 168 Being left and becoming accustomed 172 Village routes and “getting fed-up” 174 Chapter 5 – Asarîikî: the one who walks 181 Marcia’s trails 181 Journey from Tipuru to Tusenen 184 Reasons for journeying 184 Mapping social cartographies 190 The subtle duties of hospitality 191 The speaking paths 199 Traversing and visiting 205 Necessary dialogues 221 Making oneself at home 227 Conclusion 234 Bibliography 240 6 List of Figures Figure 1. On the road, south of the Essequibo River crossing and before reaching the savannah. 35 Figure 2. Drawing by Laurindo John, 2017. 37 Figure 3. Map of the journey from Surama to Pium (my drawing). 39 Figure 4. The sketches, maps and tables in this chapter were drawn during the writing process. They helped to visualise the trajectory of the journeys and people’s movements. 43 Figure 5. Incoming and outcoming travellers to the interior and the respected vehicles they use. My drawing, 2017. 45 Figure 6. Passport check-points along the Linden-Lethem Road. Sometimes the amount of stops and check-point locations change. 47 Figure 7. Various photos of mine and from newspapers of the conditions of the road. 50 Figure 8. Map of the journey from Surama to junction 58 (my drawing). 52 Figure 9. Drawing by Laurindo John, 2017. 55 Figure 10. Celia’s journey back home. 56 Figure 11. A young Makushi woman on the road, driving, in Havaianas, the popular Honda cross-country motorbike. Drawing by Laurindo John, 2017. 61 Figure 12. Map of the journey to Maturuca (my drawing) 64 Figure 13. The journey to the crossing by truck. 64 Figure 14. Crossing the Ireng River by boat. 65 Figure 15. On the crowded water melon truck to Maturuca. 66 Figure 16. A selection of current village names of the South Pakaraimas and North Rupununi 76 Figure 17. A sketch by Marcia of the journey from Karasabai to Tipuru. 79 Figure 18. Sketch of the village of Tipuru (my drawing). 80 Figure 19. At the football ground in Tipuru. 81 Figure 20. Cassava house at Kara Kara, satellite community of Tipuru. 84 7 Figure 21. The village of Tipuru with the many named creeks which only flow during rainy season. Drawing by Marcia, 2013. 103 Figure 22. Map of the North Rupununi and South Pakaraima communities, published by North Rupununi District Deevelopment Board. 105 Figure 23. Sketch of the journey to Karona Falls, my drawing, 2014. 107 Figure 24. Karasabai District Amerindian Land boundary (purple line) and the Takutu River (in the East) 109 Figure 25. The graph shows the complementary features and practices that play into the celebration. 124 Figure 26. A mind map of the journey to Takutunen, depicting the different place- names commonly referred to on the way and some of their stories. 128 Figure 27. A mental map drawing by Marcia of the trajectory to Takutunen (Tipuru, 2014). 130 Figure 28. The orange line redraws the boundary recommended by the Amerindians of the Karasabai District region in 1969. To highlight the difference the area is juxtaposed with current land titles and reserves. Map by Dr Ricardo S. Dagnino, 2015. 137 Figure 29. "Proposed International District for Amerindian Development and Occupation", Appendices: Map 5, Peberdy Report 1948. Zoomed in on specific area and cropped out. 138 Figure 30. The map shows the area of Takutunen and mining prospecting permits (in yellow), 2015 data from GGMC; Iwokrama nature reserve (blue) and DTL timber concession (brown, at the top). Map made by Dr Ricardo S. Dagnino, 2015. 147 Figure 31. Ripened and fermented Kari, which then is sifted with water into a thick drink. The colour and fluffiness of the mould, and the sweetness in taste are all indicators of “good hands”. 157 Figure 32. Inside the cassava house. Scraping cassava roots (left) and baking cassava bread (right). 174 Figure 33. Waving the plane goodbye (Surama, 2014). 175 Figure 34. The centre of Surama taken out of an aircraft. It shows the large red airstrip (red arrow), Celia’s house (blue arrow) and the new main back road (black arrow). Photo taken from the Surama Ecolodge website. 176 Figure 35. View from outside Celia’s cassava house onto the fence of the airstrip. At the back, in the distance, the thatched roofs of houses are visible of neighbours Celia would have usually passed by on her way back home and stopped at for a drink of Kari. 177 8 Figure 36. A woman fishing at the lake. Drawing by Laurindo John, 2017. 179 Figure 37. The trajectories of the two journeys discussed in this chapter: Our journey from the community Tipuru to Tusenen and back (in red), and Marcia’s return journeys from Ayanganna to Tipuru. 183 Figure 38. En route by truck (right) through the Pakaraima mountains. 187 Figure 39. Pools of mud on the way that pose a challenge to the heavy-loaded trucks. 188 Figure 40. A bush camp in a forest island next to a creek between Monkey Mountain and Tusenen, used mainly by herders and larger groups of travellers. 189 Figure 41. The tree and the directions. 207 Figure 42. The large white road of the trickster Insikiran, the Insikiran yemarî. 209 Figure 43. The tracks of the truck of Insikiran, pressed into the rocks. 210 Figure 44. The tracks of the truck of Insikiran, pressed into the rocks, at the entrance to Monkey Mountain. 211 Figure 45. The Amooko Pupai (“Grandfather’s head”). 212 Figure 46. Old garimpeiro camp on Tawailing mountain. 213 Figure 47. Hand-drawn map of shortcut (pink line) from Yurong Paru to Tipuru and from Tusenen down Tawailing Mountain to Yurong Paru - both of which we chose to walk. The main vehicle route is in red, the shortcuts are in pink. 218 Figure 48. Different routes on our way. 219 Figure 49. Painting “Mother going Home”, by the Arawak artist George Simon. 228 9 Acknowledgements The first recollection I have from the interior of Guyana was the immense soundscape of millions of frogs croaking, in different tones and songs, in a sort of techno-siren-orchestra, and so loud that one had to raise one’s voice to talk. Along with that, there was this immediate dense wave of humidity. In the black sky, the countless bright stars were flickering down onto the earth and the tall dark trees of the forest in the background. Since then, I have sensed a deep connection with this place and all the people I got to know throughout the past years, who have welcomed me and made me feel at home. It has been a long journey of incredible encounters and experiences and I feel richer now, not for arriving somewhere, but for the journey in itself. Most of all, I am deeply grateful to Jean and Glen, Abigail, Cecilia and Phillip; to Maria, Antonia, Candida, Reginald, Williams, Regina, Mildred and Horace, who made up this thesis with their knowledge. I thank the whole community of Surama and Tipuru, their toshaos, senior councillors and councillors, for their support and to all hosts in the Rupununi, South and North Pakaraimas, in Georgetown and in Lethem: Uncle Sydney, Vanessa, Marissa and Ron, Maurice, Paula, Uncle Clark, Stanley, Paulette, Uncle Fred and Auntie Francisca, Amooko Malcom, Catherine, Norma, Uncle Ally, Uncle Rodrigo and Maria Lee – their respected families and so many others.

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