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The myth of the Amazon woman in Latin American literatures and cultures. Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Dewey, Janice Laraine. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 18:06:32 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/185579 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may / be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. V·M·I University Microfilms International A Beil & Howell Information Company 300 ~~orth Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800,521-0600 Order Number 9200030 The myth of the Amazon woman in Latin American literatures and cultures Dewey, Janice Laraine, Ph.D. The University of Arizona, 1991 Copyright ®1991 by Dewey, Janice Laraine. All rights reserved. V·M·I 300 N. Zccb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 1 THE MYTH OF THE AMAZON WOMAN IN LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURES AND CULTURES by Janice Laraine Dewey Copyright © Janice Laraine Dewey 1991 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 199 1 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination CORUlli ttee, we certify that we ha.ITe read the dissertation prepared by Janice L. Dewey entitled The Myth of the Amazon Woman in Latin American Literatures ana Cultures and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date Susan Aiken Date ~M.-(~ Dat(' _~1/?/ Date ~I~----------------- Eliana S. Rivero Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation Riveco Date I I Barbara A. Babcock Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Request for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED~~ k~ aLry 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank a number of people for their immeasurable assistance throughout the process that has enabled my completion of this degree. The Latin American Area Center of the University of Arizona and the Tinker Foundation awarded me a generous grant for research in the highlands and rain forests of Peru and Brazil. Once there, the library and photocopy services of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, in Pucallpa, Peru, proved invaluable. Professor R. C. Allen enthusiastically encouraged my thinking on this subject during the early stages. Directors Eliana Rivero, Barbara Babcock, and readers Susan Aiken, Ingeborg Kohn, and Charles Tatum, comprised the superb scholarly committee that has guided, supported, and assisted this study through numerous twists and turns. My friends Terry Loucks, Cynthia Hogue, John Schafer, Nancy Sternbach, Maureen Shea, and Kate Gilbert never doubted my efforts nor ceased to support my process during years of research and writing. Cindy Lovely photographed the beautiful color slides used for the oral defense of this dissertation, and Publications Specialist Pat Broyles processed the final copy with amazing speed and expertise. My mother, Marcella Walbridge Dewey, partner and first reader Reggie Winter, and animal companions c., I., M., C., and A. have surrounded me with their love throughout hardships and triumphs. lowe all of the above as well as the native Andean peoples and members of the Yagua, Witoto, and Shipibo tribes my deep and heartfelt gratitude. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . .. 7 ABSTRACf ............................................... 9 INTRODUCfION ......................................... 11 1. AMAZON ARMS: EMBRACING THE MYTH .................. 15 A Reconstruction of My First Tape-Recorded Interview ............... 24 Reconstruction Number Two: Later the Same Day . 28 Machu Picchu---1985 . 31 Another Time and Place in the Jungle . .. 49 First Night in the Jungle ...................................... 51 Tall Women in Bronze ....................................... 59 2. THE AMAZON LEGEND AND FOLK NARRATIVES OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN RAIN FOREST ................... 61 New World Amazons ........................................ 68 The Iamuricuma Women and the Jakuf: Women and Men Fight for Possession of the Jakui ............................. 74 The Tree Maiden's Farewell ................................... 77 Notes .................................................... 80 3. THE TRIBAL MAZE OF AMAZONS . .. 85 Prehistory and the South American Rain Forest .................... 99 A Maze of Amazons ........................................ 103 The Cupendia Amazons ..................................... 110 Notes ................................................... 113 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page 4. CONCLUSION ............................................ 119 Ecotextuality: Amazons, Amazonia and the Torrid Zone . .. 119 The Hymenoptera . .. 122 Tall and Big .............................................. 131 Belt of the Torrid Zone ..................................... 133 Ecotextuality . .. 139 Notes ................................................... 143 WORKS CITED.. ..................... ................... 147 WORKS CONSULTED.................................... 154 7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1 Wonder Woman, DC Comic, no. 263, January, 1980. "The Power and the Pampas," Cover . 66 2 Wonder Woman, DC Comic, no. 264, February, 1980. "A Bomb in the Bird is Worth Two in the Band," p. 3 ................... 67 3 "Dancers of Tlatilco," (average height 11 cm.) and "Three-eyed figure," ca. 1700-1300 Be. Museo Nacional de Antropologfa e Historia de Mexico. In Bradley Smith, Mexico: A Histon' in Art (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968), 22-23, 18 ........... 91 4 (a) Late Minoan III (ca. 1300-1100 BC) sar~ophagus from western Crete. "One of the most beautifully executed sarcophagi housed in the Khania Museum features panels of sacred horns with rising butterflies, shells, and buds. The motifs are duplicated, triplicated, and multiplicated, placed in horizontal and vertical bands. The whole composition is graceful and joyous. Life-reaffirming columns rise as buds, shells, or replicated bull-horn/butterfly motifs." Marija Gimbutas, The Language of the Goddess, (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989), 274 ..... 95 (b) Typology of double-axe-shaped butterfly from Mycenaean vases of Late Helladic (ca. 15000) period. Gimbutas, 275 ........ 96 (c) On a Late Minoan vase from Mochlos, Crete, the Deity is represented as half-woman/half-butterfly, with a stem-like columnar body, upraised arms, and butterfly wings. Gimbutas, 274 ......................................... 96 5 (a) Abrigo do Sol archeological site, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Female triangle or "delta" signs and foot carvings. In Jesco von Puttkamer, "Man in the Amazon: Stone Age Present Meets Stone Age Past," National Geographic, January, 1979, 78 ........ 101 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Continued) Figure Page (b) Abrigo do Sol site. According to present-day Wasusu group of the N ambikwara tribe, this petroglyph represents the sacred flute house. von Puttkamer, 82 ........................... 102 (c) Abrigo do Sol site. Decorated rock with ubiquitous female signs and cup and groove marks. von Puttkamer, 77 ............ 102 6 "The Goddess as bee has two sets of bull horns and a double-axe-shaped butterfly. The winged dogs that flank her reinforce the theme of becoming." Late Minoan II (Knossos, Crete;