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A Production of Alterity: the Wayãpi of the Upper Oyapock and Isolated Groups

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A Production of Alterity: the Wayãpi of the Upper Oyapock and Isolated Groups A production of alterity: The Wayãpi of the Upper Oyapock and isolated groups Cássio de Figueiredo Azze Supervised by: Dr Emma-Jayne Abbots Submitted in partial fulfilment for the award of a Degree of Master of Research University of Wales Trinity Saint David 2018 Declaration Page Declaration: This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed......................................................................(candidate) 18th December 2018 Date ........................................................................ STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed......................................................................(candidate) 18th December 2018 Date ........................................................................ STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed......................................................................(candidate) 18th December 2018 Date ........................................................................ STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for deposit in the University’s digital repository. Signed......................................................................(candidate) 18th December 2018 Date ........................................................................ NB: Candidates on whose behalf a bar on access has been approved by the University, should use the following version of Statement 2: I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access approved by the University of Wales on the special recommendation of the Member Institution concerned. Signed......................................................................(candidate) Date ........................................................................ 2 « Civilisé » lamũ siko mano lemẽ nasikoi ãĩngo olo’e luwã, nimanoaãĩ te kɨ’ɨ. Manokuwa puwĩ a’e lupi yaiko lemẽ niyakãyɨĩ kuwa puwĩ ? The question is not whether one wishes, or not, to become “civilised”, we have no longer the choice. Isn’t the real question “how not to get lost on the way”? Kawa (in Dewever-Plana 2017, p. 31) I dedicate this study to all Amerindians who were more or less force-contacted by Brazilian and French authorities, and who ended up succumbing to the strains of the Whites’ World. I also think of their children who became orphans at an early age, and many of whom have chosen to follow their parents in their search for relief. 3 Acknowledgement I would first like to thank the Wayãpi of the Upper Oyapock River for their trust and friendship, and particularly Pi’a Kalɨlu for the fraternal bond that exists between us. You will always have a special place in my life. In addition, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Emma-Jayne Abbots, for her invaluable guidance during my studies, Professor Bettina Schmidt for her final review of this work, and Dr Claudia Augustat for her friendship and encouragement since my first steps in anthropology. I would also like to thank Pierre and Françoise Grenand for their help, particularly concerning the Wayãpi ethnohistory, and for their help in general. Finally, I would like to thank all those who love me for their support. 4 Summary Abstract 7 Chapter 1 Introduction 8 Chapter 2 Methodology 16 i: About my choice of undertaking qualitative research 16 ii: Data collection 18 iii: The interviews with the Wayãpi 24 iv: Limitations of the chosen methods 25 Chapter 3 Literature review – Alterity and Ontologies 27 i: Alterity 28 ii: Ontologies 35 iii: Animism 39 iv: Totemism 39 v: Analogism 40 vi: Naturalism 41 Chapter 4 Social and historical context – How the Wayãpi discern the presence of isolated groups 44 i: Isolated Amerindians in general 47 ii: How the Wayãpi discern the presence of isolated Amerindian groups 50 iii: Zone 1 - Igarapés Ɨpɨsĩ and Yalupi 52 iv: Zone 2 - Igarapés Walapululɨ, Kalaɨ’kwa, Mɨtũla and Yengalalɨ, as well as the Northeast of the Terra Indígena Wajãpi (TIW) 58 v: Zone 3 - The headwaters of the Oyapock River; igarapés Pirawiri and Curuapi, as well as the Culari, Kuu and Upper Ipitinga rivers 74 Chapter 5 An analysis of alterity production 93 i: The Wayãpi’s human/plant relationships 94 ii: The Wayãpi’s human/animal relationships 96 iii: The Wayãpi’s human/spirit (or Demiurge) relationships 102 iv: The Wayãpi’s human/human relationships 103 v: The Wayãpi’s relationships with the isolated groups 108 Chapter 6 Conclusion 116 Appendices Appendix A Summary of the literature and the Wayãpi’s discourse on isolated Amerindians living near the Franco-Brazilian Border. 120 Appendix B The Wayãpi production of alterity vis-à-vis the unknown or isolated Amerindians. 125 Appendix C Lexicon of Amerindian words 127 Abbreviations 6 List of figures 6 Bibliography 130 5 Abbreviations FUNAI Fundação Nacional do Índio ILO International Labour Organisation PAG Parc Amazonien de Guyane SPI Serviço de Proteção ao Índio TIW Terra Indígena Wajãpi ZDUC Zone de Droit d’Usage Collectif List of Figures Figure Page 1 The Wayãpi village of Ɨtu Wasu, Upper Oyapock River. 14 2 Aerial view of the Wayãpi villages in the area of Ɨtu Wasu, Upper Oyapock River. 15 3 Young Wayãpi recruited by the French ‘Adapted Military Regiment’. 47 4 Recently cut branches attributed to isolated groups to mark a hunting path. 90 5 The Wayãpi’s main inhabited lands. 93 6 The Ɨtu Wasu Rapids, Upper Oyapock River. 119 6 Abstract This study was carried out amongst the Wayãpi Amerindians of French Guiana, who have been made sedentary by governmental ‘francisation’ policies since the 1970s. Based on geographic location, ethnohistorical literature and Ameridian discourse, it proposes the definition of three “zones” near the Franco-Brazilian border which could potentially be inhabited by isolated or unknown Amerindians. Reviewing concepts of alterity and ontologies (Descola 2013), as well as Amerindian discourse on isolated groups, it identifies the foundational elements present in the Wayãpi’s alterity production processes concerning the isolated groups in the Upper Oyapock River region. It distinguishes six categories of elements the Wayãpi resort to when producing alterity vis-à-vis the isolated groups. It concludes that this alterity production happens predominantly within naturalism, with only a few cases of animism. This research contributes to a better understanding not only of sociality in general, but also of sociocosmological patterns in Lowland South America. Furthermore, ascertaining how the sedentary Wayãpi see the isolated groups and how this alterity is constructed may help to determine whether the legal right of the isolated group to remain isolated (right of self-determination) is in danger. 7 Chapter 1 Introduction “If [...] ethnologists have a feeling of admiration mixed with tenderness towards the descendants of these traumatised peoples, it is not due to a nostalgic romanticism or the illusion of a return to purity of origins, as it has sometimes been suggested, but rather as a tribute to the treasures of courage and invention that the Amerindians have been able to deploy in order to rebuild, on the rubble of an old order, forms of a collective existence which we would have hoped that the French administration would respect to their fair value”1. Philippe Descola (1999, p. 307) The Wayãpi Amerindians – also known as Waiãpi, Wajãpi, Wayampi, Oyampik or Oyampi2 – inhabit the French-Brazilian border in the northern Amazon region. Together with the Teko3, they are the two northernmost indigenous peoples speaking a Tupian language. They sustain themselves primarily through fishing, hunting and slash-and-burn agriculture with shifting cultivation. Once referred to as ‘Guaiapy’ in the middle Xingu valley in Central Brazil, where they originate from (Gillen 1948), the Wayãpi later migrated northwards. In the 18th Century, they were reported to be living on the banks of the Amazon River “where the Portuguese wanted to impose on them a reduction4 in villages” (Coudreau 1893, p. 48). Towards the end of the 18th century, they established themselves at the headwaters of the Oyapock River (ibid., p. 48). Engaging in a long war against the Wayana5 Amerindians, they reached the Oyapock 1 “Si […] les ethnologues éprouvent pour les descendants de ces peuples meurtris un sentiment d’admiration mêlé de tendresse, ce n’est pas, comme on l’a dit parfois, par romantisme passéiste ou illusion d’un retour à la pureté des origines, mais en hommage aux trésors de courage et d’invention que les Indiens de la forêt ont su déployer afin de reconstruire sur les décombres d’un ordre ancien des formes d’existence collective dont on souhaite que l’administration française puisse les respecter à leur juste valeur” (Descola 1999, p. 307). 2 Also known in other sources in the past as Guayapi and Uiapii. 3 Also known as Emerillon. A Tupian-speaking Amerindian group. 4 ‘ Reduction’ here means ‘ confinement’. Coudreau (1893, p. 48)’s original words were “où les portugais voulaient les imposer la réduction
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