Shamans, Wives, Families: An Isoseño Case Considered Using Turner on Kayapo Dominance and Beauty
Kathleen Lowrey
Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America December 26, 2016 DOI: 10.70845/2572-3626.1241 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Two shamans and their respective wives in Isoso, a Guarani-speaking indigenous community in the Bolivian Chaco |
| Duration | Twenty years of observation |
| Key findings | The author argues that in Isoso a hierarchical Arawakan way of life has been reproduced through feminine submission to a Guarani "egalitarianism" of masculine dominance, and that this dynamic has significant consequences for the biographical trajectories of Isoseño women who become elite grandmothers. The contrasting shamanic practices, marriages, and wives' life trajectories are said to resonate with Isoso's dual nature and historical constitution. |
Abstract
In this essay I describe what I have seen elapse over twenty years in the lives (and sometimes deaths) of two shamans and their respective wives in Isoso, an indigenous community of Guarani-speaking people in the Bolivian Chaco. These shamans’ two different kinds of shamanic practice, their two different sorts of marriage, and the two different life-trajectories of their wives resonate with the dual nature of Isoso itself and its historical constitution. The reproduction of a hierarchical Arawakan way of life through feminine submission to a Guarani “egalitarianism” of masculine dominance has been, I suspect, a dynamic of long standing in Isoso with significant corollaries for the personal biographical trajectories of that persistent fraction of Isoseño women who end up as elite grandmothers. Aspects of Terence Turner’s analyses of the ways that the values of “dominance” and “beauty” function in Kayapo society are applied in this different ethnographic context to help to elucidate the dynamics in play. En este ensayo describo lo que he visto transcurrir durante veinte años en las vidas (y a veces en las muertes) de dos chamanes y sus respectivas esposas en Isoso, una comunidad indígena de personas de habla guaraní en el Chaco boliviano. Los dos tipos diferentes de práctica chamánica de estos chamanes, sus dos tipos diferentes de matrimonio y las dos trayectorias de vida diferentes de sus esposas, resuenan con la naturaleza doble de Isoso misma y su constitución histórica. La reproducción de un estilo de vida arawaco jerárquico a través de la sumisión femenina a un ‘igualitarismo’ guaraní de dominación masculina ha sido, sospecho, una dinámica de larga data en Isoso, con corolarios significativos para las trayectorias biográficas personales de esa fracción persistente de mujeres isoseñas, quienes terminan siendo como abuelas de élite. Aspectos del análisis de Terence Turner, acerca de las maneras en que los valores de ‘dominancia’ y ‘belleza’ funcionan en la sociedad kayapo, son aplicados en este contexto etnográfico diferente para ayudar a dilucidar la dinámica en juego.