Donner-Grau Florinda - Shabono (j[1].angielski).pdf - DEVELOPMENT - Descansos

Shabono

A Visit to a Remote and Magical

World in the South American

Rainforest

FLORINDA DONNER-GRAU

Published by

DELACORTE PRESS

1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza

New York, N.Y. 10017

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and

retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except

where permitted by law.

Manufactured in the United States of America

First printing

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Donner, Florinda.

Shabono.

1. Yanomama Indians. I. Title.

PS3554.0534S5 813'.54 81-19422

ISBN 0-440-07828-8 AACR2

FOR THE

FIVE-LEGGED SPIDER

THAT CARRIES ME

ON ITS BACK

Author's Note

The Yanomama Indians, also known in anthropological literature as the

Waika, Shamatari, Barafiri, Shirishana, and Guaharibo, inhabit the most

isolated portion of the border between southern Venezuela and northern

Brazil. It has been roughly estimated that there are between ten and

twenty thousand of them, occupying an area of approximately seven

thousand square miles. This territory encompasses the headwaters of the

Orinoco, Mavaca, Siapo, Ocamo, Padamo, and Ventuari rivers in

Venezuela; and the Uraricoera, Catrimani, Dimini, and Araca rivers in

Brazil.

The Yanomama live in hamlets of palm-thatched dwellings called

shabonos, which are scattered throughout the forest. The number of

individuals residing in each of these widely dispersed hamlets varies

between sixty and a hundred people. Some of the shabonos are located

close to Catholic or Protestant missions or in other areas accessible to the

white man: Others have withdrawn deeper into the jungle. Hamlets still

exist in remote parts of the forest that have not been contacted by

outsiders.

My experience with the Iticoteri, the inhabitants of one of these unknown

shabonos, is what this book is about. It is a subjective account of the

surplus data, so to speak, of anthropological field research I conducted on

curing practices in Venezuela.

The most important part of my training as an anthropologist emphasized

the fact that objectivity is what gives validity to anthropological work. It

happened that throughout my stay with this Yanomama group I did not

keep the distance and detachment required of objective research. Special

links of gratitude and friendship with them made it impossible for me to

interpret facts or draw conclusions from what I witnessed and learned.

Because I am a woman; and because of my physical appearance, and a

certain bent of character, I posed no threat to the Indians. They accepted

me as an amenable oddity, and I was able to fit, if only for a moment in

time, into the peculiar rhythm of their lives.

In my account I have made two alterations of my original notes. The first

has to do with names: The name Iticoteri as well as the names of the

persons portrayed are imaginary.

The second has to do with style: For dramatic effect I have altered the

sequence of events, and for narrative purposes I have rendered

conversations in the proper English syntax and grammatic structure. Had

I literally translated their language, I could not have done justice to its

complexity, flexibility, and its highly poetic and metaphoric expressions.

The versatility of suffixes and prefixes gives the Yanomama language

delicate shades of meaning that have no real equivalent in English.

Donner-Grau Florinda - Shabono (j[1].angielski).pdf

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