The soul's body and its states: An Amazonian perspective on the nature of being human

Journal/Book: J Roy Anthropol Inst. 1996; 2: 50 Fitzroy Street, London, England W1P 5HS. Royal Anthropological Inst. 201-215.

Abstract: This article begins by exploring some of the premisses concerning personhood, sociality and mortality underlying the experience and representation of self in Jivaroan Achuar culture. Although inexplicit and seemingly contradictory, these assumptions combine to produce an intricate though unspoken theory of what is implied in being a true, live human. Jivaroan sense of self is rooted in the progressive fusion of a generic, given bodily form and of attributed perception of this same bodily form; the initially anonymous body image is thus progressively singularized by the memory of the affective moods experienced in daily social interaction. Achuar selfhood is therefore susceptible to states of weakness and uncertainty, categorized as induced illness, as well as to states of enhancement brought on by communication with a certain category of spirits. The interactive basis of the set of representations concerning selfhood leads the author to discuss traditional anthropological ways of dealing with indigenous ideas, and to suggest an approach more attentive to the contextualization of knowledge.

Note: Article AC Taylor, Erea CNRS, BP 8, 7 Rue Guy Moquet, F-94801 Villejuif, France

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