Aparecida Vilaça gives a fascinating look at the Wari’ people’s perception of the body and its place within the larger world. The Amazonian community’s view of humanity is fluid and can extend to other animals based on context and perception. Vilaça uses a story about a jaguar who poses as a girl’s mother to illustrate this belief. The term “wari” which means we/people is defined in opposition to game animals. However, some of those animals can also be predators, in which case they are considered human. On the flip side of this humans can be animals as well. Their conception of the soul is not, like the European view, something fixed, but rather something unstable and transformative, which must be controlled. This applies to shamans especially as they are able to see the souls of other animals, which are often changing. She notes how some jaguar attacks are actually shamans, who were seen as jaguars by victims.
While there may not be an obvious connection to issues of development and economics Vilaça’s article is important in understanding a different way to view the human-environment connection. Development projects generally come out of a specific culture which views nature and humans as inhabiting two separate spheres. However, as Vilaça shows this is not a universal framework. Standard Western economic conceptions would not make sense here. This is not to say one view is necessarily better than the other; rather any conception of economic development or quality of life must be understood within the cultural context.
- Vilaça, Aparecida. “Chronically unstable bodies: reflections on Amazonian corporalities.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 11.3 (2005): 445-464.