People of the water : change and continuity among the Uru-Chipayans of Bolivia / Joseph W. Bastien.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bastien, Joseph William, 1935-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chipaya Indians--Religion.

Chipaya Indians.

Chipaya Indians--Rites and ceremonies.

Chipaya Indians--Social life and customs.

Ethnoecology--Bolivia--Chipaya.

Ethnoecology.

Traditional medicine.

Traditional farming.

Rites and ceremonies.

Bolivia--Chipaya.

Traditional farming--Bolivia--Chipaya.

Traditional medicine--Bolivia--Chipaya.

Chipaya (Bolivia)--Social life and cusotms.

Chipaya (Bolivia).

Physical Description:

xx, 223 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City : University of Utah Press, [2012]

Summary:

People of the Water is an ethnographic analysis of the cultural practices of the Uru-Chipayans-how they have maintained their culture and how they have changed. The Chipayans are an Andean people whose culture predates the time of the Incas (c. AD 1400), but they were almost wiped out by 1940, when only around 400 remained. Yet their population has quadrupled in the last 60 years. Joseph Bastien has spent decades living with and studying the Chipayans, and here for the first time he discusses the dynamics between traditional, social, and religious practices and the impending forces of modernity upon them. He documents with the support of more than 100 illustrations how, in spite of challenges, the Chipayans maintain ecological sustainability through an ecosystem approach that is holistic and symbolically embedded in rituals and customs. Chipayans, who still live in cylindrical and conical shaped huts, have a resilient and innovative culture, maintaining dress, language, hairstyle, rituals, and behavior while also re-creating their culture from a dialectic between themselves and the political, economic, and social world impinging upon them. They remain culturally conservative; they speak Chipayan, classrooms are bilingual (Chipayan and Spanish), teachers are native Chipayans, and they employ the ancient distribution systems for allotment of land, water, and crops. Bastien provides the reader with a series of experienced observations and intimate details of a group of people who strive to maintain their ancient Andean traditions while adapting to modern society. This ethnographic study offers insightful, surprising, and thoughtful conclusions applicable to interpreting the world around us.

Contents:

1 Journey to Santa Ana de Chipaya 9

1 Lorenzo's Cure 38

3 History of Chipayans 54

4 Subsistence and Economy: Ritual, Mythology, and Practice 79

5 People of the Common 107

6 Modernization: Changing Chipayans 119

7 Ayllus Tajata and Tuanta and the Uru-Chipayan Nation 140

8 Inez's Burial 156

9 Fiesta of Santa Ana 171

10 Comparisons and Conclusions: Reinvention of Uru-Chipayan Culture.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-215) and index.

ISBN:

9781607811480

1607811480

OCLC:

774667384