Bold jaguars and unsuspecting monkeys: the value of fearlessness in Cofán politics

Author: Cepek, MichaelL.

Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Volume 14, Number 2, June 2008 , pp. 334-352(19)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

In their encounters with a globalizing political landscape, indigenous peoples enact and transform long-standing social relations. This article explores the struggle of Amazonian Ecuador's Cofán people to relate their socio-existential values to the challenges of political mobilization. I argue that distinct conceptions of `fearlessness' structure the complex relationship between the majority of Cofán people and those morally ambivalent individuals, including shamans and federation leaders, who mediate the threats posed by impinging sources of violent difference. By employing a value-based approach to analyse this relationship, I seek to connect studies of indigenous social movements to investigations of indigenous socio-cosmological orders. Résumé

Dans leur rencontre avec un paysage politique globalisé, les peuples autochtones pratiquent et transforment des relations sociales anciennes. L'auteur explore ici les efforts des Cofán d'Amazonie équatorienne pour lier leurs valeurs socio-existentielles aux défis de la mobilisation politique. Il avance que différentes conceptions de « l'intrépidité » structurent les relations complexes entre la majorité des Cofán et les individus moralement ambivalents, notamment les chamans et les chefs de fédération, médiateurs des menaces exercées par les sources de différence violente. En utilisant une approche basée sur la valeur pour analyser cette relation, l'article cherche à faire le lien entre les études des mouvements sociaux autochtones et les investigations des ordres socio-cosmologiques indigènes.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2008.00505.x

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