The wander women: some thoughts about gender in Amazonia

Journal article

Based on my ethnographic research with the Jarawara, speakers of an Arawá language inhabiting the middle course of the Purus River in Brazilian Amazonia, this article explores how a particular notion of the agency of Jarawara women may be linked to dream activity and shamanic knowledge. I examine the festival held when girls emerge from their seclusion at menarche, the mariná ‘ritual' and its effects on the composition of a ‘takeable' agent. The idea explored here is that ‘sleepiness' (nokobisa), ‘tiredness' (mama) and ‘beauty' (amosa) are forms of ritual action that aim to develop (or better, draw out) the capacity of women's bodies to be ‘takeable' (towakama) or ‘carriable' (weyena). This capacity is also associated with shamans. Through this exploration of the Jarawara ‘female initiation ritual', I also question the public/domestic and man/woman dichotomies.

Authors: Maizza, F

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Anthropological Society of Oxford
• Journal: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Online
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 136-156
• Publication date: 2018-01-01
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-konorm9qj
• ISSN: 2040-1876
• Language: English
• Keywords: effects; gender; agency; JASO; initiation ritual; indigenous women; Amazonia; knowledge