Keywords
Spirtis
Relations
Achuar
How to Cite
Abstract
Although most Jivaroan Indians no longer dress in a traditional way, many of them still insist on wearing face painting. The aim of this article is to explain the reasons for the persistence of this practice, by relating body painting to the construction of a certain form of identity. The author shows that the painted motifs index a complex relational figure that ritually condenses two sorts of agonistic rapport: that between a man and his equals (i.e., other adult male Jivaro), and that between a live male human and a dead person encountered in the course of a drug-induced vision quest. This configuration forms the basis for a type of sharply individualised and highly confrontational selfhood that is held to be specifically Jivaroan.
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