Resumen
El presente artículo explora un caso de aprendizaje de la burocracia venezolana, que los Sanema experimentan a través de su participación en los proyectos sociales de la Revolución Bolivariana de Chávez. Este análisis se enfoca en la capacidad de maniobra que genera el papeleo burocrático, y contribuye a la comprensión de las formas de movilidad y la experiencia del Estado de manera somática en la Amazonía contemporánea. Los nuevos patrones de movimiento que involucran un desplazamiento hacia y desde las ciudades, los trámites cotidianos y maniobras efectuadas en diversas esferas sociales, no solo deben entenderse en relación con el Estado y su omnipresencia burocrática, sino también como prácticas congruentes con las costumbres tradicionales de ‘viajar en busca de conocimiento’ que involucran un vínculo estrecho entre movilidad física y social. Así, los Sanema utilizan la experiencia burocrática adquirida en este ambiente político para conseguir sus propios objetivos, en lugar de aquellos del Estado.
This article explores the nature of inter‐ethnic asymmetry and the dynamic of long‐term dependence in Amazonia. Drawing on the case of the Sanema and their neighbouring Ye'kwana, it seeks to gain a deeper understanding of submission and indebtedness with a view to rethinking where the power might lie in such relationships. The association between the two groups, I argue, is motivated by the Sanema's pursuit of manufactured items, access to which the Ye'kwana had historically monopolized. The dynamic entered into in order to procure these goods is one of voluntary deference on the part of the Sanema, a demeanour that is actively pursued because it enables morally valued autonomy and a freedom from ongoing reciprocity. I conclude that this ‘submissive extraction’ can offer new perspectives on the relationship between debt, predation, and freedom.
Energy is far more than a resource exploited by states and corporations. Yet, at the level of consumption it is generally thought to be a difficult phenomenon to examine because it is so familiar that we barely notice its role in our lives; or at the very least, its production becomes obscured by this pragmatic daily engagement. The other side to the story – the one in which energy is a provision distributed to and experienced by people in intimate and unanticipated ways — is distinctly perceptible in locales like the Amazon rain forest where conventional energy provisions are absent. This essay explores how everyday encounters with gasoline offer insights into ethical judgements among the Sanema of Venezuelan Amazonia. The fuel is so pervasive that it is increasingly present in numerous facets of daily life, including gold mining, dilemmas of kinship, the animist world of vengeful spirit masters, and ethically infused rumours of disaster. Being a volatile substance – simultaneously vaporous, explosive, narcotic, and caustic – gasoline is also a vital entity that holds a particularly intriguing place in the Sanema's understanding of personhood and ethics. Indeed, its mysterious and unsettling qualities cause it to become entangled within a composite form of ethics that defines Sanema social worlds.
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