Co-ecology of Jotï, Primates, and Other People: A Multispecies Ethnography in the Venezuelan Guayana

Zent, Stanford; Zent, Egleé L.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-27504-4_8

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Here, Ijtö and Ilę, a Jotï couple, consider the saki (Chiropotes chiropotes), as well as other living entities, as their paradigmatic equals. This view is consistent with the Jotï relational multispecies universe which permeates daily life dynamics (Zent and Zent 2020), asserting their common ancestry with other-than-human-persons, including specific Amazonian trees (see below).…”

Section: Perspectivessupporting

confidence: 73%

Trekking the Amazon with Love and Care

Zent

Jtute³

et al. 2022

EBL

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This essay highlights the philosophical views of the Jotï, an Indigenous group from the Venezuelan Amazon. Daily Jotï behaviors are embraced by a notion of life in which everything is interconnected (mana jtïdemame) and should be respected given its sacredness (jkïmañe). Furthermore, life is in perennial movement (jkeibïae dekae) and is designed to be carried out together in groups (uliyena majadïka). The maintenance of life is related to engaging in solidarity, reciprocity, and amicability (me madöna), with these values being the key metaphor for hunting-gathering-farming-fishing rather than predation. The universe is populated by a myriad of entities with unique capacities, volitions, and motivations (budëkïmade)—like those of people, regardless of their nonhuman appearances—evidence that the universe’s inherent condition is subjective, and all life forms originated from the same root. Likewise, no landscape or life form is pristine or final; instead, everything is potentially subject to ceaseless transformation (jka ojtali ~ jkabaemade). Those reasons provide the basis for why every person should strive for righteousness (nï jti maudöna), endeavoring to be morally good and practicing love-care with all that surrounds us (jkyo jkwainï). Love-care is the translation of a praxis considered an innate essential constituent of all persons. It is also the fundamental strategy to sustain and protect life. Given that nothing prevents a person anywhere in the world from embracing love and care as their life motto while struggling to prevent the current path of destruction of the Earth, the enactment of love-care is an endless possibility regardless of location or time.

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Section: Perspectivessupporting

confidence: 73%

Trekking the Amazon with Love and Care

Zent

Jtute³

et al. 2022

EBL

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“…The conservation of non-human primates is an objective that requires theoretical and methodological frameworks that go beyond the dictates of disciplines such as Conservation Biology [ 86 ]. From the humanities, epistemic concepts such as “post humanism” have been proposed as an attempt to include non-human beings in the social sciences and humanities [ 87 , 88 ], or the so-called “multispecies ethnographies”, that pose a blurring of the ontological line between human and nature [ 89 ]. For Robinson and Remis (2018) [ 86 ], multispecies ethnography can foster a more holistic and transdisciplinary research, and a framework that allows highlighting the wide and intricate networks in which primates, humans and non-humans, as well as other organisms coexist and interact.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ethnoprimatologists have been exploring holistic paths, for example promoting a common field of intersection between anthropology and primatology for biological and cultural conservation [ 7 , 91 ]; and also recognizing the blurring boundaries between primates and humans through the deep understanding of culturally complex relationships among indigenous peoples [ 17 , 92 ]. There are also multiple examples of current transdisciplinary research in ethnoprimatology that go from collaborative research among anthropologists, biologists, and indigenous peoples [ 9 ], the interpretation of ancestral codes, values, and links in the collective unconscious of people for conservation [ 93 ] to the understanding of primates as “other-than human persons” from a cognitive point of view [ 94 ] or from a multispecies perspective [ 89 ]. Finally, as we find in this study, quantitative ethnoprimatology, particularly cultural significance indexes, provides an analytical framework for synthesizing information and patterns across socio-ecological systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Primate Cultural Significance Index: applications with Popoluca Indigenous people at Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve

Pinto-Marroquin

Aristizabal

Valle

et al. 2021

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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Background The study of the cultural significance (CS) of biodiversity provides key information to develop conservation strategies consistent with traditions and perceptions of human communities. In Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve (TBR) in Mexico, the mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata mexicana) and the black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi vellerosus) have historically coexisted with Popoluca Indigenous Peoples. This study sought to determine how the presence of a natural protected area (TBR location) and a range of sociodemographic factors (gender, age, origin, language proficiency, education level, religion) relate to the CS held by the Popoluca Indigenous People in relation to these two endangered primate species. Methods The first Primate Cultural Significance Index (PCSI) was designed as a composed index of 11 cultural variables (sub-indices) and was applied randomly to a representative size sample of people over 15 years old in two Popolucas communities, one within the TBR (Piedra Labrada = 81 people) and another outside (Los Mangos = 91). U Mann–Whitney tests were used to compare the PCSI between communities and Generalized Linear Models (GLM) to evaluate the sociodemographic factors of participants that influenced the sub-indices in the PCSI. Results The cultural significance of spider monkeys held by the Popolucas was higher for the community within the TBR than for the community outside, while for howler monkeys it was higher outside. For both primate species across the two communities, the most relevant sub-indices were (1) interest in conservation and (2) touristic significance of primates. Sociodemographic factors of participants influenced nine sub-indices of cultural significance out of the possible 10 sub-indices applied for each primate species. The demographic factors that most influenced each sub-index for both species were location and gender. Conclusions The main differences found between communities may be linked to the conservation and sustainable development programs promoted by the reserve, as well as the greater persistence of Popolucan ancestral traditions within the boundaries of the reserve. We recommend that conservation efforts should focus on people less interested about primate conservation (women, non-natives and residents outside the reserve), and turn to the leadership of people more interested (native men who reside inside the reserve).

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“…The qualities of resistance and lightness are appreciated in dishes and storage vessels made of bamboo (see also Davis & Yost, 1983;Zent & Zent, 2020). Even if not familiar to our study area, bamboo culms are occasionally used in construction to make house walls.…”

Section: Bamboo As a Source Of Nutrition Water And Cultural Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Guadua Bamboo in Land Management and Indigenous Perspectives on Bamboo Ecosystems in Southwestern Amazonia

Virtanen

Apurinã²,

Ruokolainen³

et al. 2022

Hum Ecol

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We examine the Indigenous uses, oral histories, and knowledge of native Guadua bamboo species in southwestern Amazonia. Two Guadua species form dense stands in which individual plants die en masse at regular intervals of about 28 years. Scholars suggested that pre-colonial earth builders took advantage of these die-off events as a natural aid in removing the forest to construct geometric earthworks. Our results show that Guadua species have a significant position in Indigenous socio-cosmologies, land use, and as a protector of diverse resources. Indigenous ontological understandings cannot be separated from discussions of the abundance and geographical distribution of Guadua as a critical controlling factor in the vegetation structure and function of southwestern Amazonian rain forests. Furthermore, oral histories point to the connection between land management and bamboo, as well as bamboo and the use of fire, conforming to the suggestion of opening ceremonial spaces in bamboo patches in pre-colonial earthwork societies.

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Co-ecology of Jotï, Primates, and Other People: A Multispecies Ethnography in the Venezuelan Guayana

Cited by 9 publications

References 21 publications

Trekking the Amazon with Love and Care

Trekking the Amazon with Love and Care

The Primate Cultural Significance Index: applications with Popoluca Indigenous people at Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve

The Role of Guadua Bamboo in Land Management and Indigenous Perspectives on Bamboo Ecosystems in Southwestern Amazonia

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