Mountains as actors in the Bolivian Andes: The interrelationship between politics and ritual in the Kallawaya ayllus

Abstract

This essay will examine the way that a Bolivian Andean people, the Kallawayas, incorporate mountains—seen as beings with agency in their own right—into their structure of kinship and politics. The Kallawayas interpret mountains as inhabited by ancestral spirits, who are incorporated into the local political structure as authorities. This understanding of the mountains denies the Western separation of politics and nature. I follow de la Cadena (2014) in positing mountain spirits, known as machulas, and humans, known as runa, as mutually constituting one another within the socio-territorial space of the ayllu. In this space nature and politics are not divided but intertwined. However, the political organisation of the Kallawaya communities has undergone profound changes in recent decades that have affected the ritual relationship between the Kallawayas and the mountain spirits. The manner in which Kallawayas incorporate their ancestors as authorities therefore provides evidence for the propensity of ritual to reflect social structure.

Culture-bound syndromes in migratory contexts: the case of Bolivian immigrants

“…The loss of the main psychic element, “ ajayu ”, involves the death of the individual. On the other hand, if other psychic elements (“essence”, “courage” or “spirit”) that play a secondary role in the vital force of the individual are lost, the individual would suffer from a condition with a very confusing symptomatology 18 , which can be treated using appropriated ritual practices 19 . …”

“…The different ways of healing the “ fright ” in the Bolivian plateau include the intake of medicinal plants 20 and “to call of the lost soul”, which is made through rituals of offerings (made by yampiris or yatiris ) or through the “white table”, performed by the kallawayas , who play other roles in the traditional Andean medicine 19 .…”

The Houses That Evo Built: Autonomy, Vivir bien, and Viviendas in Bolivia

“…Elsewhere (Alderman, 2015) I have described the Kallawaya conception of the mountain deities as occupying positions in a hierarchy of political authority over Kallawaya communities. This chain of authority represents what Allen (1997: 81) calls "synechdochal thinking," which "comprehends the world in terms of mutually enveloping homologous structures that act upon each other; ayllus are contained in ayllus; places are contained within places."…”

“…One does not have to leave the vivienda to go from the bedroom to the kitchen or (in the case of the viviendas estatales) the bathroom, whereas traditional adobe houses in Kallawaya ayllus are built with each room facing a central courtyard that must be crossed to go from one room to another. The courtyard is a space where the extended family typically gathers to eat and to relate to the achachilas through a space for offerings called a kawiltu (see Alderman, 2015;Rösing, 1996b: 164) and where visitors announce themselves at the gate before entering. The sharp architectural distinction between inside and outside externalizes the family's wider social relationships.…”

“…Elsewhere (Alderman, 2016) I have argued that the basis of autonomy for the Kallawayas is a politics in which a relationship with achachilas (local placedeities whose souls reside in the hills and lakes and who control the weather [ (Rösing, 1996a: 150]), acknowledged as political authorities, is central. Here I will argue that the Kallawaya relationship with the state is analogous to that relationship (Gose, 1996;Ramírez, 2005) and that both are maintained through obligations in which debt is created and canceled out on each side.…”