Mapping the Sacred Landscape of the Ashaninka

• Applicant: Dr. Cristiana Bertazoni Martins, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 510844672

Usually, the academic disciplines devoted to study the South American indigenous past have understood Andes and Amazonia as two different cultural areas. This approach has created an image of these two regions as almost entirely independent from each other. Sometimes even projecting an image of a complete separation between them. However, in the past few years, dissident voices coming from many disciplines have been suggesting that, albeit some clear differences exist between both areas, there are significant historical connections between Andes and Amazonia since pre-Columbian times. Whatever the nature and intensity of these interactions between Incas and western Amazonian groups, they were materialized in both Inca and Antis material culture and cosmology. Examples of this include the painted Inca colonial wooden beakers (keros) where one can see several images of war scenes between Incas and Amazonians; in the early colonial Quechua document Huarochirí Manuscript; the annual festivity of Qoyllur R’iti; or in the theater play Apu Ollantay. Still today one can find references about the Incas in the mythologies of several western Amazonian groups such as e.g. the Ashaninka as well as the Pano speaking Kaxinawá (Huni Kui) and Shipibo-Conibo. Most importantly and central for this project, there is growing evidence that these interactions between Incas and western Amazonian indigenous groups were also materialized in their landscape where both the Incas and Southern Arawak sacred sites often overlapped, suggesting that, cosmologically, the geographical sphere of influence of Andeans and Amazonians was more entangled than previously supposed. Through an analysis based on the concept of longue durée, this project intends to address this issue via a collaborative anthropology study case with the Ashaninka Apiwtxa community of Brazil. In summary, the main objectives of this project are twofold. Firstly, by mapping the sacred landscape of the Ashaninka, it aims to contribute to rethinking the Andes-Amazonia ‘divide’ through a study case that investigates Ashaninka perception of territoriality. In order to approach this topic in a comprehensive manner, a reevaluation of other partitions (e.g. the division between Inca history and Amazonian anthropology, nature and culture, humans and non-humans as well as western and non-western production of knowledge) seems appropriate and even obligatory. For that, the project aims to make use of the recent discussions regarding indigenous ontologies, especially the role of non-human subjects in Amerindian thought and philosophy. Secondly, by doing collaborative anthropology together with the Apiwtxa Community of Brazil, it intends to offer a contribution to the collaborative anthropology debate, both theoretically and methodologically.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Brazil
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Karoline Noack
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. José Antonio Vieira Pimenta, Ph.D.