BORA - UiBBORA
    • English
    • norsk
  • English 
    • English
    • norsk
  • Login
View Item 
  •   BORA Home
  • Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Department of Social Anthropology
  • Department of Social Anthropology
  • View Item
  •   BORA Home
  • Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Department of Social Anthropology
  • Department of Social Anthropology
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Garden metaphysics: Myth and Ritual among the Awajun People of the Peruvian High Jungle

Type
Master thesis
Not peer reviewed
Thumbnail
View/Open
master thesis (2.444Mb)
Date
2019-09-21
Author
Vedal, Nils Haukeland
Share

Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
This master thesis explores the intricate ways in which the Awajun people of the Peruvian high jungle practice subsistence gardening. The Awajun garden comprises a dazzling display of flora heterogeneity, though the most important cultigen found in the garden is the sweet manioc, Awajun staple food.This root crop is surrounded by myths and rituals that give the garden a social character. Under special circumstances, notably during planting and harvesting, the manioc plants in the garden reveal their otherwise hidden human-like qualities. This potentializes communication between the Awajun horticulturalists and their plants. This relationship is realised by use of the transformative properties of different incarnations called anen. By use of these songs the Awajun gardener is able to, not only potentialize the non-evident humanity of her plant, but also to adopt the perspective of the mythical figure Nugkui, the master and mother of cultivated plants. By positioning herself in this way, the Awajun gardener nurtures her plants like a mother fosters her children through the dangers of the world. For the Awajun people, the garden is a realm in which the relations vowed between humans and plants make up a symbiotic circle based on co-dependency and nurture. Before reaching these focal points, the first part of this thesis will explore the general ecology of the Awajun garden, its sociality and historical change. Broader changesto their society will also be discussed.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1956/20884
Publisher
The University of Bergen
Collections
  • Department of Social Anthropology 235
Copyright the Author. All rights reserved

University of Bergen Library
Contact Us | Send Feedback
 

 

Browse

All of BORACommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

My Account

LoginRegister

Statistics

View Usage Statistics

University of Bergen Library
Contact Us | Send Feedback