University of Virginia doctoral candidate Lucas de Carvalho, under the direction of Dr. George Mentore, will undertake research on Amerindian-state relations. In many parts of the world, there have been longstanding conflicts between governments and indigenous people. This research will explore how these misunderstandings emerge through a divergence between government practices and indigenous religious and cultural beliefs. The researcher will conduct ethnographic data collection on an indigenous group of people who live in the Amazonian rainforest in Guyana. He seeks to understand the models used to conceptualize the government and their role in social and political life. The research has the potential to transform the way that anthropologists and other social scientists have theorized the nation-state and governance. The researcher's existing relationship to this indigenous group enables him to engage in innovative methods of data collection such as highly immersive participant observation that afford him to access information that has eluded previous anthropological inquiry. More broadly, the research will improve anthropological understandings of social and political organization and the role of religion in social life. The project will have broader social impacts by providing both indigenous peoples and government officials with useful models for understanding the cross-cultural dissidence and political conflict. The research will also influence development practice, particularly in the context of health initiatives. Finally, the research would also broaden the participation of an under-represented group.
This research looked at the ways in which the Makushi people of Guyana and Brazil, South America interact with their respective national governments. The research found that the indigenous peoples and communities in the tri-border area of Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela use the logic of shamanic thought, not only to interact with government representatives, but also to conceptualize what government, the nation, and the state are. This point is relevant because indigenous peoples and the largely non-indigenous peoples who run the state apparatus may be using the same terminology to interact, but with significantly different meanings. Shamans are the ones trained to deal and interact with extreme alterity in Makushi culture . That is, they interact with "others" who are significantly different from themselves, such as the dead, spirits, forest animals, mythological creatures, rivers, lakes, ponds, mountains, etc. Shamans can interact directly with the entities they call upon. Shamans can use plants, animal parts, and special words to motivate the entity to cooperate and to do what is wanted of it. The Makushi people use this logic when thinking about and interacting with the state/government. The government agencies with which they have the most contact are seen as powerful alterities from whom people can draw resources. Therefore, individuals engage in shamanic practices to lead a governmental agency to do what they want it to do in civil, judicial, or administrative processes. For example, when applying for civil documentation, there are many plants that can be used for documents arrive faster and in order. When traveling to nearby towns, there are plants that make the traveler invisible to police. There are other plants that protect whoever wears them from police mistreatment. When traveling to the neighboring countries, incantations facilitate entry into the other country. Once across the border, there are other plants and incantations that help with the immigration process. The research findings are very important for domestic and international policy. It also raises an issue that is often forgotten by many countries: that indigenous peoples have been occupying the territory prior to the definitions of national lines. The Makushi people, for example, were and are semi-nomadic, occupying what today comprises parts of Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela. The indigenous groups and peoples in the region still move around, but now they have to deal with three specific sovereign governments. Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela all have their own legal bodies regarding indigenous peoples, however they only address the indigenous peoples within their national limits. The internal structures fail to recognize that many of the indigenous groups in the border region have contingents in the neighboring countries. The situation of indigenous peoples who live in international border regions can be better addressed as a result of the research findings, not only in South America but elsewhere as well. The creation of specific policies towards indigenous peoples’ movement across borders may be possible without compromising cultural continuity. Moreover, representatives of governmental organizations who interact with indigenous peoples can be trained to understand the ways in which indigenous communities conceive of the state and government. This could dramatically reduce misunderstandings and dissidence between indigenous peoples and government representatives. Also, by understanding the logic of shamanic thought, social programs and policies designed to benefit indigenous people can be fine-tuned to be pmore successful and effective.
