Paper short abstract:

From an Amazonian perspective, being human is a continuous transformative process of becoming. Mythologies, social memory, and related rituals of the indigenous Wayana people provide insight into these dynamic processes and interrelationships with social others, non-humans, and the environment.

Paper long abstract:

During my in-depth anthropological research among the indigenous Wayana people of the Eastern Guiana Highlands (Brazil, Suriname, and French Guiana), I recorded various indigenous narratives that aid in exploring the complex dynamic processes in the flow of life and different ways of bio-psycho-socio-cultural and political constructions of human/humanized life courses in conjunction with specific material-symbolic-eco-relations. Beyond the universals of Lévi-Straussian Structuralism and Viveiros de Castro's Perspectivism, we have to situate Amazonian myths in multiscalar historical processes. Firstly, these mythologies encourage rethinking the Nature/Culture divide, and reconsider the interrelationships between humans and non-humans. Secondly, the moment of narration and ritualized re-enactment provides insight in socialization, social reproduction, and sociopolitical legitimization. Thirdly, while myths, rituals, and habitual practices appear to implement pan-Amazonian universals, they redefine identities embodied and materialized in the processes of interpersonal relationships. Finally, the role of social others (including, but not restricted to, animals and non-humans) for becoming human will be reassessed. The latter in conjunction with how certain things (techno-economic means, and fire in particular) are obtained. While this research is grounded in Amazonian studies, ontological implications of "relationship-bodies" will have a broader impact on the conceptualization of what it means to be human and becoming human.