Paper short abstract:

The Shipibo-Konibo kene constitute an operator that formalizes the coexistence between what denotes the absence of an agent, exhibits its presence and resolves the instant of emptiness of meaning of that relationship. These designs lodge their idea of alterity and the fluidity of their identity.

Paper long abstract:

As in other Pano societies, the ontology and praxis of the Shipibo-Konibo (peruvian amerindian society) incorporate the transit between different sensory realities and entities as a central aspect in the relational construction of subjectivity and alterity. This constituent permeability is expressed not only in the transversal inclusion of non-visible agents or dimensions under counter-intuitive modes of thought and action, but also in the capacity to integrate - in a disjunctive way - other interlocutors and points of view. The opening of this epistemology has consequently permitted to show the agency of diverse artifacts and devices, as well as to attribute new meanings to their own ethnic identification.

Considering this system of relations and action, and based on the field work carried out in the native communities of Paoyhán and San Francisco, as well as in the city of Yarinacocha, the question arises about the resources with which the Shipibo-Konibo count to stabilize this unbalance continuity. The present text addresses the Kene as an operator that formalizes the coexistence between what denotes the absence of an agent or an event, exhibits its presence in terms of continuity, and resolves the instant of emptiness of meaning that dynamizes the relationship between both instances.

As per the aforementioned, these geometrical designs would constitute a modality through which not only their idea of alterity would be lodged and anticipated, but also the fluidity that permeates the sensory world and craft practices of this Amerindian society, as well as its redefinition as an indigenous people.