Piaroa Manioc Varietals: Hyperdiversity or Social Currency?

The maintenance of exceptionally high numbers of folk varieties by the Piaroa people of the Venezuelan Amazon is considered. We cataloged 113 manioc folk varieties, their nomenclature, use and relevant characters, revealing significant insights into the role of manioc in Piaroa social life. Through a qualitative investigation of the cultivation, processing and symbolic significance of manioc (Manihot esculenta) in two Piaroa regions over a period of 18 years, we have found that such agrobiodiversity can only be fully explained by a combination of multiple factors, including pragmatic and ecological considerations, the subtle and complex diversity of Piaroa manioc preparations and a variety of sociocultural factors, such as manioc’s role as a mediator of social relationships and as a marker of cultural and social heritage.

Convergent adaptations: bitter manioc cultivation systems in fertile anthropogenic dark earths and floodplain soils in central amazonia

SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN THE HUMID TROPICS IS INCREDIBLY DIVERSE, YET RESEARCH TENDS TO FOCUS ON ONE TYPE: long-fallow shifting cultivation. While it is a typical adaptation to the highly-weathered nutrient-poor soils of the Amazonian terra firme, fertile environments in the region offer opportunities for agricultural intensification. We hypothesized that Amazonian people have developed divergent bitter manioc cultivation systems as adaptations to the properties of different soils. We compared bitter manioc cultivation in two nutrient-rich and two nutrient-poor soils, along the middle Madeira River in Central Amazonia. We interviewed 249 farmers in 6 localities, sampled their manioc fields, and carried out genetic analysis of bitter manioc landraces. While cultivation in the two richer soils at different localities was characterized by fast-maturing, low-starch manioc landraces, with shorter cropping periods and shorter fallows, the predominant manioc landraces in these soils were generally not genetically similar. Rather, predominant landraces in each of these two fertile soils have emerged from separate selective trajectories which produced landraces that converged for fast-maturing low-starch traits adapted to intensified swidden systems in fertile soils. This contrasts with the more extensive cultivation systems found in the two poorer soils at different localities, characterized by the prevalence of slow-maturing high-starch landraces, longer cropping periods and longer fallows, typical of previous studies. Farmers plant different assemblages of bitter manioc landraces in different soils and the most popular landraces were shown to exhibit significantly different yields when planted in different soils. Farmers have selected different sets of landraces with different perceived agronomic characteristics, along with different fallow lengths, as adaptations to the specific properties of each agroecological micro-environment. These findings open up new avenues for research and debate concerning the origins, evolution, history and contemporary cultivation of bitter manioc in Amazonia and beyond.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Caboclo</Emphasis> Horticulture and Amazonian Dark Earths along the Middle Madeira River,Brazil

This article examines the relationship between Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE) and Caboclo horticultural knowledge and practice along the middle Madeira River (the biggest whitewater tributary of the Amazon) in the municipality of Manicoré, Amazonas State, Brazil. ADE are fertile anthropogenic (human-made) soils that are found in many areas of the Amazon region. The formation of ADE is a legacy of Amerindian settlement patterns, mostly during the late pre-Columbian period (2000–500 bp). The primary users of ADE in the Central Amazon today are Caboclos, traditional Amazonian people of heterogeneous origins. The multi-sited ethnography presented here demonstrates that Caboclos have developed a repertoire of local knowledge surrounding the cultivation of their staple crop, bitter manioc, in these soils. This revolves around a local theory of “weakness” and “strength” used to describe different sets of bitter manioc landrace traits and their responses to planting in different kinds of soil and fallow ages. This local theory has developed in the context of a regional historical ecology that has enabled the conservation and generation of such horticultural knowledge. I conclude that these notions of strength and weakness shape divergent loci of bitter manioc genetic traits and co-evolutionary dynamics between people and plants in the cultivation of bitter manioc in different soil types.     

A comparison of the diversity of Jivaroan Gardens with that of the tropical forest

The proposition that tropical polycultural gardens simulate the structure and dynamics of the surrounding forest is examined in the light of research on Jivaroan manioc cultivation. Garden transects were used to measure the diversity of intercropped species and of locally recognized varieties of manioc. Huambisa and Aguaruna Jivaro gardens have much lower species diversities than the surrounding forest, even though crop compositions reflect the age, topography, and soil type of the swiddens. Furthermore, the number of manioc varieties is far greater than that of all other crop species combined. It is argued that a pure stand of Jivaroan manioc can itself be considered a polycrop of distinct cultivars with differing branching patterns, leaf shapes, and growth periods.     

Starch granule size and the domestication of manioc (Manihot esculenta) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)

Archaeological studies of plant remains have indicated that an increase in seed size is frequently correlated with both intensive cultivation and domestication of seed crop plants. To test if starch granules of domesticated root crops are significantly larger than those of wild or less intensively cultivated plants, archaeological and modern specimens of manioc and sweet potato were sampled for starch granules, and granule size was compared across a temporal sequence. The results indicate that a gross generalization can be made that modern specimens of both manioc and sweet potato yield larger starch granules than some archaeological specimens. It does appear, however, that modern domesticated manioc roots produce significantly larger-sized starch granules than those of its purported wild ancestor. Additionally, there exist two lines of evidence that the coastal Peruvian and lowland Neotropical regional types of manioc differ from one another and have been separate for several millennia. These findings indicate that manioc may have been domesticated more than once.     

Genetic structure of traditional varieties of bitter manioc in three soils in Central Amazonia

Manioc is the most important food crop that originated in Amazonia. Many studies have increased our understanding of its evolutionary dynamics under cultivation. However, most of them focused on manioc cultivation in environments with low soil fertility, generally Oxisols. Recent ethnobotanical observations showed that bitter manioc also performs well in high fertility soils, such as Amazonian dark earths (ADE) and the floodplain. We used 10 microsatellite loci to investigate the genetic diversity and structure of bitter manioc varieties grown in different soil types in communities of smallholder farmers along the middle Madeira River in Central Amazonia. The genetic diversity of some sweet varieties and seedlings was also evaluated. Adult individuals showed higher levels of genetic diversity and smaller inbreeding coefficients (A ( R ) = 5.52, H ( O ) = 0.576, f = 0.086) than seedlings (A ( R ) = 4.39, H ( O ) = 0.421, f = 0.242). Bitter manioc varieties from the floodplain showed higher levels of genetic diversity (A ( R ) = 5.19, H ( O ) = 0.606) than those from ADE (A ( R ) = 4.45, H ( O ) = 0.538) and from Oxisols (A ( R ) = 4.15, H ( O ) = 0.559). The varieties grown in the floodplain were strongly differentiated from the varieties grown in Oxisols (F ( ST ) = 0.093) and ADE (F ( ST ) = 0.108), suggesting important genetic structuring among varieties grown in the floodplain and upland soils (ADE and Oxisols). This is the first time that genetic divergence of bitter manioc varieties in cultivation in different Amazonian soils in a small geographic area is reported.     

In praise of the everyday: Trust and the art of social living in an Amazonian community

The article states the high evaluation that an Amazonian people, the Piaroa, place upon the artful skills of everyday existence. It is argued that their emphasis upon the creativity of daily practice is forthcoming from a powerful and egalitarian social philosophy. The difficulties of translating such a philosophy, where the human self is contextualised within a wider cosmic setting, are raised. The aim of translation would be to enable us to engage in dialogue with the Piaroa about common concerns (upon the relation of the individual to the collectivity, for instance, or upon the idea of freedom, or the question of the relation of customs to rational decision making). These are a people who overtly shun the idea of a social rule, yet strongly value sociality, their own customs, and the mutuality of the ties of community. At the same time they demonstrate even more forcefully an ‘obstinate individualism’. A major puzzle to be discussed is the notion that personal autonomy is understood as a social capacity, and a cultural one as well: the volitional I, the social relation, and the cultural artifice are an associated set of values. The centrality of the notions of reflective reason and personal trust to this particular egalitarian ethics will be discussed.     

Applying Behavioral Ecology and Behavioral Economics to Conservation and Development Planning: An Example from the Mikea Forest,Madagascar

Governments and non-govermental organizations (NGOs) that plan projects to conserve the environment and alleviate poverty often attempt to modify rural livelihoods by halting activities they judge to be destructive or inefficient and encouraging alternatives. Project planners typically do so without understanding how rural people themselves judge the value of their activities. When the alternatives planners recommend do not replace the value of banned activities, alternatives are unlikely to be adopted, and local people will refuse to participate. Human behavioral ecology and behavioral economics may provide useful tools for generating and evaluating hypotheses for how people value economic activities in their portfolios and potential alternatives. This is demonstrated with a case example from southwestern Madagascar, where plans to create a Mikea Forest National Park began with the elimination of slash-and-burn maize agriculture and the encouragement to plant labor-intensive manioc instead. Future park plans could restrict access to wild tuber patches, hunting small game, and fishing. The value of these activities is considered using observational data informed by optimal foraging theory, and experimental data describing people’s time preference and covariation perception. Analyses suggest that manioc is not a suitable replacement for maize for many Mikea because the two crops differ in terms of labor requirements, delay-to-reward, and covariation with rainfall. Park planners should promote wild tuber foraging and stewardship of tuber patches and the anthropogenic landscapes in which they are found. To conserve small game, planners must provide alternative sources of protein and cash. Little effort should be spent protecting lemurs, as they are rarely eaten and never sold.     

The mis-measure of manioc (Manihot esculenta,Euphorbiaceae)

The distinction between “bitter” and “sweet” (toxic and non-toxic) varieties of the cyanide-containing food crop manioc (Manihot esculenta, Euphorbiaceae) has a long tradition in the tropical forest areas of South and Central America where it was first cultivated. Yet this distinction has no taxonomic basis. The levels of cyanogenic glucosides found in manioc varieties not only vary widely, but do not correspond with any other known morphological or ecological feature. Nonetheless, these two “varieties” are commonly reported to have distinct geographical and cultural distributions and each is associated with a particular traditional food complex. This paper reviews the literature regarding the nature, distribution, and traditional uses of manioc varieties and concludes that (1) the geographical and cultural distribution of bitter and sweet varieties of manioc may not be as distinct as has been thought; (2) traditional categories of bitter and sweet manioc may stem more from culturally derived belief systems than from actual known levels of toxicity; and (3) the choice of complex and labor intensive processing methods usually associated with bitter manioc may not be required for detoxification but rather for the derived food products, particularly manioc flour.     

Indigenous Shifting Cultivation and the New Amazonia: A Piaroa Example of Economic Articulation

This article argues against the idea that indigenous cultural change and knowledge loss are inevitably bonded to one another, with particular reference to agro-productive transformations. This view has not only ignored the potential of these productive systems—well documented in recent decades—but has often threatened them by promoting development policies based on mistaken premises. It is suggested here that some indigenous peoples’ productive responses to market integration may in fact offer alternatives to the paradoxes of development in seemingly fragile tropical environments. This article reports, in particular, on the strategies developed by the Piaroa, from southern Venezuela. Contemporary large and permanent Piaroa communities, which resulted from their involvement in aspects of national society, have been able to sustain the forests on which they depend while satisfying their food and market necessities. This has been possible due to a series of market strategies based on their agroforestal tradition, which have emphasised the commercialization of secondary forest products. The article proposes that these strategies have been underestimated due to the market conditions in which Piaroa farmers are immersed, and from which they have learnt the very principles of “capitalism.” Oil dependent and saturated with corruption, the Venezuelan market hampers their full economic integration, contributing to the idea that their agroforestry system can only produce at subsistence levels.

Selection for perceptual distinctiveness: Evidence from aguaruna cultivars ofManihot esculenta

This paper presents evidence that cultivars of manioc (Manihot esculenta) have been selected for combinations of characters that allow them to be perceptually distinguished. This mode of selection is proposed to explain why cultivars are so variable in perceptually salient taxonomic characters unrelated to the use or survival of the plant. This paper reanalyzes published material on manioc and related species and presents new evidence from the inventory of manioc cultivars maintained by the Aguaruna Jívaro of northern Peru. Rogers and Fleming’s (1973) sample of manioc cultivars exhibits 3 characteristics implied by the model of selection for perceptual distinctiveness: high, continuous, and independent variation of nonadaptive taxonomic characters. The inventory of Aguaruna cultivars exhibits 2 additional characteristics predicted by the model: taxonomic characters of this local inventory vary as independently and nearly as greatly as those of the species as a whole. Anthropological evidence is presented to demonstrate that Aguaruna interact with the plants as predicted by the model: Aguaruna identify cultivars using many of the same characters as Rogers and Fleming and they confuse cultivars they regard as similar in stem color, petiole color, and leaf shape. The evidence suggests that procedures used by cultivators to identify cultivars leave their imprint on the plants; crops show the effect of the cultivator's eye as well as hand.     

Teaching reading,writing, speaking and risk: dialoguing with Eades,French and Lecuna

This article compares the textual production of legal testimony with that of literary testimonio. Using the controversy sparked by David Stoll’s exposé of Rigoberta Menchú’s less than “factual” account of her life lived amidst the genocide of indigenous peoples in Guatemala, the analysis asks why Menchú should be indicted or acquitted based on cultural notions of legal testimony. I use the concept of language ideologies to explore how listeners hold narrators to standards of truth. By suggesting that there are interpretive ideologies of narrative production and function at work, the argument is made that any detractor can find a way to discredit narrative truth. I show this by examining how Latina women and state actors create legal testimony about domestic abuse. While these narratives share much with the Menchú testimonio, in particular the risks they present to their narrators, I conclude that the everyday victim in the U.S. adversarial system has much more to lose, and inevitably has far less discursive power, than Menchú. I examine these topics and themes from sociolinguistic and discourse analytic perspectives.     

Ecological aspects of swidden cultivation among the Andoke and Witoto Indians of the Colombian Amazon

The investigation of crop and soil-crop conditions among Andoke and Witoto cultivators in southeast Colombia is used as a basis for assessing Geertz' (1963) model of swidden cultivation. In this respect, the extent to which maniocdominated swiddens in the study area simulate the structure and composition of the forest climax community is questioned. As Geertz (1963) indicates, an initial nutrient boost for crop cultivation results from the preliminary burning of forest debris, but weed competition, rather than progressive loss of soil fertility, is reported to be the primary cause of abandoning manioc cultivation after 2–3 years. While the Andoke and Witoto crop system remains adaptive at the individual field level, particularly in its constituent species, its fundamental adaptation is considered to be its integration into the broader field and fallow system that juxtaposes crop production with extended periods of forest regeneration.     

Risky subjects: narrative,literary <Emphasis Type="Italic">testimonio</Emphasis> and legal testimony

This article compares the textual production of legal testimony with that of literary testimonio. Using the controversy sparked by David Stoll’s exposé of Rigoberta Menchú’s less than “factual” account of her life lived amidst the genocide of indigenous peoples in Guatemala, the analysis asks why Menchú should be indicted or acquitted based on cultural notions of legal testimony. I use the concept of language ideologies to explore how listeners hold narrators to standards of truth. By suggesting that there are interpretive ideologies of narrative production and function at work, the argument is made that any detractor can find a way to discredit narrative truth. I show this by examining how Latina women and state actors create legal testimony about domestic abuse. While these narratives share much with the Menchú testimonio, in particular the risks they present to their narrators, I conclude that the everyday victim in the U.S. adversarial system has much more to lose, and inevitably has far less discursive power, than Menchú. I examine these topics and themes from sociolinguistic and discourse analytic perspectives.     

The time and energy expenditure of indigenous women horticulturalists in the Northwest Amazon

The energy cost of subsistence activities and the daily time and energy budgets of Tatuyo women were assessed as part of a village energy flow study. The Tatuyo are swidden horticulturalists relying on bitter manioc (Manihot esculenta) as a staple crop. Except for the actual felling of new gardens, women are responsible for most of the horticultural work and food preparation. Time budgets were assessed using 24-hour activity diaries. Rates of energy expenditure in typical activities were measured by indirect calorimetry using a Max-Planck respirometer. Daily energy expenditure was calculated using these rates in conjunction with the activity diaries. Rates of energy expenditure in standard activities were moderate and broadly comparable to published values for other populations living in tropical environments. The mean daily energy expenditure was 2,133 kcal (8.9 MJ). This value is similar to that reported for other subsistence horticulturalists and close to the FAO recommendation for energy intake for moderately active individuals.     

Ashéninka amity: a study of social relations in an Amazonian society

Starting with Ashéninka people's avowed preference for living apart, in nuclear family households, this article analyses Ashéninka social practices within the context of ongoing academic debates over reciprocity, kinship, and the relative importance of similarity and difference in Amazonian thought. I argue that instead of attempting to pull others into fixed and narrowly prescribed relationships, particularly those based on kinship, the Ashéninka prefer for all ties to be based on relations of friendship that remain voluntary, limited, and flexible. I show how these relationships are underpinned by a cultural imperative on unilateral giving that is manifested in masateadas , social gatherings centred on the consumption of manioc beer.  

Résumé

À partir de la préférence déclarée des Ashéninkas pour une vie isolée en maisonnées composées de familles nucléaires, l'article analyse les pratiques sociales dans le contexte des débats académiques actuels sur la réciprocité, la parenté et l'importance relative de la similitude et de la différence dans la pensée amazonienne. L'auteur avance qu'au lieu de tenter de contraindre les autres à des relations fixes et strictement prescrites, notamment sur la base de la parenté, les Ashéninkas préfèrent qu'elles soient tissées à partir de liens d'amitié volontaires, limités et souples. L'auteur montre comment ces relations sont sous-tendues par un impératif culturel de don unilatéral, manifesté dans les masateadas , des rassemblements sociaux centrés sur la consommation de bière de manioc.     

Holocene fire and occupation in Amazonia: records from two lake districts

While large-scale pre-Columbian human occupation and ecological disturbance have been demonstrated close to major Amazonian waterways, less is known of sites in terra firme settings. Palaeoecological analyses of two lake districts in central and western Amazonia reveal long histories of occupation and land use. At both locations, human activity was centred on one of the lakes, while the others were either lightly used or unused. These analyses indicate that the scale of human impacts in these terra firme settings is localized and probably strongly influenced by the presence of a permanent open-water body. Evidence is found of forest clearance and cultivation of maize and manioc. These data are directly relevant to the resilience of Amazonian conservation, as they do not support the contention that all of Amazonia is a 'built landscape' and therefore a product of past human land use.     

Root and tuber phytoliths and starch grains document manioc (Manihot esculenta) arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea) and llerén (Calathea sp.) at the real alto site Ecuador

Although roots and tubers are dietary staples in many parts of the world, their use is difficult to document archaeo logically because their organic remains are often poorly preserved in archaeological sedi ments. Here we describe the first diagnostic phytoliths from the underground storage organs of the important New World agricultural crops manioc or yuca(Manihot esculenta Crantz), arrowroot(Maranta arundinacea L.), and llerén(Calathea allouia [Aubl.] Lindl.) and demonstrate their usefulness for identifying prehistoric root and tuber processing with a study of stone artifacts from a Valdivia 3 (2800–2400 B.C., calibrated) household at Real Alto, Ecuador. Gelatinized starch (heat-altered) and unaltered starch from maize (Zea mays L.), arrowroot, and manioc were also found on these stone tools. Our data document early evidence for manioc in Ecuador’s coastal lowlands. In combination, these phytoliths and starch residues provide evidence that both raw and cooked foods were processed in this early mixed agricultural economy.     

Crop Diversity on Anthropogenic Dark Earths in Central Amazonia

A recent archaeological survey demonstrates that one of the most durable of all forms of pre-Columbian landscape transformation, Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE; soils formed by pre-Columbian settlement), are widespread along the course of the Madeira River, Central Amazonia, Brazil. We hypothesize that processes of crop cultivation and management by human populations today in landscapes that were intensively transformed during the pre-Columbian period will diverge from those in environments where human agency has not left such a heavy footprint. In order to test this hypothesis, we compare bitter manioc fields, homegardens and secondary forests on ADE with those on non-anthropogenic soils along the lower and middle Madeira River. We demonstrate that crop species and landrace populations diverge on anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic soils as a result of the interaction between human selection and management, soil physical and chemical properties, and plant responses over time. Hence, crop species selection and abundance and therefore agrobiodiversity is contingent on anthropogenic soils in Central Amazonia.