Introducción

in Bilhaut, Anne-Gaël; Macedo, Silvia (Eds.) Tradición, patrimonialización y escritura (2012)

El sueño de los Záparas. Patrimonio onírico de un pueblo de la Alta Amazonía

Book published by Abya Yala/Flacso Ecuador (2011)

Des nuits et des rêves. Construire le monde zápara en Haute Amazonie

Book published by Société d'ethnologie (2011)

When Museums are Dreamed. Subjective Relationships with the Past in an Amazonian Community

in Crouch, Christopher (Ed.) Subjectivity, Creativity, and the Institution (2009)

Le réveil de l’immatériel. La production onirique du patrimoine des Indiens Zápara (Haute Amazonie)

Doctoral thesis (2007)

The Zapara Indians in the Upper Amazon are on the verge of disappearing from the linguistic map. This is a fact. And yet, their emergence within the political landscape in Ecuador (but not yet in Peru ... [more ▼]

The Zapara Indians in the Upper Amazon are on the verge of disappearing from the linguistic map. This is a fact. And yet, their emergence within the political landscape in Ecuador (but not yet in Peru), has provided them with a greater international visibility as an indigenous group. Most unusually, the accounts of dreams become one of the key elements of new forms of identity practices and identification processes – as those narrated here by two Zapara political leaders will attest. In search of their material and immaterial heritage, these leaders make use of the realm of dreams, using occurred dreams to orient their choices in the reconstruction of a collective memory. The dream, as a tool for engaging in a regredient process or in the return into the past, provides the historical elements that the Indians will then re-inject into their present in order to construct new “traditions”. In this dissertation, I will be describing the mechanisms, the learning of, and the local theories concerning the experience of dreams. In order to be understood, the dream must first circulate, and must have an issuer as a point of departure. Dreaming is also the means for a privileged relationship between human and non- human beings. Throughout this thesis, various systems of memory will be examined based upon empirical data revealing of the dreamt experience, but also of daily life, such as new teaching methods, or the creation of artefacts, produced both by ancestors or contemporaries. These accounts will help us to understand this new process of “Zaparaisation”, which depends as much on a process of ethno-archiving than on ethno-museography, and which awakens the immaterial. [less ▲]

Biographie d’un esprit au corps brisé. Les pierres magiques des ancêtres zápara d’Amazonie : des sujets du passé

in Journal de la Société des Americanistes (2006), 92(1-2), 237-254

ife of a spirit in a broken body. The magic stones of Zapara’s ancestors in Lowland Amazonia : subjects of the past. The use of magic stones in the Amazon has been studied by many ethnographers. However ... [more ▼]

ife of a spirit in a broken body. The magic stones of Zapara’s ancestors in Lowland Amazonia : subjects of the past. The use of magic stones in the Amazon has been studied by many ethnographers. However, the analysis of the intersubjective relations that occur between these stones and their « master » remains succinct. The example of the stones of the Zapara offers an understanding of these relations. The ancestors of the Ecuadorian Zapara (Amazonia) left on the land many stones that, when found by humans, become subjects to be treated as such. Stones of the ancestors with whom they share a history, are passed on from generation to generation, directly or indirectly. This article tells the story of a spirit embodied in a stone whose story has been reconstructed by the Zapara through its description and narrations. Possessed by an ancestor then passed on to his descendants, this « stone subject » then lost its mineral body, which then modified the relation between the stone and its master. [less ▲]

« ‘Soñar, recordar y vivir con eso’. Los sueños de los Záparas en la construcción del pasado, Amazonia Ecuatoriana »,

in Estudios Atacameños (2003), 26

The ethnographic study of the Zápara case brings new and original data about memory building processes. The Amazonian Zápara achieve knowledge about their past through dreams that also have a fundamental ... [more ▼]

The ethnographic study of the Zápara case brings new and original data about memory building processes. The Amazonian Zápara achieve knowledge about their past through dreams that also have a fundamental role in their daily life. We will see how their history is constructed by means of dream experiences, and how these are used strategically in the present. Dreams, furthermore, guarantee the cultural and ritual continuity of this group on the verge of extinction. [less ▲]

« La connaissance dans le corps. L’usage du minéral chez un guérisseur d’Iquitos (Amazonie Péruvienne)

in Erikson, Philippe; Lenaerts, Marc (Eds.) Idées à bouturer. Ethno-écologie amazonienne (2002)