Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

myth, such as the Garden of Eden and the great flood, which may indicate that the
syncretic process was already underway relatively soon after missionisation.
Acculturative influences on Wapishana tradition are also evident outside the strictly
religious sphere, in the incorporation into folklore of exotic elements such as
domestic livestock and the life of the animal herder, musical instruments, and the
Brazilian nation and people (cf. Drummond 1974).
Informants in the present study generally distinguished between indigenous
beliefs and practices and those originating with their adopted religion. Statements
about current aspects of Wapishana belief or practice were typically qualified with
statements along the lines of ‘this is what we Wapishana believe’, or ‘this is what we
Amerindians believe’. A further distinction was often made between aspects of the
belief system which had been retained and those which are nowadays abandoned or
questioned, or the beliefs of 'old time people'.
Particularly during the early part of the study, I often encountered a certain
reticence about matters of spirituality and esoteric beliefs. Although many people
were more open on these subjects once they were convinced that I was both
genuinely interested in and respectful of them, others remained evasive even after I
had got to know them well.
This chapter does not give a comprehensive overview of Wapishana cosmology,
but rather emphasises spiritual beliefs and practices with possible ecological effects.
The next section describes some basic concepts associated with sickness and healing
in the Wapishana belief system, which form the major structural context within which
specific systems affecting usage of natural resources operate. Subsequent sections
are concerned with these specific systems, in which the relationships between human
actors and various forms of nature spirit affect the exploitation of nature by the
former in various ways.
5.2 Healers, sickness and healing among the Wapishana.
A key institution in Wapishana cosmology and associated practice is that of the
traditional healers, referred to in Creolese as ‘piaimen’. They may be either men or
women, marunao and marunawabo being the respective Wapishana terms. Their
work nowadays forms a complementary system in conjunction with whatever form of
conventional medicine may be available: people generally seem to make use of the
latter whenever possible, but most will additionally consult a marunao. Investigation
of the practices of the latter took the form, to some extent, of salvage ethnography.
Many people concurred that the leading practitioners were now deceased, and it is