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

malevolent purposes associated with kanaima activity, although of course nobody
would admit to any but the vaguest knowledge of this. The skills involved in blowing
are not widely distributed, and knowledge of them is reported by many people to be
in decline. There also exist still more specialised healing methods, practised by only a
few specialised healers, including blood-letting, soul retrieval (pudapudan doruna,
literally 'spirit come home') and extrusion. Some informants alluded to the ability of
piaimen to work in altered states of consciousness, and it was sometimes hinted that
this was achieved through the use of tobacco and other power plants, although
details remained obscure and I met no-one who professed to have a practical
knowledge of such techniques.
5.3 Human spirits, animal spirits and dietary prohibitions.
A cornerstone of Wapishana cosmology is a belief in a richly-populated world of
unseen spirits intimately associated with both human and non-human aspects of the
visible material world. Every human has an individual spirit aspect persisting beyond
the life of the physical body, referred to by either of two apparently synonymous
terms: ma'achai and doronaa. Many illnesses are believed to originate in the
doronaa, through which spiritual factors capable of causing disease act. The
doronaa of a recently deceased person is believed to pose some sort of a danger to
their relatives, even if they do not live in the immediate vicinity, and the latter will
ensure they take measures for their spiritual protection.
The same terms are used to refer to the spirits associated with animals. These
are not individuated, but a single spirit is believed to be associated with each
segregate recognised among the animals. The properties of the spirit appear to
reflect the appearance and behaviour of the animal with which it is associated. Animal
spirits are believed to be capable of inflicting disease or death upon people,
particularly very young children or those weakened by disease or kanaima activity.
This danger is the basis for numerous dietary prohibitions restricting the kinds of
meat, both wild and domestic, that people may eat at particular times. The dietary
restrictions are prescribed according to the judgement of a marunao, and appear to
be specific to the illness. I elicited lists of a variety of prohibited species associated
with particular conditions. Tapir meat features very commonly in such prohibitions,
and a high proportion of people in Maruranau are apparently permanently unable to
consume this food as a result of past kanaima activity.
Dietary prohibitions associated with the birth of a child commence with the
couvade (sanadan koraidaonaa), a post-natal period of rest and fasting imposed