Ashaninka messianism / Comments / Reply

As a set of explanatory notions, "resistance" and "messianism" have been important in anthropology, not least when applied to popular mobilization in colonial and postcolonial settings. The "resistance" perspective has been subjected to critique from within the field; &...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current anthropology 2003-04, Vol.44 (2), p.183-211
Main Authors: Veber, Hanne, Brown, Michael F, Fausto, Carlos, Hill, Jonathan D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amazon Basin
Anthropology
Ethnology
Indigenous people
Native peoples
Religion
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:As a set of explanatory notions, "resistance" and "messianism" have been important in anthropology, not least when applied to popular mobilization in colonial and postcolonial settings. The "resistance" perspective has been subjected to critique from within the field; "messianism" has remained curiously unchallenged. The notion of "messianism" evokes a certain understanding of actors' motivations and perceptions and pretends to identify cultural crucibles at the heart of the conjuncture between cosmology and agency. For this reason, categorizing people, cultures, movements, or other phenomena as "messianic" has significant interpretive implications. In their reading of historical records and narratives, anthropologists have attributed a messianic proclivity to the Ashaninka and other native populations in the Peruvian Amazon. Taking off from interpretations of the figure of Juan Santos Atahuallpa in the 1742 rebellion against the Franciscan mission, many anthropologists have depicted these Arawakans as highly receptive to messiah figures; more recent Ashaninka movements have been seen as similarly motivated. It is argued here that the notion of Ashaninka messianism derives its veracity more from its scholarly repetition than from grounded analysis; it has created a "black hole" in place of ethnography that an approach that takes heed of practices, narrative and structural, may begin to fill.
ISSN:0011-3204
1537-5382