ABSTRACT

This article seeks to extend the enduring focus on the body and bodily substance in Amazonia, which have historically eclipsed other forms of relatedness and ethical practices. Among the Venezuelan Sanema, morality is enacted predominantly through manufactured items rather than solely corporeal expressions of relatedness. While artefacts of all forms are receiving increased recognition in the region, they are often explored within a non-dualist frame that foregrounds inalienability, ownership and subjectification. Yet, the Sanema ethnography reveals that dissolving dualisms in this way suppresses the existence of important categories such as objects. Focusing on how ethical practices are enacted through partible beads and diesel-powered generators, this paper reveals how alienable goods among the Sanema are valued precisely for their ‘objectness’ rather than their personified qualities.

摘要

本文试图扩大对亚马逊流域身体和身体物质的持久关注，这在历史上已经使其他形式的相关性和道德实践黯然失色。在委内瑞拉的 Sanema 中，道德主要是通过制造的物品来实现的，而不仅仅是相关性的肉体表达。虽然各种形式的手工艺品在该地区得到越来越多的认可，但它们往往是在一个强调不可转让性、所有权和主体化的非二元框架内进行探索的。然而，Sanema 民族志表明，以这种方式消解二元论会抑制物体等重要类别的存在。专注于如何通过可分离的珠子和柴油发电机来制定道德规范，