Chimane

ETHNONYMS: Achumano, Chamano, Chimanis, Chimanisa, Chimnisin, Chumano, Nawazi-Moñtji, Ramano

Identification. The majority of Chimane live around the Río Maniqui from its headwaters to where it reaches the savannas of the Río Beni, as well as the headwaters of the Yacuma, Chaparina, Cheverene, Dumi, Carepo, Apere, Matos, Sécure, and Beni rivers, located between 14.5° and 15.5° S and 66.5° and 67.5° W, east of the department of La Paz and west of the department of Beni in Bolivia. This area is known as Montaña or Ceja de Selva (eastern Andean slope). The members of this group call themselves "Chimane"; the origin and meaning of the name are unknown.

Linguistic Affiliation. Together with the Mosetene, their neighbors, the Chimane form a separate linguistic stock. Attempts at reclassifying them as "Macropano" are still problematic.

Demography. Confirmed population figures prior to the twentieth century are lacking. The modern Chimane number between 2,000 and 2,500.

History and Cultural Relations

In what are called "Bosques de Chimanes" (Chimane forests) between the villages of San Ignacio de Mojos and San Borja there are large expanses of embankments that connect the artificial mounds of what were once elevated fields. The ancestors of the Chimane presumably were involved in the construction of these earthworks. Archaeological remains, particularly well-fashioned and painted ceramic figurines, are believed by the Chimane to be their ancestors and are carefully kept by the shamans. A number of material, social, and religious items in Chimane culture suggest the existence in pre-Columbian times of trade relations with the Andean world. Efforts by Dominican priests toward the end of the seventeenth century and by the Franciscans in 1840 to found missions among the Chimane failed.

In the 1950s the Redemptorists founded a mission on the Río Maniqui, in a place called Cara Cara. Ten years later this mission was moved to the Río Chimane, a tributary of the Río Maniqui, and named Fatima. Nowadays there are also missionary posts of the New Tribes Mission on the Río Maniqui. Even though the Loma Santa messianic movement headed by the Mojeño (Arawak speakers) had no impact on the Chimane as a people, the Loma Santa—which persists to the present and is relocating some 12,000 to 15,000 native peoples of the Mojeño, Yurakare, and Mova groups—has resulted in a reordering of the traditional habitat of the Chimane.

In their search for a terrestrial paradise, many members of the above-mentioned groups have settled in Chimane territory and have intermarried with the Chimane. In fact, marriages between the "seekers" and the Chimane are common. Interethnic relations have had a positive impact since in the process various indigenous peoples were brought together to deal with the conditions that were being forced upon them from the outside, including cocaine trafficking. To cope with the conditions created by the new relationships, the Chimane have endeavored to recover their culture. They have joined the Confederación Indígena del Oriente Boliviano (Eastern Bolivian Indigenous Confederation, CIDOB), which is a member of the Confederación Indígena de la Cuenca Amazonica (Indigenous Confederation of the Amazon Basin, COICA).

Settlements

The Chimane build their houses on the banks or in the vicinity of rivers, streams, or dead river branches. Nearby, at a distance of no more than 500 meters, they cultivate their fields, seeking areas that escape seasonal flooding. They traditionally form small settlements of two or three huts. Place-names loosely reflect the characteristics of the area (e.g., "where there are fish" or "sweet fruit of the totai palm"). Settlements are respected by other members of the society, but formal usufruct to the site does not exist. During the fishing season, settlements are abandoned and families follow schools of fish in their canoes. In specific places along the river, families group together on the shore and build simple huts of palm leaves that shelter them from sun and rain. The number of huts, each occupied by a nuclear family, depends on the fishing conditions in the river. With a degree of regularity a family will return annually to "its" spot on the river, although they have no formal permanent claim to the site.

In any case, neither so-called permanent settlements nor encampments restrict the Chimane in moving around with great flexibility within what they consider their territory. In sequence of relative importance, reasons for moving from one place to another include family obligations, witchcraft, and ecological-economic considerations. The practice of congregating in villages was imposed upon the Chimane by Catholic and evangelical missionaries and does not correspond to the traditional settlement pattern of the group. Villages like the Catholic mission of Fatima and the New Tribes Mission settlement on the Río Maniqui near the mestizo village of San Borja are less than thirty-five years old. The majority of Chimane reject permanent village life because it negates the basic tenets of their socioreligious and economic systems. Insofar as they reside in villages, they do so mainly for protection from lumber millers and clandestine drug traffickers who have invaded their territory. These invasive forces deprive the Indians of their traditional settlements and destroy their basic economic resources, game and fish.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The habitat of the Chimane is the humid mountainous forest. Their principal means of subsistence are fishing and hunting, supplemented by cultivation. Fishing is done with the harpoon and the bow and arrow; a man using a harpoon stands in the prow of his canoe or on shore. The Chimane also fish with weirs, blocking a stream with lianas and palm leaves. Weir fishing is usually combined with the use of barbasco fish poison. Whereas fishing with bows and arrows and harpoons is done individually, fishing with weirs and barbasco is a communal activity of several families from different villages. The Chimane smoke fish to preserve it for prolonged periods of time. Both firearms and bows and arrows are used for hunting peccaries, monkeys, and tapir. There are no taboos regarding the consumption of animal meat. Among the main cultivated crops are sweet manioc and bananas; sweet potatoes, maize, papayas, and cotton are crops of secondary importance.

Until the 1960s the Chimane lived in relative isolation in their habitat, which was of little economical interest in terms of national exploitation. Large cattle ranches were established to the east of their habitat in the savannas of the department of Beni, and there was as yet no exploitation of tropical timber. In the 1960s, however, exploitation of the hatata palm for roofing material was begun in the Chimane area. With the construction of roads to the largest mestizo village of the area, San Borja, hatata-palm exploitation assumed an ever-increasing importance for Chimane trade and exchange in the Bolivian market.

In the 1970s, when fine tropical woods began to be exploited, lumber mills penetrated the habitat of the Chimane, employing the Indians as a source of cheap labor. Acting largely outside the nation's forestry laws, these industries destroyed large tracts of the jungle, contaminated rivers, and dispersed the game on which the Chimane depended for their livelihood. With no consideration for conservation or sustainable industrial development, the Bolivian government issued forestry concessions for land occupied by the Chimane. To further complicate the situation, clandestine cocaine production began in the Chimane region during the 1980s, and Indians were hired to manufacture drugs. Thus, although previously the Chimane had had a reasonably well-balanced economy that provided them an adequate diet and guaranteed their continued existence, developments since the 1960s have seriously endangered their physical and cultural well-being.

Division of Labor. Hunting, tree felling, and other heavy tasks (e.g., building canoes and raising house posts) are done by men. Women prepare the food, take care of the children, keep the fields clean, and harvest the crops. Individual fishing with harpoons and bows and arrows is a male activity, but women take part in weir fishing with barbasco.

Land Tenure. The Chimane have no concept of individual landownership. They consider the rivers and forests of their habitat to be territory that belongs to their people. With the penetration of their area by non-Indians, however, the Chimane, through CIDOB, demanded the official and definitive demarcation of their territory, protection, and a guarantee of reasonable and sustained exploitation of natural resources. Indigenous pressure on an international level had the desired effect; the demands were met and the recommendations implemented.

Kinship, Marriage, and Family

The Chimane do not have a system of clans. Cross-cousin marriage is preferred, and the kinship system is a variant of the Hawaiian type. Sororal polygyny is practiced. The family unit consists of parents, their daughters, and their daughters' husbands and children. Later the nuclear families of the daughters settle neolocally in the vicinity. Even if they move away to more distant places, however, lifelong economic and ritual relationships with the woman's parents are maintained. Property, basically canoes and weapons, is passed from father to son.

Sociopolitical Organization

Equality between the sexes is the norm within Chimane culture. There is no social stratification, and the Chimane do not recognize chiefs. In isolated settlements, adults of both sexes are in charge of enforcing correct behavior by members of the group. Although formal authority is not a cultural norm, there are some old men and women, called konkaziki, who, because of their experience and personal assertiveness, are heeded as voices of authority. The Chimane maintain that in "ancient times" they used to have "women chiefs" (aillu ), which indicates a link with the Andean world. Political decisions are arrived at through consensus. The Chimane continue to reject attempts by missionaries to install either teachers or pastors as "leaders." Conflicts have been gradually cropping up. In particular, missionaries ridicule Chimane culture and label it satanic; they try to isolate young Chimane from their villages and educate them as pastors or sacristans. While they are uprooted from their traditional culture, alien norms and values are introduced.

Political Organization. Within the village, authority rests with the adults of both sexes. On a multivillage level it is the "old person" (kukuitzi ) whose views are respected. Kukuitzi shamans travel constantly throughout the extensive territory, where they foster an esprit de corps among Chimane people by making them participate in the cult house (shipa ).

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Traditional Chimane religion is still very much alive despite Christian attempts to displace it. Human society is a mirror image of the world of animals and plants, and there is a symbiotic relationship between them. The Chimane believe that mutual respect is essential, and it is this maxim that conditions their reasonable and limited approach to the exploitation of natural resources. To maintain this equilibrium is a fundamental objective, and the possible disruption of that equilibium brings evil into the world. The shaman is of outstanding importance in this context. After years of practice, he watches over cultural and religious norms and presides over the most important cults. The cosmos, the earth, and all living beings, including mountains and stones, are the creation of the mythic brothers Duik and Mitsha. As a unity they are called "Jen" and are believed to be the sun and moon, respectively. Duik and Mitsha are cultural heroes who gave humankind weapons, fire, edible plants and other similar goods. Faratazik, master guardians or special keepers of places, animals, fish, and plants watch over the life of their wards, guaranteeing their reproduction and availability to humans. Failure by humans to observe pertinent taboos is punished. Spirits are all benevolent as long as humans respect them; if not, their benevolence changes, and they pose mortal danger (zeki ). The logical and automatic outcome is that humans will become possessed by spirits and faratazik.

Chimane religion shows a close link with the Andean world, since it is from this region that the mythic brothers are said to have come. When the end of the world draws near "from down below," that is, the low-lying eastern regions, the salvation of humankind lies in escaping to the region "above," that is, the mountain ranges of the Andes—although this region has also seen strife, oppression, and disasters, as demonstrated by the cycle of Hisui, the violator and murderer of Aillú, one of the female chiefs of ancient times. The Chimane describe their historical reality in mythic terms. The central cult ritual, closely linked with the renovation of the pact between humankind and nature, is the umba, which is performed in the round cult house, the shipa.

Religious Practitioners. With the assistance of robodye (a narcotic derived from an as-yet unclassified plant) and tobacco juice and by chanting and drumming, the shaman reaches a state of ecstasy. He is able to transport himself to extraterrestrial planes and to summon the spirits to visit with the participants in the umba. All participants experience ecstasy. They ingest small figures in human and jaguar forms. Even though presently in animal guise, jaguars are considered human, and the ritually ingested jaguar representations are believed to be human flesh.

Arts. Shamanic chants and songs pertaining to the Chimane religion and economy form an essential part of the Indians' religion and cult.

Medicine. Bodily evil is manifested in illness, either caused through one's own fault—not having observed a taboo—or by witchcraft. The shaman's curing practices consist of chants, sucking, and natural medicines made from plants, animal oils, and healing clays. Western medicine plays an insignificant role in Chimane life.

Bibliography

Hissink, Karin, and Albert Hahn (1989). Chimane, Notizen und Zeichnungen aus Nordost-Bolivien. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag.

Pérez Díez, Andres A. (1983). "Etnografía de los chimanes del oriente boliviano." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Buenos Aires.

Riester, Juergen (1976). En busca de la Loma Santa. La Paz: Editorial Los Amigos del Libro.

Riester, Juergen (1978). Canción y producción en la vida de un pueblo indígena: Los chimane del oriente boliviano. La Paz: Editorial Los Amigos del Libro.

Riester, Juergen (1993). Universo mítico de los chimane. Pueblos Indígenas de Bolivia, edited by Juergen Riester, vol. 3. La Paz.

JUERGEN RIESTER (Translated by Ruth Gubler)