The Perverse Child: Desire in a Native Amazonian Subsistence Economy

Author(s): Peter Gow

Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 567-582
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2804288 .
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THE PERVERSE
DESIRE

IN A NATIVE

SUBSISTENCE

CHILD:
AMAZONIAN

ECONOMY

PETER Gow
University
ofEast Anglia

Startingfromthe prominence of discussionsof food and sex in the daily lives of Native Amazonian
peoples, the articleanalysesthe place of sexual desireand the desireforfood in the subsistenceeconomy
of the native people of Bajo Urubamba river in Peru. It describes the production, circulation and
consumptionoffood and exploresthelinksbetween thissystemand theconstructionofgendercategories,
sexual identitiesand relationsof marriage,affinity
and kinship.Through an analysisof the use of food
items as joking metaphorsof male and female genitals,it is argued that sexualityand food are made
analogous at the level of desire. Finally, the analysisof forbiddenoral desire in childrenleads to the
conclusion thatit is the constructionof persons as subjects of particularoral and sexual desireswhich
structuresAmazoman subsistenceeconomies.

The presentarticleis an analysisoftherole ofdesirein a Native Amazoniansubsistence

economy.1With referenceto the nativecommunitiesof the Bajo Urubamba riverin
westernAmazonia, it explores the importantplace in the economy of particular
formulations
ofsexualdesireand desireforfood. Itis arguedthatthecodingsofdifferent
typesoffood on the one hand and of different
genderand age categorieson the other,
constitutethe heartof the subsistenceeconomy.
Concern withfood and sex dominatesthe dailylives of Native Amazonian people.
The production,circulationand consumptionof food is the centraldramaof village
life and sexual relationshipsare the primarytopic of everydayconversation.This
concernwithfoodand sex hasbeen notedbymanyethnographers
ofNativeAmazonian
cultures.An earlyexample of thisthemeis foundin Holmberg'sstudyof the Siriono
of Bolivia (1950), which is a portraitof a people obsessedwith food first,thenwith
sex, and apparentlyverylittleelse. More recently,the same themehas been explored
in ethnographies
ofthenorthwestAmazon byReichel-Dolmatoff(1971) and Christine
Hugh-Jones(1979), of the Mehinacu and Bororo of CentralBrazil by Gregor(1985)
and Crocker (1986) respectively,
and manyothers.
These more recentanalyseshave not followed Holmberg in takingthisobsession
at itsfacevalue, but have insteadstressedthe symbolicqualitiesof thisinterestshown
in food and sex. Seeger et al. have argued thatcorporealityis a focal idiom in these
societiesand thatNative Amazonian discoursesabout corporealityconstitutethe only
theirconcretesocialpraxis(1979: 16). Simimode ofunderstanding
non-ethnocentric
ofAmazonia forpaying
larly,ChristineHugh-Joneshas criticisedmanyethnographers
littleattentionto the conceptualcontentof domesticlife(1979: 279). It is largelythe
Man (N.S.) 24, 567-82

568

PETER GOW

influenceof Levi-Strauss'sMythologiques
(1970; 1978), which begins with a seriesof
Amazonian mythsabout food and sex, that has directedserious attentionto these
problemsand has revealed how Native Amazonian cosmologies and discourseson
societyare permeatedby metaphorsof bodilyprocesses.
littleattentionhasbeen paid to therelationbetweenthisconcern
However, relatively
with food and sex and the subsistenceeconomies of Native Amazonian societies.An
exception to this tendencyis JanetSiskind,in her analysisof the economy of the
Sharanahuapeople ofthePurusriverin easternPeru. In an articleentitled'The hunting
economy of sex' (1973b) and in her longer monographon the Sharanahua(1973a),
oftherelationbetweenthesexual divisionoflabour
Siskindprovidesan interpretation
in this society and gender relations.She argues that the Sharanahua economy is
structuredaround the exchange between men and women of forestgame forsexual
favours.Game, the productof male huntingactivity,is naturallyscarcerelativeto the
female-producedgarden foods, while women are culturallyscarce relativeto men
because thelatterare allowed and expectedto have more thanone wife.This 'hunting
economy of sex', as Siskind termsit, receives culturalexpressionin the jokes of
Sharanahuawomen, when theygreetthereturnofa lucklesshunterwiththecomment
'There is no game. Let's eat penises!'.The same economyis also expressedin theritual
ofthecollectivehunt,when women send men who are theirpotentialsexualpartners,
but not actual husbands,to hunt for them. Siskindfurthermentionsmany cases of
similarritualsand jokes fromotherpartsof Amazonia and suggeststhatthe 'hunting
economy of sex' is generalto the aboriginalculturesof the tropicalforestregion.2
Where I would take issue with Siskindis over her representation
of the 'hunting
economy of sex' as an exchangeof goods betweenproprietors.Siskindtreatsthe flow
of game and sexual favoursbetween Sharanahuamen and women as an exchange
relationshipbetween the owners of two different
objects: men give game to women
in returnforsexbecause men aretheproprietors
ofgameandwpmen aretheproprietors
of theirsexuality.As Strathernhas pointed out, such unstatedimportationof a commodity-basedpropertylogic can seriouslyhamperthe analysisof social systemswhere
suchidiomsare quite alien (1984). In thepresentcase, theimportationofthisWestern
logic of proprietorship
into the contextof Native Amazonian subsistenceeconomies
obscurestheoriginalissue:people arenot talkingabout the 'ratesofexchange'between
different
commoditiessuch as game and sexual favours,nor about theirrespective
propertyrightsover productsor theirown bodies. In Native Amazonian daily life
of thesedesires
people are talkingabout hungerand sexual desire,and the satisfaction
by otherpeople.
It is the natureof desirein these kinds of economies thatthe presentarticlewill
explore.I will tryto show thatthe desiresfeltand expressedforcertainkindsof foods
is systematically
relatedto certaintypesof social relations.In particular,I will argue
thatthe desiresforfood expressedby people in these econonies are not abstracted
desiresthancan be satisfiedin a varietyof different
ways,but ratherthatthesedesires
link people inevitablyto certainotherpeople. In these economies, relationshipsare
of particulardesiresexperiencedby the partnersin the
predicatedon the satisfaction
relationship.I will explore these issues as part of an extended analysisof a Native
Amazonian subsistenceeconomy which is similarto thatof the Sharanahuadiscussed
by Siskind.I explore the totalsystemof production,circulationand consumptionof
food in thiseconomy,in searchof the codes which governit. Centralto the present

PETER GOW

569

articleis the question of how this economy functionsaround the constructionof

particularsubjectsof sexual desire and desireforfood and how these constructions
necessitatethe existenceof othersubjectswhich standin different
relationsto these
desires.
The subsistence
economy
ofthenativecommunities
oftheBajo Urubamba
The Bajo Urubamba is a major tributaryof the Ucayali, which is in turna major
oftheAmazon itselfThe areaitselfispartoflowlandAmazonia and is covered
tributary
in dense humidtropicalrainforest.
I'he Bajo Urubamba is a largeriverby Amazonian
standardsand the primaryorientationof the local population is to riverinelife and
ecology. The nativepopulationof the area lives in communitiesrangingin size from
50 to 800 people. These communitiestend to be focused on core kin clustersof
Piro-speakers,but with many affinesand other co-residentassociatesof non-Piro
origin.The main languagesof the area are Spanish,Piro and Campa-Ashaninka,in
that order. Most people in the area are fullybilingual,many trilingual.The major
exceptionis among young people under 25 yearsold, who tend to be monolingual
in Spanish.I use the term'native people' here as a translationof theirown term,los
nativos.I will use termsfromthe local dialect of Spanish,which has been heavily
influencedby Quechua, in preferenceto Piro or Campa terms.
The Bajo Urubambaareahas been intensively
integratedintotheworldcommodity
systemsince the expansion of the rubberindustryinto the upper Ucayali region in
about 1880, and all nativepeople are engaged in one way or anotherin commodity
productionand exchange.Duringtheperiodoffieldwork,
lumberingwas thedominant
formofcommodityproductionin thearea,althoughtherewas a smallcashcropsector.
The presentarticlewill not addressthe issuesof wage labour nor of the circulationof
money in the local economy. With the exceptionof alcohol, virtuallyno food items
are purchasedwithmoney,nor can subsistenceproductseasilybe convertedinto cash.
a systemof boss/worker
Further,the entirelogic of the local systemof habilitacion,
relationsbased on extended indebtedness,is predicated on the insulationof the
subsistencesectorfromthe commoditysector.The local bosses,patrones,
depend on
being able to find theirlabourerswhen productionis possible (i.e. when creditis
availableto them),butmakeno attemptto preventthemachievingsubsistencesecurity.
The firstquestion forthe presentanalysismustbe: what constitutesfood forthe
nativepeople of the Bajo Urubamba?All varietiesof food available to nativepeople
are organisedaround a centralcombinationof two typesof good. This is la comida,
the meal, and refersto a combinationof a type of game (forestanimal meat or fish)
and boiled or roastedplantains.When people say 'Ya hecomido','I have alreadyeaten',
theyinvariablymean thattheyhave eaten a meal of thistype.While plantainscan be
replacedby manioc and each typeof game by everyother,thereis no otherpossible
combination.Even beans and rice,a popularAmazonian meal, does not rateas comida
a real meal. While manyotheritemsare eaten; such as fruit,peanuts,maize,
legitima,
fungiand a varietyof insectlarvae, these never enterthe meal except as adjuncts.
Normallytheyare eaten as snacks.
People on theBajo Urubambaconsiderdrinkingplainwater(aguacruda,'rawwater')
One transformation
to be dangerous.Beforebeing drunkwatermustbe transformed.
and
mashed
to
create
is to mix it with boiled
ripe plantains
chapo.Far more popular
This
is
made
fermented
manioc
beer.
beer
howeveris masato,
by boilingand pounding

570

PETER GOW

up manioc and mixingit with masticatedred sweet potato. The resultingmassis left
to fermentfortwo or threedays.To be drunk,wateris poured on the mass,mixed
in and thenextractedthrougha sieve. This producesa slightly
pinkishliquid thatvaries
fromthe initialsweet stagesto the very strongand bitterlast stages.Native people
preferthisstrongform.When available,manioc beer ends everymeal.
This culinarysystemis locked into a circuitof production,circulationand consumption. I will show how the meal is locked into this circuit,beginningwith
production.Vegetable crops are grown in gardenscleared in the forest.The initial
clearingof the gardenis collectivein the formof the mingaor work-party.The man
to whom the gardenwill belong invitesall the othermen of the communityto help.
On one level, thislabour is paid forwith food and especiallymanioc beer provided
by the host,but it will also be reciprocatedas labour since the host will attendthe
mingasof all his guests.Further,native people say thattheyhave some rightto the
cropsgrownin the gardenswhich theyhave helped to make: at least,theycannotbe
lightlydenied iftheyshould ask forpartof the crop. The work of planting,weeding
and harvestingthe gardenis done by the marriedcouple who own the garden,with
help fromtheirchildrenand close kiniftheyneed it. The work ofharvesting
plantains
and manioc forcooking is primarilywomen's work and mustbe done everytwo to
three days. Harvestingmanioc for manioc beer is also women's work and is more
arduous given thatmore is harvestedat any 9ne time than is the case for cooking.
While men may help in the harvestingand transportof plantainsand manioc, they
will not cook eitherand most certainlywill not make manioc beer.
The productionof game is primarilymen's work. It is an almostdaily affairand
seldominvolvesan absencefromthecommunityofmore thana fewhours.The major
problemboth in huntingand in fishingis findingthe preyratherthankillingit. The
easiestprey to findare fishtrappedin pools in the forestby the fallingwaterlevel,
which are killed by poisoning the pool with a varietyof vegetablepiscicides,while
the most difficultare verylarge catfishfeedingin the deep riverpools, taken with
harpoons. Hunting forestanimalsfollows a similarprogression:the easiestprey to
locate arethosesmallbirds,rodentsand monkeyswhichfeedin and aroundold gardens,
while the hardestto hunt are tapirand spidermonkeywhich are extremelywaryof
people and live farfrominhabitedareas. Central to huntingand fishingas formsof
production,and to nativepeople's models of these activities,is skillin locatingthe
prey.3 The ease with which game can be located determinesthe extentto which
women and childrenparticipatein production.Fish-poisoningexpeditionsare open
to all, as is hook-and-linecapture-ofsmallerfish.Women do not participatein other
formsof fishingexcept to steerthe canoe while a man fisheswith a cast-net.Women
will accompanyhuntingmen to carryand reload the guns and will occasionallyhunt
themselves,but thisis only when thereare no able men about.
The sexual divisionof labour in productionis most intensein such stronglygender-identified
tasksas manioc beer productionand the clearingof forestforgardens,
but it is presentin varyingdegreesthroughoutfood production.However, when the
circulationof food productsis analysed,the gender-identification
of foods begins a
subtle change. While native people consider that anythingthat a person produces
belongs to him- or herself,thisis not separablefromthe proper destinationof that
productas it is circulated.This destinationis determinedby the natureof theproduct
and by the statusof the producerin relationto others,which I will now discuss.

PETER GOW

571

Plantainsand manioc are almost never given away in raw form.Someone who
needs thesestaplesmay requestthem of a co-residentand will be told to harvestthe
standingcrop in the garden.The presumptionis thatsuch requestswill seldom be
necessarysince the structureof labour-sharingin gardenproductionmeans thatall
marriedpeople in the communityhave gardens.Cooked plantainsand manioc are
onlyevergivenaway as partofmeals,eatenin thedonor'shouse. Manioc beeris given
The fermented
away,butonlywhen itis servedto guestsin thehouse or duringfestivals.
massis nevergiven to anyone. Manioc beer is the firstthingofferedto visitorsand if
a woman has none she will apologise,forit is a seriousinsultnot to offerbeer ifit is
available.Manioc beer is essentialto all parties,fiestas,
whethergivenby an individual
or by the community.The fiestais judged by the quantityof beer provided and any
hintthatthehostsare holdingback anyfortheirown consumptionis a common cause
of complaint.At mostfiestasmeals are also provided,but only once.
Partlybecause the supply of game fluctuatesso greatly,it is a source of intense
interestto nativepeople. The only timewhen nativepeople are casual about game is
when it is abundant:in one case, when huge quantitiesof fishwere being caughtby
a man cast-netting
themigratingshoalsofbottom-feeders
which ascend therivereach
dryseason,his mothershoutedacrossthe villagein a high whooping voice
Quick, sister-in-law,come runmngwith your basket. Such quantitiesof fishlike you never saw!

This is in starkcontrastto the rainyseasonwhen the fishare spreadout in thevastness

of the floodedriverand forest;thenmen hide theirsmallcatchesin theirnetsand tell
inquirers'There are no fish,just nothing'.Such carefulconcealmentof game is not
simplya sign of meanness,since the game is oftengive to those fromwhom it has
been so assiduouslyhidden. It is an attemptto controlwho receivesgame, forgame
will be givento whoever actuallysees it. A good catch,sufficient
to feed everyone,is
carriedthroughthe village.
openlyand dramatically
Presentsof game should be given to anyone who is hungry,i.e. everyone.The
most importantconventionis thatthe game a man produces should be given to his
wife. If the catchis easilydivisible,as with a quantityof smallfish,he may give some
to his close femalekin on the way back to his house, but she will receive the bulk of
thecatch.The woman will clean thegame and sendpresentsofvaryingsizesto women
she names.Such presentsare oftencarriedby childrenand maybe directlyreciprocated
by the receiver.The presentsflow in the names of women, even when carriedby a
child or by the man who produced it: the name used is usuallya kin termand the
like 'Your auntsentyou thisfish'.Men do not send
game is presentedwithstatements
game to each other,forthe assumptionis thatall men can obtaingame everyday and
a man's failureto produce game is a reflectionof his lazinessor lack of skill.Men will
ofteneat the meals servedby theirwives withoutenquiringwho caughtthe game.
This has the curious but highlysignificant
resultthatwhile women do not actually
produce much game manymealseatenby a marriedcouple originatein the circulation
of game among women ratherthanthe directproductionof game by the man.
The cycles of productivelabour in food productionhave theirend-pointin the
consumptionof meals composed of game and plantainsand of manioc beer. This
in strongor weak forms.But at the level of
productivelabour is gender-identified,
circulationthe gender-identity
of a product is transformed.
The relationsin which
thesetransformations
occur and in which food itemscirculatecannotbe understood
simplyin genderterms,but requirean analysisof marriageand kinship.

572

PETER GOW

Relationsofdemandand respect
The natureofmarriagein thenativecommunitiesoftheBajo Urubambais inseparable
fromthe natureof food production.The house in which the couple lives and the
gardenon which theydepend forvegetablestaplesare made only in the contextof
marriage:theyare thingsa man mustmake forhiswife.There is no otherrelationship
in which eitherhouse-buildingor garden-makingtakesplace. Unmarriedmen do not
build houses or clear gardensforthemselves.One old man put it as follows:
When a man wants a wife, he builds a house and clears a garden to show thathe is hardworking.

thisis not strictly

Admittedly,
true,formostnewlymarriedmen do neitherforseveral
years.Further,thisprescriptionobscuresa crucialaspect of the maritalrelationship.
An unmarriedman could only build a house or clear a gardenalone: withouta wife
to make manioc beer, he could not hold a collectivework partyand thus no-one
would help him. No otherwoman would make beer forhim. Similarly,while young
unmarriedwomen mayhelp theirmothersin cooking,gardenwork or in manioc beer
preparation,theyneverown houses or gardensthemselvesfortheyhave no husbands
to make theseforthem.
Only marriedpeople controlthe crucialresourceswhich make productionpossible
and theydo so throughmarriageitselfBut, equally,all adultsshouldbe married.There
isno place inproductionforunmarriedadults.Unmarriedadultsareunderno obligation
to do much work in the houses of theirparentsor otherkin and oftendo verylittle,
but theyareexpectedand constantly
urgedto marry.This is a factofcrucialimportance
in understanding
the economy offood productionin thesecommunities.The unmarned adult does not produce, or produces verylittleand sporadically,because he or
she has no-one forwhom to produce. The unmarriedare fedbecause theyare kin to
otherswho are producing,but theseproviderscannotdemandanyreturn,fordemand
is prohibitedin relationsbetween adult kin. The unmarriedconsume because they
have kin, but do not produce because they have-no spouses. The food they eat is
produced because theirkin are marriedand thusworkingforeach other.Unlike kin,
spouses can and do make demandson each other.
There is a fundamental
splitin thesocialuniversearoundthisrelationship
ofdemand.
This is indicatedin the term respetar
(Piro: gishinika),'to respect'. Relationshipsof
respectare characterised
by prohibitionon alljoking about the one respectedand by
an absence of explicitdemand. The mostthatis permittedis a polite request,oftenin
the high-pitchedregisterdenotingrespect.The mostintenselyrespectful
relationship
is thatbetween a woman and her son-in-law,which is characterisedby a complete
prohibitionon all but essentialconversation,which is carriedon in an extremelyhigh
and softtone. Other relationsof respect,of decreasingdegreesof intensity,
are those
between a man and his son-in-law,a woman and herparents-in-law,
betweenparents
and adult children,between siblings,between parents'siblingsand siblings'children,
and to a lesserdegree stillbetween more distantkin such as cousins or grandparents
and grandchildren.
The relationshipbetween spouses is not characterisedby respect:
spousesjoke about each otherand demand thingsfromeach otheropenly.
Theplaceofsexuality
The relationship
betweenrespectand demandis foundin thefieldoffood production,
but is most stronglymarkedin the area of sexuality.People whom one respectsare

PETER GOW

573

people with whom sexual relationsare prohibited.Since mostjoking is of a sexual

nature,joking abouta respectedpersonisalso prohibited.Relationsofdemandbetween
adultsare inevitablysexual relations.The relationsbetween spousesare constitutedby
thereciprocalsatisfaction
oftwo typesofdemands.On theone hand thereare demands
and on the otherdemandsforfood. Men demand of theirwives
forsexual satisfaction
thattheyharvestplantainsand manioc, thattheycook, thattheymake manioc beer
and thattheysatisfy
theirsexualdesire.Women demandofmen thattheycleargardens,
theirsexual desire.Failureon thepartof one partnerto satisfy
huntand fishand satisfy
the demandsof the otherleads to retaliation.Men who do not huntor fishforsome
daysare frequentlyfacedwith a wife who refusesto cook. She will eat with her kin
and provide nothingforhim. Similarly,a man will not huntor fishfora wifewho is
negligentin cooking. Serious negligenceleads to abandonment,which is tantamount
in thisarea thatthe
to divorce in thissociety.So common is abandonment/divorce
local Doninican missionariesrefuseto celebratemarriageson the groundsthatnative
people have insufficient
respectforthissacrament.Admittedly,theyare seldom asked
to do so.
The characterof the relationsbetween demand and sexualityon one hand and
respecton theotheris seen more clearlyin thecase ofsiblings-in-law.Conventionally,
these relationsare characterisedby extremelack of respect,since siblings-in-laware
expected to joke about each other at all times.This joking, among men especially,
takes the formof the attributionof homosexualityto the other. One day, as I was
sittingtalkingto a man and his sister'shusband,he leantforwardand said in a serious
voice, pointingat his brother-in-law:
I am a big man, a chief,for I have two wives. I have one over therein my house and I have this one
here.

bantering:one
Siblings-in-lawof the opposite sex are expected to engage in simnilar
woman paid a visitto her sickbrother-in-lawand whiled away the timedebatingthe
effectsof his seriousillnesson his sexual potency,saying'De repente
ya se ha podridotu
pico','Perhapsyourpenis has rotted'.
The relationof oppositionbetween sexualityand respectfunctionsto divide the
world into one of a rangeof potentialsexual partnerswho can be spousesand a set of
people forbiddenas spouses.But thissexualprohibitionestablishesanotherrelationship
which can be translatedinto
which refersdirectlyto food. The Piro termkshinikanu,
Spanish as respetuoso,
'respectful',also carriesthe meanings 'one who loves, thinks
about, remembersanother'. It is in relationsof respectthat food, especiallygame,
circulates.The productionof game and itsinitialmovementfromtheproducerto his
spouse occurs in a relationshipof demand. But beyond this,it is circulatedin the
relationsof caringwhich existbetween thosewho respecteach other.The expression
'he/sheloves me a lot, and alwaysremembersme and managesto give me something'
Thus thereis a close connexionbetweentwo
is frequently
heardofgame distribution.
modes of circulatingfood products and two modes of relationship:sexualityand
circulationthroughdemand on one hand and respectand circulationthroughcaring/memoryon the other.
The circulationthroughmemoryand respectis establishedbecause incestis prohibited,but, equally, the circulationthroughdemand and sexualityis established
throughheterosexuality.This is an extremelyimportantpoint, althoughone often
ignoredin anthropology(cf.Rubin 1975). It is a point one cannotignoreon theBajo

574

PETER GOW

because ifpeople are silentabout incest,which is almostnever discussed,

Urubanmba
theyhave a greatdeal to say about homosexuality.As I noted above, homo-erotic
joking is the orderof the day between brothers-in-law.
But it is homo-eroticismof
an interesting
kind,forwhat people findfunnyis not the idea of choosing a partner
of the same sex but the choice of organ.The receptivemale homosexual,the maricon,
is treatedwith ridiculebecause 'le han hechocomomujer','theyhave screwedhim like
a woman'. That thisis not simplymisogynyis attestedby the ridiculewhich attaches
to the penetratinglesbian, the tacachera
'to pound plantainsin an
(fromtachachear,
uprightmortar').Both are ridiculedfortheirfalserelationsto theirgenitals:one treats
the anus as a male vagina,while the otherpretendsto have a penis. Their respective
partnersare not ridiculedat all, fortheypreservea truerelationshipto theirgenitals.
The connexion between sexualityand food productionand circulationcan clearly
be seen in thesecases of genderidentityassociatedwithsexual deviation.The maricon
may be a sexual partnerto a man, but he can neverbe a wife,nor can the tacachera
be
a husband.In local popular belief,all are forcedeitherto conformto the sexual and
productivestereotypesor to leave the subsistenceeconomy. Maricones
leave forthe
towns and citiesof Amazonia, where theybecome prostitutes
and homosexual cooks
I knew was unique in runninga successful
and waiters,while the only active tacachera
shop in her communityand in actuallybuyinggame formoneyfromher neighbours.
Oral and sexualdesire
Having shown thatthereare systematicconnexions between sexual desire and the
constructionof thepersonas a producerin the subsistenceeconomy of thissociety,it
is now possible to link thissystemto the otherside of the obsessionof thesepeople
with food and sex. This is the fieldof oral desire.By oral desireI mean the desirefor
of hungerbut as sourcesof pleasure.Through
particularfoods,not simplyas satisfiers
an analysisof the connexions between sexual and oral desire, particularlyin the
metaphoricrelationsbetween food itemsand sexual substances,I will show how this
relationshiplies at the core of the subsistenceeconomy.
In termsoforaldesire,plantainsarenothighlymarked;people mayhave preferences
forone varietyover another,but seldomremarkon thevarietybeing servedin a meal.
In the absence of game,plantainsmay be eaten alone, but only to enganiar
al estomago,
'to trickthe stomach'(satisfy
immediatehungerpangs).But ifplantainsare not highly
markedas a source of oral pleasure,theyare essentialin two ways. First,game cannot
be eaten in theirabsence since thiswould cause sickness.Secondly,as I noted above,
at thewell-being
theyare whatpeople reallyeat; one man expressedhis consternation
of the missionschoolteachers,who eat neithermanioc nor plantains.
Game, by contrast,does satisfyhunger.Indeed, it is with referenceto game that
people generallymentionhunger.Times when game is scarce,such as the heightof
therainyseason,are referred
to as cuandocasimurrimos
de hambre,
'when we almostdied
of hunger'.This is a characteristic
but significant
exaggeration,fordeathby starvation
is unknown to local people. What such statementsreferto is a world lackingin oral
pleasure,as day followsday eatingonly plantainsand beans. The hungerforgame is
a hungerfororalpleasureand everymeal is accompaniedby commentson the relative
meritsofthefood being eaten. These include the speciesof game,fromthe extremely
desirablesuch as spidermonkeyand macaw to the slightlynauseatingsuch as anteater
evaluatedin termsof age, smell,colour
and alligator.Each individualcaughtis further

PETER GOW

575

and especiallyitsfatness.Further,each personhas his or herown particularpreferences

forgame speciesand oftenpersonalprohibitionson eatingcertainanimals.The desire
expressedfor game is intense,as it is forparticularspecies. People not infrequently
make statementsof the order 'I would give my life to eat collared peccary',or 'To
my mother,eatingcapybarais like a festival,forthenshe is happy'.
The link between sexual and oral desirecan firstbe exploredby notingthatboth
plantainsand game are metaphoricofthe male genitals.The termmitayomeans game,
but it is also a metaphorforthe penis. This is partof a sustainedseriesof metaphors
which linkgame productionto male sexuality.For example,animalsare said to 'want'
the hunter,just as women are attractedto him, and so make themselvesavailable to
be killed. Indeed, all the formsof huntingmagic, such as herbalbathsand tree frog
women as in attracting
poison, are said to be equally as effectivein attracting
game.
This is seen as a liabilityof theseformsof magic, fortheyattractall women. Proper
love magic,pushanga,
attracts
onlythedesiredpartnerherself(or himself,forlove magic
is also used by women).
Platano,'plantain',isalsoa metaphorforthepenis,whichis easilyenoughunderstood.
But the only food metaphorused forthe vagina is huayo,'fruit'.Why should both
formsof realfood be metaphoricof the penis,while a food which is peripheralto the
culinarysystemis metaphoricof the vagina?I thinkthe reasonis thatthesemetaphors
are not structured
simplyby directreferenceto the objectsthemselves,whetherfoods
or genitalorgans,but at the level of desire. The use of foods as metaphorsforthe
genitalsoccursonlyinjoking,fornativepeople have standard,non-euphemistic,
names
forthegenitalia.The use ofthefoodmetaphorsinjoking, I would agree,continuously
drawsattentionto the metaphoricrelationshipbetween oral and sexual desire,rather
thanthatbetween food itemsand genitalsas objects.
The scarcityand desirability
of game forall people is analogous to the scarcityand
ofwomen formen. For men on theBajo Urubamba,as forthe Sharanahua
desirability
men describedby Siskind,women are scarce. This is less a demographicfactthan a
statementabout a certaineconomy of sexuality.Women are scarcenot because there
are fewerof them than of men, nor because men are polygynous,but because they
controlwho theirsexual partnersare. The scarce women are young women, those
fromaroundpubertyto theirearlytwenties.Such women are the focusof the intense
sexual interestof all men who are not theirkin. They can affordto pick and choose
whom theywill sleep with and it is they,not young men, who are most criticalof
theirsexualpartners.They can affordthisselectivity
because theyknow thattheirkin
will defendthemfromany unwelcome advance. By contrast,young men receiveno
supportfromtheirkin in tryingto secure sexual partnersand mustrelyon theirown
resources.Indeed, a major motivationfor young men's entryinto wage labour in
lumberingis theirneed to generatecash to supply theirlovers with store-bought
presents.But where young men do receive support,and young girlsdo not, is in the
issue of marriage.The parentsof a young woman ally themselveswith one of her
lovers and oblige them to marryand work foreach other.While I never heard of a
young girlbeing forcedto marrya man who was not also herlover,therewere many
casesin which thegirlrefusedto getmarriedat all. The difference
lies not in thesexual
As a lover,
relationshipof the man and woman, but in theirproductiverelationships.
a woman receivespresentsfromtheman in returnforsexualaccessshe herselfinitiated.
As a wife,a woman mustwork forher husbandand satisfyhis desireforfood.4

576

PETER GOW

It is at thislevel thattheanalogiesbetweengenitaliaand food are operative.Women

never sufferfroma dearthof male sexuality,but theycan make finediscriminations
between the respectivevalues of different
men. Thus, forwomen, male genitaliaare
simultaneouslysuper-abundant,like plantains,and also open to infinitevarietyin
desirability,like game. For men, women are scarce, like the fruitswhich appear
seasonallyand arefrequently
stolenby otherpeople. Further,suchmetaphorsarejokes:
they elicit laughterwhen they are used. Siskindarguesthatit is because game and
women circulateagainsteach otherin theseeconomiesthatsuchmetaphoricequations
are possible. In contrast,I would argue that no such exchange takes place. These
on the natureof desire,not economic
metaphoricequationsare humorousreflections
balance sheets.
Maniocbeer
This point will become clearerif we considerthe othermajor termin the culinary
system,manioc beer. Technically, the process of making manioc beer transforms
low-value food (bothmanioc and sweetpotato)intosomethingwhichis highlyvalued.
People on the Bajo Urubamba have a strongdesireformanioc beer: a mild stateof
drunkennessis consideredgood in itselfBut thisdrunkennessis only good ifshared
withothers,in drinkingpartiesor duringcollectiveworkparties.It makespeople both
more livelyand more willingto work. But thereare contradictions
between drinking
manioc beer and otherareasoflife.The consumptionof manioc beer precludesgame
production:men will neitherhuntnor fishwhen theyare drunk.Conversely,ifmen
are seriouslyintenton hunting,theywill sneak out of the villageto avoid invitations
to drinkmanioc beer. Male consumptionof manioc beer is a source ofseriousmarital
tension.Husbands and wives oftendrinkmanioc beer separatelyand frequentlythe
wife wil not see her husbandfordays.Because men do not hunt or fishwhile they
are drunktheirwives and childrengo hungry.Women frequently
sayoftheirhusbands
'That one isjust a drunk.He goes offlooking formanioc beer insteadof looking for
food forus'. There is a surprisingcontradictionhere,forthe thingwhich takesmen
away fromtheirwives is a femaleproduct.But it is a femaleproductwhich circulates
among men in the names of men: men inviteothermen to drinktheirwives' beer.
There is a crucialpointhere. The circulationofmanioc beer,a femaleproduct,sets
up two formsof sociality.One is the collectivework partyforgarden-clearingand
house-building,and the otheris the drinkingparty.Both are essentialformarriage:
the firstin the set of exchangeswhich constitutemarriageand the second in bringing
togetheryoung men and women as lovers.Yet the circulationof manioc beer is in
contradictionwith the circulationof game. The giftsof game thata man givesto his
wife are centralto the relationshipbetween them,just as the giftsof male-produced
game between women are centralto the relationsof respectand caringwhich sustain
kin ties. Given itsimportancewithintheserelationships,
does manioc beer operateas
a metaphor,like game, plantainsand fruit?
Masato,'manioc beer', is not, to my knowledge,used as a metaphorof any sexual
or corporealsubstance.5However, the actual process of making manioc beer, and
variousritualusages,suggeststhatthissubstanceis a sustainedanalogyto the process
of the conceptionand birthofa child.The poundingof thelargemassofwhiteboiled
manioc and the constantadditionof chewed red sweetpotatoas it is spatinto themass
is similarto native people's accounts of copulation,in which white semen and red

PETER GOW

577

blood mix to formthe foetus.The pounding of the massin an aluminiumpot causes

thepot to swell out and is said to make the pot 'pregnant'(barrigona).
The fermenting
mass is storedin a paintedceramicpot which is explicitlylikened to a femalebody.
Further,the last dregsof manioc beer, thinand strongsmelling,are likened to ishpa,
'urine', but especiallythe amnioticfluidreleasedat birth.
When the lastdregsof manioc beer have been drunk,the remainingmassof fibres
is thrownaway to be eaten by domesticanimals.When a childis born,it is of course
kept.However, theanalogybetweenmanioc beer and childis maintainedin therituals
ofbirth:immediatelyafterthe childis born,thefatherofthe childis expectedto tomar
la ishpa,'drinkthe amnioticfluid'. He actuallyconsumes aguardiente,
cane alcohol,
which is treatedby nativepeople as a highlyrefinedversionof manioc beer.6
The analogygoes deeper still,forjust as manioc beer disruptsthe flowsof game
fromhusband to wife, a newborn child disruptsthe maritalrelationsof its parents.
This disruptiontakes the formof the couvadeprohibitions,which have been much
discussedforAmazoniansocieties.7In the case of the Bajo Urubamba,a crucialpoint
about theseprohibitionsis thattheyprohibitmost of the physicalbehaviourwhich
refersto marriage.Thus a man cannot hunt,fishor clear gardens,while the woman
cannot cook, wash clothesor make manioc beer. Nor can eitherpartnerengage in
sexualintercourse,
witheach otheror anyoneelse. Performing
theseprohibitedactions
causestheactivityto reboundon the child.The object oftheaction (theanimalkilled,
the tree felled,the clotheswashed) will communicateits essence to the child. Thus
jaguars cause the child to cryconstantlythroughthe night,forjaguars have powerful
nocturnalvision. The clothescause the childto writhein pain,just as theyare wrung
in washing. Sexual intercoursecauses coughing, as the man's semen lodges in the
child's throat.Food eaten turnsthe child into thatfood, while sexual activityturns
sexual fluidsinto the child's food.
Around the birthof a child, food and sex cease to be metaphoricallyrelatedand
transform
one intothe otherin thebody ofthe child.Gender-identified
food products
threatento transform
the child into a game species or a forestplant, while sexual
intercoursethreatensto lodge semen in the child's throat.Childbirththus effectsa
transformation
in the relationsbetween sexual and oral desire,notable also in the
father'sdrinkingof the 'amnioticfluid'.This is because the productionof childrenin
thissocietyis about the transformation
of flowsfromone sphereinto another.It is as
theparentsof childrenthata newlymarriedcouple become fulladultproducers,with
theirown house and garden.Equally, it is throughthese childrenthatthe demand
relationsbetween members of one generationbecome relationsof respect across
generations:the demand relationsbetween spouses and thejoking relationsbetween
into uniformrelationsof respectand caringbetween
siblings-in-laware transformed
ascendentand descendentkin.
It is thiswhich establishesthe analogyof the child and manioc beer. Both are the
summationofalltheflowsin theirrespectivedomainsofsexualityand foodproduction,
but both cruciallyaffectthe relationswithinthose domains. Without manioc beer,
therewould be no partieswhereyoung men and women meet,get drunkand initiate
thesexualrelationswhichlead to marriage.Equally,withoutmaniocbeer,therewould
be no work partiesand hence no houses or gardens,no plantainsto make a meal and
no house to eat in. But the cycle of convivialityand work surroundingmanioc beer
leads to the temporarycessationof game production,which is centralto marriageand

578

PETER GOW

the relationsbetween spouses. Similarly,withoutchildrentherewould be no young

men or women, no kin or affines,nobody to get marriedand to produce. But the
production of childrentemporarilystops the satisfactionof oral and sexual desire.
Manioc beerand childrenarethusboth crucialto thesubsistenceeconomyby effecting
the transformations
between flows.The analogybetween manioc beer and children
is not establishedat the level ofjoking, but at the level of productionand of ritual
practice.
do in thesubsistence
Hhat children
economy
Unlike manioc beer, childrenare not objects of desire,they are subjectsof desire.
Where then do they stand in this subsistenceeconomy of desires?Sub-adolescent
childrenarenotgender-identified
producers.Theirparentsseldomaddressthemexcept
to demand thattheydo something.The taskstheyare assignedare invariablysimply
an adjunctto adultactivity:steeringthe canoe while a man fishes,fetchingwaterfor
cooking,washingdishes,peeling plantains,and especiallythe endlesstaskof looking
afteryoungersiblings.The labour of these childrendoes not circulatein theirnames
fortheyare treatedas extensionsoftheirparentsin termsofproduction.Further,they
depend entirelyon theirparentsforfood: even older boys, who are encouraged to
huntand fish,depend on theirparentsforplantains.
Not onlyare childrennot gender-identified
producers,theyare not sexualsubjects.
It is onlywhen the child entersadolescence thatthe parentscease to orderhim or her
around and stopjoking at the child's expense. Simnilarly,
the derogatorynicknames
which parentsor other kin give childrenin infancyare dropped when they reach
adolescence, only to be replacedlaterwith nicknamesgiven by siblings-in-law.This
is because adolescentshave begun to acquire 'blood', identifiedherewithsexualodour,
and theymustcease to sleep withtheirparentsor siblingsand shouldsleep alone. This
is thepreludeto activesexuality,thesearchforwomen byyoungmen and thereception
ofloversbyyoungwomen. Pre-adolescentchildren,lackingsexuality,sleepwiththeir
parents,are laughed at and orderedaround. This revealsthatthe reciprocalnatureof
relationsof demand, ofjoking or of respectis exclusiveto relationsbetween adults,
while relationsbetween adultsand childrenare asymmetrical.
Lacking as theyare in sexual desire,it is the oral desireof young childrenthatis of
most concernto theirparents.Both men and women findthe sound of theirchildren
cryingfromhungerextremelydisturbing.Men would oftensay thattheyhad gone
fishingeven when theyheld out littleprospectof successbecause 'it hurtsme to hear
mychildrencryingfromhunger'.Childrencannotcontroltheirhungerpangsand can
withfood. But thereis anotherformof oral desireshown by children,
onlybe satisfied
which does not hurttheirparentsso much as infuriatethem.
When I firstheardpeople on the Bajo Urubamba say thatchildreneat earth,I was
not greatlysurprised.It seemed to me entirelypossible thattheydid so in order to
alleviatethesymptomsoftheirparasiticinfestations
or to gaincertainmineralsdeficient
in theirdiets.One day, as I talkedto the old man whose house I lived in, the subject
cropped up and I mentionedthatI had dim memoriesof eatingearthmyself,by way
of youthfulinterestin tasteand texture.He looked at me in horrorand slowlystated
'For all thatI am now an old man,neveronce in mylifehave I eatenearth'.Somewhat
startled,and now more waryin my questioning,I began to investigateearth-eating
more carefully.Childrenwho eat earthare called viciosos,
literally'vicious ones', but

PETER GOW

579

perhapsbettertranslatedas 'perverts'.When I suggestedto people thatpossiblythe

childrendid thisbecause of intestinalworms,theylooked incredulousand suggested
I had the causal link the wrong way around. The discoverythata child is perverse
causes immense fearand alarm. One woman forceddog excrementinto her son's
mouthin an exasperatedeffort
to cure him of thishabit.More orthodoxis a drinkof
theplantpirosanango,
which causesviolentand prolongedvomiting.Perversionof this
kind is alarmingbecause the earthcollectsin the child'sstomach,leading to a general
swellingof the body and then to death. From an adult perspective,it is a formof
suicide. One woman shoutedloudly at a boy believed to eat earth'Why do you do
this?Do you want to die? Do you want to go to the cemeteryand cryon your own
all nightlong?'
Why childrenon theBajo Urubamba should eat earth,and indeed whetheror not
theyactuallydo, is hardto say. It possiblyrepresentsa sortof bizarreinitiativeon the
partof the,child. Childrenare at a seriousdisadvantagein thissubsistenceeconomy.
Unlike adults,theyare not independentproducersand so depend on theirparentsfor
the satisfaction
of theiroral desire.But because theycannot demand anythingfrom
theirparents,theycan only crywhen theyare hungry.Given these circumstances,
it
does not seem totallyimprobablethatchildrenwill seek to satisfy
intensehungerby
theirown labour and eat the only substanceclose-to-handin any quantity:earth.
However thatmightbe fromthe child'sperspective,thisis not how parentssee it.
Froman adultperspective,thechild'shungerforrealfoodis legitimate.The satisfaction
of thishungerevokes love in the child and therebygeneratesthe respectwhich is
kinship.This real food is produced in relationsof demand between adult men and
women relatedas sexual partners.Given to the child,it makesthe child'sbody strong
and fullof blood. It is thisblood which will eventuallyallow the child to have sexual
work hard and create more kinspeople. Of viciosos,
relationships,
it is said no tienen
sangre,'theyhave no blood'. Blood, as the emblem of kin ties and as the source of
and sexualprowess,definesthebody ofthehealthy,activelyproducphysicalstrength
tive adult. In its lonely consumptionof a non-food,the perversechild destroysthat
withinitselfwhich has the potentialto turnit into a healthyadult with relationships
with others.Thus froman adultperspective,the eatingof earthis a sortof attackby
thechildon thefutureofthesubsistenceeconomy.Earthis producedbylabourwhich
in a relationshipwhichis not one ofdemandand is consumed
is not gender-identified,
directlyby the producers.Earth,the supremeantithesisof real food, is produced and
8
consumedin a perversecaricatureof the subsistenceeconomy.
On the Bajo Urubamba, it is childrenwho make the whole subsistenceeconomy
function,but only because they are the passive recipientsof the productsof adult
labour and are not sexuallyactive.What seemed to me an innocuous activityon the
partof certainchildren,the eatingof earth,is experiencedby adultsas a threatto the
entiresubsistenceeconomy.Perversechildren,in theeyesofadults,aremovingoutside
the subsistenceeconomy which gives life to people, and by destroyingthemselves
threatento destroythat economy as well. For this,and out of parentallove, their
parentsforcethem to vormitout the earthinside them. The subsistenceeconomy of
the nativepeople of the Bajo Urubamba worksbecause only certainformsof sexual
and oral desireare legitimate,and the desireto eat earthis not one of them.

580

PETER GOW

Conclusion
In summary,in thisarticleI have arguedthatin the subsistenceeconomy of the native
people of theBajo Urubamba a certainlimitednumberand classesof foodsare linked
to a certainsystemofsocial relations.I have not arguedthatthesystemoffoodsreflects
thesystemofsocialrelations,northattheprocessesofproducingthesefoodsdetermines
the systemof social relations.Instead,I have argued that each particularperson is
attributedwith a particulargenderidentity,both as a producerof specificfoods and
as a sexual subject,and is providedwith the routeby which to satisfy
both sexual and
oral desiresthroughrelationswith otherpeople. Relations of marriagebetween men
and women, based on mutualdemandforfood and sexual gratification,
are the central
productiverelations,but theyare both createdfromand create in turnrelationsof
caringbetweenkin. In thissubsistenceeconomy,people are made dependenton each
otherbecause theycannotpossess,as individuals,the totalityofproductive,sexualand
consumptivepositions.Adultsare sexual subjects,but childrenare not; men produce
some foods,women produceotherfoods;sexualdesirescan be satisfied
bysomepeople,
but not by others;the satisfaction
of oral desirescan be demanded fromspouses,but
only awaited fromkin. Sex and food are thuslinked togetherin a dense networkof
relationsof mutual desire, and thus constitutea fertilefield for both serious and
humorousmetaphoricexpansion.
The concern of Native Amazonian peoples with food and sex can thusbe seen as
partof a largersystemin which corporealprocessesare partof generalsocial concern.
As I noted in the introduction,such a propositionhas received attentionfrommany
of Native Amazonian societies.However, such analysesleave opaque
ethnographers
why corporealidioms should be so importantto Native Amazonian societies,rather
than any otheridioms. I would argue,fromthe data presentedhere, t1hat
the power
of corporeal idioms in such societies derives from the importanceof the sexual,
of the subsistence
productiveand consumingbody and itspleasuresin the structuring
economy.
This pointcan be relatedto Collier and Rosaldo's analysesof'brideservicesocieties'
(1981), a categorywhich includesNative Amazonian societies,and to the discussion
of thiswork by Strathern(1985). As Strathernpointsout, in such societies'itemsdo
not come to standforlabour and do not come to standforpersons' (1985: 197). I
would suggest,at least forNative Amazonian societies,thatthe body and its desires
lies at the heartof the economy,servingas a point of attachmentforsocial concerns.
These economies do not operate around the formulationof particularsubjects as
proprietorsof particulargoods and by extensionthe exchangesfounded upon such
nor around the giftexchange idioms of 'bridewealthsocieties',but
proprietorship,
rathertheyfunctionthroughthe relationsestablishedbetween people by means of
theirdifferent
bodies and corporealdesires.The idiom is notproprietorial
sincepeople
are not seen as subjectswho possess theirbodies or labour power. The idioms are
ratherthoseofcorporealidentityandintegrity
and how theseareproducedor destroyed
social
relations.Concern with the body in shamaniccuringand sorcery,in
through
what is eaten and what is not, in the endlessseriesof prohibitionsof sexual and other
in theimageryofkinshipand affinity
and in theritualconstruction
activities,
ofidentity,
so frequentlydiscussedin the ethnographicliterature,can thusbe seen as intimately
linkedto the particulareconomies of Native Amazonian peoples.
Livingin a Native Amazonian communityand hearingthe endlesstalkof food and

PETER GOW

581

sex, it is easy to imaginethatone is listeningto expressionsof simplebiological need.

Western formulationwhere bodily functionlies outside
But this is a distinctively
Societyin the realmof Nature and Necessity.In Native Amazonian culturesthebody
and its desiresare of immediatesocial significanceand the satisfactionof corporeal
thecreationofsocialrelations.Where Westem people benignly
desireissimultaneously
view a child's eatingof earthas a naive explorationof the pleasuresand pitfallsof an
unfamiliar
world,the nativepeople of theBajo Urubamba see somethingmuch more
project is to build a world in
sinister.In theireyes, the perversechild's horrifying
which its desiresmatteronly to itself.
NOTES

on the Bajo Urubambariverin Peru between1980 and

The presentarticleis based on fieldwork
1982. This researchwas fundedby the Social ScienceResearchCouncil of GreatBritainand by the
brief
was collecteddunrng
of London.Additionalinformation
CentralResearchFundof theUniversity
Overing,PeterGose,
return
visitsto theBajo Urubambain 1984 and 1987. 1 shouldliketo thankJoanna
on
Torenfortheirhelpand comments
CeciliaMcCallum,AndrewJonesand Chnrstina
MariaPhylactou,
earlierversions.
'subsistence
economy'withthemeaningthatit has recendycome
The presentarticleusestheterrn
has
As Fienup-Riordhan
on theCanadianand AlaskanArcticand Subarctic.
to acquirein theliterature
economyis not
pointedout in herstudyof theNelsonIslandEskimoofAlaska(1984), thesubsistence
specificsocialrelations
aboutthesatisfaction
of 'basichumanneeds'butaboutthecreationof culturally
of culturalyspecificitemsfromtheenvironment.
circulation
and consumption
theproduction,
through
of labourand
economy,the circulation
The presentarticlefocuseson onlyone partof thesubsistence
betweenlandandpeople.
ignoresthewidercontextofcirculations
goodsbetweenpeople,andlargely
2 A rather
byKaj Arhemin hisstudyoftheMakunaoftheNorthwest
simlilar
is putforward
argument
relationset up betweenfood and sex encodesthe
Amazon(1981). Arhemarguesthatthe metaphoric
He arguesthatproteinin the formof game
relationship
betweenthe Makuna and theirecosystem.
factorin
just as womenare thecriticallimiting
factorin theirecosystem,
animalsis thecriticallimiting
theirsocialreproduction
(1981: 196-206).
3 It is significant
thatthegameanimalsarelocatedin termsofwhatis knownabouttheirfeedingand
speciesis likelyto be
andfishermen
knowwhenand wherea particular
sexualbehaviour.Good hunters
thegamebyimitating
theirvocalisations.
People explicitly
feedingandalso,in somecases,how to attract
gamespecies.
to theparticular
statethatthesecallsaresexuallyattractive
4 Thispointsupports
in bnrde-service
societiesoffers
Collierand Rosaldo'sclaim(1981) thatmarriage
between
littleadvantage
to women,buta greatdeal to men,butI feelthattheyhavefailedto distinguish
to adulthood,and fullyadultstatus.Unlesstheyareveryold and
whicharea transition
earlymamrages,
possibleto find
to die soon,widowedor abandonedwomenon theUrubambado everything
expecting
This hasa
oftheavailablestockthantheiradolescentcounterparts.
a new husbandand arefarlesscrintical
fortheirchildren,
whichI discussin a latersectionofthisarticle.
greatdealto do withproviding
'mother'smilk',butthereversemeta5Manoc beeris occasionally
jokinglycaUedlechede la madre,
the comuse of 'maniocbeer' occursin shamanism:
metaphoric
phoris neverused.The onlystandard
is mimaatito,
'mylittlemaniocbeer'.
monesteuphemism
usedbyshamansforthecuringhallucinogens
6
Piro girl'sinitiationceremony,as the people drinkthe strongly
Similarly,
duringthe traditional
skirtinto a adultwoman'sskirt.
fermented
dregsof thebeer,the girlis changedout of her initiation
'mouthclothing',and are metaphoric
of women'sgenitals.As the skirtis
Skirtsare calledmkalnamchi,
changed,theguestssing:
numeta
konchoga
Konchoga,
Maniocbeerofthedregsmakesme drunk.
7 Cf Riviere 1974; Butt Colson 1974; Menget 1979.

8 Thereareadultviciosos.
theytendto be oldermenwho havelosttheirwivesor young
Signiificantly,
bothhavelosttheirsexualandproducwomenwhosehusbandsareabsentin lumbenrng:
newlymarried
tivePartner
and arefullydependent
on kin.Suchperverse
adultsdo not,I was told,eatearth,butrather
in theeconomyofmoney.
whicharegoodswhichcirculate
andcamphor,
aspinrn
ash,matches,
cigarette

582

PETER GOW
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-

L'enfant pervers: le desir dans une economie de subsistance Amazonienne

IndigZene
Resume
Partantde l'importancedes discussionssurla nourritureet le sexe dans la vie quotidienne des populations
Amazoniennes Indigenes,l'articleanalysela place du desirsexuel et le desirde nourrituredansl'economie
de subsistancede la population indigene de la riviereBago Urubamba au Perou. II decritla production,
la circulation,la consommation de la nourritureet explore le lien entrece systemeet la constructiondes
categoriessexuelles, les identitessexuelles et les relationsde mariage, d'affiniteet de parente. A travers
une analysede l'utilisationd'articlesde nourriturecomme metaphoresde plaisanteriedes organesgenitaux
males et femelles,il est argumenteque la sexualite et la nourrituresont rendus analogues au niveau du
desir. En dernierlieu, l'analyse de ce desir oral qui est interditchez les enfants,mene a la conclusion,
que c'est la constructionde personnescomme sujets de desirsparticuliersoraux et sexuels qui structure
les economies de subsistanceAmazoniennes.