A little Machiavelli in the Brazilian jungle

I was reading an article by an anthropologist called Gertrude Dole, who spent some time living amongst a group of indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon called Kuikuru. In this society, there is little concept of advanced agriculture, land ownership, or "profit", food is plentiful due to the fertile climate, and the societies are not hierarchical, with almost no recognised leader or concept of law, and that which existed was not backed up by an effective method of enforcement or punishment. Also, social attitudes were extremely permissive, regarding sexual behaviour or personal conduct. In fact, if a person was the victim of a theft, the only chance they had of recovering their property would be to catch the thief in the act and physically take it back. If they were robbed and did not catch the thief in the act and take the possession back, they would be seen as holding a grudge, which was taboo in their society as it led to suspicions of "sorcery", which could have them killed, as it was a crime very feared in that culture. In fact, Kuikuru were under pressure to appear amiable at all times, as not doing so instantly led to suspicions of withcraft and possible killing sanctioned by the whole community.

In such a society, the one individual with a lot of authority - though not hierarchically sanctioned or codified in any economic or legal sense - was the shaman. He was the link to the spirit world, which gave him the power of the "middle man" - one who could appease the spirits by rationing to them human victims on the one hand, and negotiate for better fortune on the other (though it wasn't authority as we know it, because it depended on him being able to "deliver the goods" and cure people, ie the position in itself did not lead to authority). In this way, European colonisers and their white predecessors, who came to recognise the shaman as the religious leader (viewing it through their own christian lens), would treat him as the representative for the Indians, and further elevate his status as middle-man, whereby he would perform the same negotiation with the state and with the god of "global capitalism" that he performed with the spirits. Some view this mythologising of shamanic powers as a supernatural expression of the way in which power was attained by individuals who were able to act as middle-men between the Indians and what were perceived as hostile external forces. But I digress.

One of the leading shamans on one reservation was called Metse. One day, a house caught fire (the one next door to Metse's house in fact) - very serious in a Kuikuru society as the houses were very close together and made of flammable material (though this day there was no wind, so the neighbouring houses were fine). So the people went to the Shamans to ask who had done it. Meste volunteered for the task, being the most respected Shaman in the village. Skilfully, he first consulted with the people to find out what they suspected - they believed it had been a flaming arrow shot by rivals form a neighbouring village, as bad blood already existed. Then, he began to smoke the necessary herbs. Eventually he was on the floor, convulsing. When he finally came out of the trance, he had the answer - the house had been burned down by rival tribesmen. however, there was one crucial addition - they had been trying to enter his house, to place a picture of a blot of lightning inside - a curse which would lead his house to burn down. However, they could not enter, so they entered the house next door and placed the curse there, and then burnt the house down so the curse would pass on to Metse.

2 weeks later, in a thunder storm, Metse's house burnt down. Suspicion immediately passed to the neighbouring tribe. But who could be so powerful to curse a talented shaman in this way? Metse fell ill, and had to be publicly carried to the lake to bathe every day. He then accused the shaman of the neighbouring vilage - who had a feud with Metse's family over a girl stolen from him by Metse's brother - of withcraft. So this powerful rival shaman was killed by the mob, and because of the fact that 1.) he had no family except for one effeminate brother and 2.) there as strong evidence of witchcraft against him, no-one avenged his death. So Metse became undisputed number 1 shaman in the society, with the authority to shape public opinion more than anyone else and effectively decide who lived or died - and his biggest and most motivated rival was eliminated.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but I think he burnt his own house down.

Some might call these people primitive or imagine their lives were relatively simple and uncomplicated, but they seem to have had a pretty sophisticated "political" system with just as much intrigue as any.

One thing to note is that in this extremely permissive society with very little authority placed on any institution, on private property or on any economic aims other than producing enough to live off - power rested with who you knew and whether or not people liked you enough to defend you and avenge your death (you don't kill someone so lightly if it means their family and friends kill you). Because laws could not really be enforced and those who wanted to defend their property were often accused of withcraft and of threateneing the peaceful and permissive nature of the society, then the shaman served as people's one recourse. In practice, the shaman would usually blame crimes - or witchraft - on unpopular or unintegrated individuals, because it was simply easier than risking the conflict inherent in objective law enforcement and the imposition of certain institutions. So the weak or isolated tended to be under great pressure to either fit in, or pay the price for the communities misfortune.

Also, the shaman could, as we see here, use his power to challenge threats to his status. Of course, it was a double edged sword, because he would not be respected for just being a shaman - he had to have got enough predictions "right" and to have "cured" enough people in order to win his authority.

So anyway, my agenda aside, I like the story. Especially the Machiavellian sophistication of Metse, which would rival any western politician (I think his ploy was MUCH bigger than that Reichstag storm in a teacup).