A Makuna woman cooking manioc bread. Manioc also known as cassava is the staple food of the Mukuna. - THOMAS L. KELLY

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The paintings on the fronts of the longhouses or ‘malocca’ as they are called, depict the cosmos and the four cardinal directions on the left side panel, whereas the right panel shows the local Mukuna symbols within the greater cosmos.

The idea of the interconnectedness of all things is central to the tribal way of
looking at the world. Practical knowledge of the environment, of crops and medicines, of hunting and fishing, is a byproduct of it. The Makuna believe that human beings, animals, and all of nature are parts of the same One. Animals and fish live in their own communities, which are just like human communities, with their chiefs, their shamans, their dance houses, their songs, and their material possessions. When human peoples dance in this world, the shaman invites the animal people to dance in theirs. If humans do not dance and shamans do not offer spirit food to the animal people, the animals will die out and there will be no more game left in the world. For the Makuna the radical disjunction so characteristic of Western thought between nature and culture, men and animals, dissolves.

Eastern Colombia Amazon, Vaupes region, Population: 600

Museo Silver Rag (Color Digital Print)
Dimesion: 10.411” x 16”
US$500
Edition 1/25

Mukuna Indian warrior

Portrait of a Makuna Man.

A Makuna hunter with a blow gun.

A Makuna woman cooking manioc bread. Manioc also known as cassava is the staple food of the Mukuna.

Women process Manioc- the staple food for the people. Bitter manioc is deadly poisonous for it had a high content of prusric acid. The Indians discovered how to prepare if for eating. The process involves peeling the flesh of the manioc and squeezing the poisonous juice out of it. A press is used for doing this which consists of a long hollow tube made out of flexible matting woven from the leaves of the forest palms. The manioc pulp is packed into this tube which is then hung from a post outside the house. The bottom of the tube ends in a loop into which a stick is inserted and twisted, squeezing the juice out. Afterwards the edible sediment collects on the bottom ñ tapico flour which is kept. This is toasted on a flat container until it acquires the consistency of toasted bread crumbs.

Makuna girl cuts up an iguana for the evening meal.

Makuna mother with her child paddle the Apaporis River in the Vaupes area.
Mukuna people are referred to as the Water People.

A Makuna woman cooking manioc bread. Manioc also known as cassava is the staple food of the Mukuna.

A Makuna woman cooking manioc bread. Manioc also known as cassava is the staple food of the Mukuna.

A Makuna woman cooking manioc bread. Manioc also known as cassava is the staple food of the Mukuna.

Original size: 864x580 |

Current: 800x537 |

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Keywords: amazon tribal south america makuna tribe vaupes basin eastern colombia amazon manioc bread tribal life

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