99
13 Conclusion
Throughout this work we have assessed how the environment encloses, for the
Moqoit of the studied communities, a complex weave of messages to be interpreted.
In fact, many Moqoit equate the ability of the ancients to ‘read’ these signs to the
current ability to read books. But, caught in the associations of a literate culture, we
may understand that this ‘reading’ of the environment means decoding a message
that merely describes certain events that have occurred or are yet to come. In truth,
however, the ‘reading’ of the ancients is deeply rooted in oral culture, where words
are not external entities, but alive and powerful, carrying intent and acting effectively upon the world. That is why in the Moqoit conception it coheres that the
environment, far from our own notions on nature, is a ‘social space’. In other words,
it is not just a semantic field, but a true bundle of intentions. For this reason, it is not
only necessary to read and interpret it, but also to find channels of action, which
entail many other relationships.
This is so because the Moqoit cosmos is, as we have discussed, an authentic
socio-cosmos. Its structure and evolution are fundamentally forged by the relationships between the various human and non-human societies that inhabit it. There is
therefore no place for a distinction between nature and society, since the world itself
is defined by being social.
The collectives that comprise the world have their own agendas, appetites,
desires and interests. Furthermore, they are asymmetrically related, since power is
not distributed evenly. Asymmetric power relations are a constant in the Moqoit
cosmos. This has led to their theoretical reflection being cosmo-political above all.
In it, knowledge deals with the management of these relationships and implies
awareness of the correct interpretation of the señas or netanec.
It is in this context that the idea of a pact, as a mechanism for managing unequal
power relations, becomes the nucleus around which an entire ethnoterritoriality is
built, one in which the ‘strange’, the out of the ordinary, becomes a signal of might.
Here, once again, our own assumptions can lead to us noticing contradictions.
Among the Moqoit, the world is seña not only when it manifests itself in sudden and
unpredictable phenomena, such as a meteorite or the sight of an unusual bird, but
also in regular ways, such as in the rhythmic movement of the stars or the timely
blossoming of the aromos. For the Moqoit, both the exceptional unpredictability
and the stunning regularity, are seen as unusual events that require the presence of
an extraordinary power and are therefore worthy of special attention and care.
In this sense we can notice that the conception of ‘physical laws’ as exact regularities that is for us the very foundation of the functioning of the cosmos, is not in
line with the Moqoit socio-cosmology. On the contrary, these kinds of ‘laws’ are, for
the Moqoit, exceptional regularities that require extraordinary amounts of power.
The same is true for sudden and very exceptional events. The ‘norms’ in the sociocosmos Moqoit are approximate regularities, in the same sense that we usually say
‘that person’ usually do this or that. The ‘norm’ in this case is a habitus, a custom,
a certain regularity in their behaviour. As can be seen, in one case we have a
Signs, Not Phenomena: Moqoit Cosmo-politics and Alternative Experiences…
13 Conclusion
Throughout this work we have assessed how the environment encloses, for the
Moqoit of the studied communities, a complex weave of messages to be interpreted.
In fact, many Moqoit equate the ability of the ancients to ‘read’ these signs to the
current ability to read books. But, caught in the associations of a literate culture, we
may understand that this ‘reading’ of the environment means decoding a message
that merely describes certain events that have occurred or are yet to come. In truth,
however, the ‘reading’ of the ancients is deeply rooted in oral culture, where words
are not external entities, but alive and powerful, carrying intent and acting effectively upon the world. That is why in the Moqoit conception it coheres that the
environment, far from our own notions on nature, is a ‘social space’. In other words,
it is not just a semantic field, but a true bundle of intentions. For this reason, it is not
only necessary to read and interpret it, but also to find channels of action, which
entail many other relationships.
This is so because the Moqoit cosmos is, as we have discussed, an authentic
socio-cosmos. Its structure and evolution are fundamentally forged by the relationships between the various human and non-human societies that inhabit it. There is
therefore no place for a distinction between nature and society, since the world itself
is defined by being social.
The collectives that comprise the world have their own agendas, appetites,
desires and interests. Furthermore, they are asymmetrically related, since power is
not distributed evenly. Asymmetric power relations are a constant in the Moqoit
cosmos. This has led to their theoretical reflection being cosmo-political above all.
In it, knowledge deals with the management of these relationships and implies
awareness of the correct interpretation of the señas or netanec.
It is in this context that the idea of a pact, as a mechanism for managing unequal
power relations, becomes the nucleus around which an entire ethnoterritoriality is
built, one in which the ‘strange’, the out of the ordinary, becomes a signal of might.
Here, once again, our own assumptions can lead to us noticing contradictions.
Among the Moqoit, the world is seña not only when it manifests itself in sudden and
unpredictable phenomena, such as a meteorite or the sight of an unusual bird, but
also in regular ways, such as in the rhythmic movement of the stars or the timely
blossoming of the aromos. For the Moqoit, both the exceptional unpredictability
and the stunning regularity, are seen as unusual events that require the presence of
an extraordinary power and are therefore worthy of special attention and care.
In this sense we can notice that the conception of ‘physical laws’ as exact regularities that is for us the very foundation of the functioning of the cosmos, is not in
line with the Moqoit socio-cosmology. On the contrary, these kinds of ‘laws’ are, for
the Moqoit, exceptional regularities that require extraordinary amounts of power.
The same is true for sudden and very exceptional events. The ‘norms’ in the sociocosmos Moqoit are approximate regularities, in the same sense that we usually say
‘that person’ usually do this or that. The ‘norm’ in this case is a habitus, a custom,
a certain regularity in their behaviour. As can be seen, in one case we have a
Signs, Not Phenomena: Moqoit Cosmo-politics and Alternative Experiences…