78
present case, the defining element among the Guaycurú is power. It is the power
scale of a being which seems to define the variety of bodily regimes for which it is
enabled. This explains why the beings of the time of origins, packed with power, can
simultaneously adopt animal, plant, human, astronomical and atmospheric shapes.
All these regimes are accessible for them, and they can transit through the most
diverse cosmic spheres. However, what cataclysms do is drastically reduce the scale
of power of many and with it the variety of their corporeality. Even today, and even
among humans, various bodily forms are accessible to those who have enough
power, or to everybody in moments of special power such as dreams or ecstasy.
Celeste Medrano (2013), developing ideas from Tola (2010), called attention to the
centrality of metamorphosis in the Guaycurú classifications of animals, and we
believe that this is a crucial observation. We add, in line with a long tradition of
studies in Chaco,
7
that power is the backbone of these transformations and their possibilities. That is why any classification is circumstantial and relative, as long as
what is observed is not organized from the perspective of the quesaxanaxa at stake.
As Medrano (2016) has stated, the nowadays common reference to humans/nonhumans or humans/animals/non-humans/non-animals, should be understood as
merely approximate. We should add that it describes, to some extent, the situation at
low scales of power, where everything is more ‘static’. However, when power rises,
like the temperature of a substance on fire, everything becomes more fluid, and the
divisions setting apart these categories vanish. Something similar occurs with the
cosmos as a whole, including time and space.
5 Power and Space-Time
The shape of physical space is, from the Moqoit perspective, strongly modeled by
the social trajectories, capitals, and relations among the beings, both human and not,
that inhabit it. For the Moqoit, physical space is an embodiment of a social field
8
of
cosmic scale. Given this group understands social relations as something mainly
defined by power, those especially powerful beings called quesaxanaxacic, and
their links with other beings, have a crucial role in shaping the world.
Therefore, to understand the cosmos as it is described and experienced by the
Moqoit, we must rethink the structure of ‘three main levels’; ‘laua, the central plane
that the Moqoit inhabit; the underworld; and the sky or piguem. This structure has
been extensively observed in various Guaycurú groups (Cordeu, 1969–1970; Miller,
1975; Terán, 1998a). However, as Wright (2008: 17) suggests,
9
these levels should
not be understood statically. Their defining feature seems to be the existence of
7 Authors like Cordeu (1998), Wright (2008), Ceriani Cernadas (2008), Citro (2008) and Gordillo
(1999), can be mentioned, among others.
8 Following Bourdieu.
9 Wright refers to the Qom, case, but both groups are strongly related and their conceptions on this
matter present numerous similarities.
A. M. López
present case, the defining element among the Guaycurú is power. It is the power
scale of a being which seems to define the variety of bodily regimes for which it is
enabled. This explains why the beings of the time of origins, packed with power, can
simultaneously adopt animal, plant, human, astronomical and atmospheric shapes.
All these regimes are accessible for them, and they can transit through the most
diverse cosmic spheres. However, what cataclysms do is drastically reduce the scale
of power of many and with it the variety of their corporeality. Even today, and even
among humans, various bodily forms are accessible to those who have enough
power, or to everybody in moments of special power such as dreams or ecstasy.
Celeste Medrano (2013), developing ideas from Tola (2010), called attention to the
centrality of metamorphosis in the Guaycurú classifications of animals, and we
believe that this is a crucial observation. We add, in line with a long tradition of
studies in Chaco,
7
that power is the backbone of these transformations and their possibilities. That is why any classification is circumstantial and relative, as long as
what is observed is not organized from the perspective of the quesaxanaxa at stake.
As Medrano (2016) has stated, the nowadays common reference to humans/nonhumans or humans/animals/non-humans/non-animals, should be understood as
merely approximate. We should add that it describes, to some extent, the situation at
low scales of power, where everything is more ‘static’. However, when power rises,
like the temperature of a substance on fire, everything becomes more fluid, and the
divisions setting apart these categories vanish. Something similar occurs with the
cosmos as a whole, including time and space.
5 Power and Space-Time
The shape of physical space is, from the Moqoit perspective, strongly modeled by
the social trajectories, capitals, and relations among the beings, both human and not,
that inhabit it. For the Moqoit, physical space is an embodiment of a social field
8
of
cosmic scale. Given this group understands social relations as something mainly
defined by power, those especially powerful beings called quesaxanaxacic, and
their links with other beings, have a crucial role in shaping the world.
Therefore, to understand the cosmos as it is described and experienced by the
Moqoit, we must rethink the structure of ‘three main levels’; ‘laua, the central plane
that the Moqoit inhabit; the underworld; and the sky or piguem. This structure has
been extensively observed in various Guaycurú groups (Cordeu, 1969–1970; Miller,
1975; Terán, 1998a). However, as Wright (2008: 17) suggests,
9
these levels should
not be understood statically. Their defining feature seems to be the existence of
7 Authors like Cordeu (1998), Wright (2008), Ceriani Cernadas (2008), Citro (2008) and Gordillo
(1999), can be mentioned, among others.
8 Following Bourdieu.
9 Wright refers to the Qom, case, but both groups are strongly related and their conceptions on this
matter present numerous similarities.
A. M. López