"Ese Eja Epona: Woman's Social Power in Multiple and Hybrid Worlds" by Daniela Marina Peluso

Daniela Marina Peluso

Deposited 2003

Abstract
Ese Eja communities are spaces of encounter and exchange between different peoples. On-going interactions and inter-marriage with deja (‘non-Ese Eja’) invariably challenge Ese Eja notions of identity. At a time when Ese Eja identity is increasingly contested and challenged by its very own conceptions of self and of social alterity, Ese Eja women ( ‘epona’) become important mediators between Ese Eja and deja through their strategic control of reproduction. My analysis offers an alternative to the typical association of Amazonian women as strongholds of ‘tradition’ within their communities—not by negating these associations—but rather, by exposing the co-occurrence and flexibility of several types of social positionings.

This work is not so much about women or gender relations, but about Ese Eja culture, as seen through women's diverse perspectives on personhood and identity. Centered mostly on portrayals of female agency, this ethnography provides detailed description of inter, intra and extra-community life. Drawing upon social, Amazonian, feminist, post-colonial and gender theory I use narratives by and about women to examine their ability to redefine and create new traditions within and adjacent to existing structures such as kinship, parenting, adoption, agriculture, marriage, naming, and healing. I frame this analysis through discussions about two domains over which women exercise considerable skill: internal conflict and the establishment of relatedness.

Taken together, the concepts of multiplicity—the flexibility of Ese Eja identities and cross-realities—and hybridity—what I call encounters of different livelihoods, lifestyles and beliefs—jointly offer an alternate theory of representation for Amazonian ethnography. Ese Eja narratives underscore how identity is in a continuous process of contestation and fragmentation, as well as rejoining and solidification. Theorizing hybridity and multiplicity is one way of conveying the sense of a moving target, the openness and plurality of Ese Eja realities, and the multiple and sometimes contradictory identities that challenge the representation of Amazonian communities today.