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Ungrateful predators: capture and the creation of Cofán violence

2015; Wiley; Volume: 21; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/1467-9655.12245

1467-9655

Michael Cepek,

Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights

In this article, I explore the history, logic, and practice of capture among the Cofán people of Amazonian Ecuador. Rather than acting as the subjects of capture, Cofán people have primarily been its objects. Centuries of pre‐Conquest, colonial, and postcolonial violence have exposed Cofán communities to repeated seizures by indigenous and non‐indigenous aggressors. Although capture by enemy others is a feared prospect that typically brings disaster, it also serves as the Cofán nation's central means of acquiring violent powers, which are essential to its defence. By investigating the uncertainties of capture as a productive process, I question dominant representations of native Amazonians as wilful participants in a cosmos of generalized predation, and I issue a plea for openness when considering the diversity of the region's peoples.