The Yukuna of the Miritiparana River: Aspects of Cultural Transbordering

Abstract

Ethnologists subdivide the territory of the Amazon and Orinoco basin into several ethnic-cultural areas on the basis of ethnolinguistic and cultural differences. This subdivision, at the same time, is not sufficient to comprehensively represent the dynamics of social and cultural process in the region and leaves a number of important issues neglected. For instance, what is happening at the border zone where these areas come into contact or overlap? Where exactly in the Amazon and Orinoco region can we find such zones that we could term cultural borderland? Drawing on the results of the 2015 field trip to the Colombian Amazon, I argue that one of such zones is the Miritiparana river area populated by the Yukuna Indians. The article discusses the sociocultural appearance of the Yukuna which may be seen as a typical cultural borderland community. I compare the 2015 situation with the earlier settings examined during my research conducted in 2007 and 2014 in areas adjacent to the Miritiparana river.