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The Perverse Child: Desire in a Native Amazonian Subsistence Economy Author(s): Peter Gow Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 567-582 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2804288 . Accessed: 15/08/2011 15:43 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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THE PERVERSE DESIRE

IN A NATIVE

SUBSISTENCE

CHILD: AMAZONIAN

ECONOMY

PETER Gow University ofEast Anglia

Startingfromthe prominence of discussionsof food and sex in the daily lives of Native Amazonian peoples, the articleanalysesthe place of sexual desireand the desireforfood in the subsistenceeconomy of the native people of Bajo Urubamba river in Peru. It describes the production, circulation and consumptionoffood and exploresthelinksbetween thissystemand theconstructionofgendercategories, sexual identitiesand relationsof marriage,affinity and kinship.Through an analysisof the use of food items as joking metaphorsof male and female genitals,it is argued that sexualityand food are made analogous at the level of desire. Finally, the analysisof forbiddenoral desire in childrenleads to the conclusion thatit is the constructionof persons as subjects of particularoral and sexual desireswhich structuresAmazoman subsistenceeconomies.

The presentarticleis an analysisoftherole ofdesirein a Native Amazoniansubsistence economy.1With referenceto the nativecommunitiesof the Bajo Urubamba riverin westernAmazonia, it explores the importantplace in the economy of particular formulations ofsexualdesireand desireforfood. Itis arguedthatthecodingsofdifferent typesoffood on the one hand and of different genderand age categorieson the other, constitutethe heartof the subsistenceeconomy. Concern withfood and sex dominatesthe dailylives of Native Amazonian people. The production,circulationand consumptionof food is the centraldramaof village life and sexual relationshipsare the primarytopic of everydayconversation.This concernwithfoodand sex hasbeen notedbymanyethnographers ofNativeAmazonian cultures.An earlyexample of thisthemeis foundin Holmberg'sstudyof the Siriono of Bolivia (1950), which is a portraitof a people obsessedwith food first,thenwith sex, and apparentlyverylittleelse. More recently,the same themehas been explored in ethnographies ofthenorthwestAmazon byReichel-Dolmatoff(1971) and Christine Hugh-Jones(1979), of the Mehinacu and Bororo of CentralBrazil by Gregor(1985) and Crocker (1986) respectively, and manyothers. These more recentanalyseshave not followed Holmberg in takingthisobsession at itsfacevalue, but have insteadstressedthe symbolicqualitiesof thisinterestshown in food and sex. Seeger et al. have argued thatcorporealityis a focal idiom in these societiesand thatNative Amazonian discoursesabout corporealityconstitutethe only theirconcretesocialpraxis(1979: 16). Simimode ofunderstanding non-ethnocentric ofAmazonia forpaying larly,ChristineHugh-Joneshas criticisedmanyethnographers littleattentionto the conceptualcontentof domesticlife(1979: 279). It is largelythe Man (N.S.) 24, 567-82

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influenceof Levi-Strauss'sMythologiques (1970; 1978), which begins with a seriesof Amazonian mythsabout food and sex, that has directedserious attentionto these problemsand has revealed how Native Amazonian cosmologies and discourseson societyare permeatedby metaphorsof bodilyprocesses. littleattentionhasbeen paid to therelationbetweenthisconcern However, relatively with food and sex and the subsistenceeconomies of Native Amazonian societies.An exception to this tendencyis JanetSiskind,in her analysisof the economy of the Sharanahuapeople ofthePurusriverin easternPeru. In an articleentitled'The hunting economy of sex' (1973b) and in her longer monographon the Sharanahua(1973a), oftherelationbetweenthesexual divisionoflabour Siskindprovidesan interpretation in this society and gender relations.She argues that the Sharanahua economy is structuredaround the exchange between men and women of forestgame forsexual favours.Game, the productof male huntingactivity,is naturallyscarcerelativeto the female-producedgarden foods, while women are culturallyscarce relativeto men because thelatterare allowed and expectedto have more thanone wife.This 'hunting economy of sex', as Siskind termsit, receives culturalexpressionin the jokes of Sharanahuawomen, when theygreetthereturnofa lucklesshunterwiththecomment 'There is no game. Let's eat penises!'.The same economyis also expressedin theritual ofthecollectivehunt,when women send men who are theirpotentialsexualpartners, but not actual husbands,to hunt for them. Siskindfurthermentionsmany cases of similarritualsand jokes fromotherpartsof Amazonia and suggeststhatthe 'hunting economy of sex' is generalto the aboriginalculturesof the tropicalforestregion.2 Where I would take issue with Siskindis over her representation of the 'hunting economy of sex' as an exchangeof goods betweenproprietors.Siskindtreatsthe flow of game and sexual favoursbetween Sharanahuamen and women as an exchange relationshipbetween the owners of two different objects: men give game to women in returnforsexbecause men aretheproprietors ofgameandwpmen aretheproprietors of theirsexuality.As Strathernhas pointed out, such unstatedimportationof a commodity-basedpropertylogic can seriouslyhamperthe analysisof social systemswhere suchidiomsare quite alien (1984). In thepresentcase, theimportationofthisWestern logic of proprietorship into the contextof Native Amazonian subsistenceeconomies obscurestheoriginalissue:people arenot talkingabout the 'ratesofexchange'between different commoditiessuch as game and sexual favours,nor about theirrespective propertyrightsover productsor theirown bodies. In Native Amazonian daily life of thesedesires people are talkingabout hungerand sexual desire,and the satisfaction by otherpeople. It is the natureof desirein these kinds of economies thatthe presentarticlewill explore.I will tryto show thatthe desiresfeltand expressedforcertainkindsof foods is systematically relatedto certaintypesof social relations.In particular,I will argue thatthe desiresforfood expressedby people in these econonies are not abstracted desiresthancan be satisfiedin a varietyof different ways,but ratherthatthesedesires link people inevitablyto certainotherpeople. In these economies, relationshipsare of particulardesiresexperiencedby the partnersin the predicatedon the satisfaction relationship.I will explore these issues as part of an extended analysisof a Native Amazonian subsistenceeconomy which is similarto thatof the Sharanahuadiscussed by Siskind.I explore the totalsystemof production,circulationand consumptionof food in thiseconomy,in searchof the codes which governit. Centralto the present

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articleis the question of how this economy functionsaround the constructionof particularsubjectsof sexual desire and desireforfood and how these constructions necessitatethe existenceof othersubjectswhich standin different relationsto these desires. The subsistence economy ofthenativecommunities oftheBajo Urubamba The Bajo Urubamba is a major tributaryof the Ucayali, which is in turna major oftheAmazon itselfThe areaitselfispartoflowlandAmazonia and is covered tributary in dense humidtropicalrainforest. I'he Bajo Urubamba is a largeriverby Amazonian standardsand the primaryorientationof the local population is to riverinelife and ecology. The nativepopulationof the area lives in communitiesrangingin size from 50 to 800 people. These communitiestend to be focused on core kin clustersof Piro-speakers,but with many affinesand other co-residentassociatesof non-Piro origin.The main languagesof the area are Spanish,Piro and Campa-Ashaninka,in that order. Most people in the area are fullybilingual,many trilingual.The major exceptionis among young people under 25 yearsold, who tend to be monolingual in Spanish.I use the term'native people' here as a translationof theirown term,los nativos.I will use termsfromthe local dialect of Spanish,which has been heavily influencedby Quechua, in preferenceto Piro or Campa terms. The Bajo Urubambaareahas been intensively integratedintotheworldcommodity systemsince the expansion of the rubberindustryinto the upper Ucayali region in about 1880, and all nativepeople are engaged in one way or anotherin commodity productionand exchange.Duringtheperiodoffieldwork, lumberingwas thedominant formofcommodityproductionin thearea,althoughtherewas a smallcashcropsector. The presentarticlewill not addressthe issuesof wage labour nor of the circulationof money in the local economy. With the exceptionof alcohol, virtuallyno food items are purchasedwithmoney,nor can subsistenceproductseasilybe convertedinto cash. a systemof boss/worker Further,the entirelogic of the local systemof habilitacion, relationsbased on extended indebtedness,is predicated on the insulationof the subsistencesectorfromthe commoditysector.The local bosses,patrones, depend on being able to find theirlabourerswhen productionis possible (i.e. when creditis availableto them),butmakeno attemptto preventthemachievingsubsistencesecurity. The firstquestion forthe presentanalysismustbe: what constitutesfood forthe nativepeople of the Bajo Urubamba?All varietiesof food available to nativepeople are organisedaround a centralcombinationof two typesof good. This is la comida, the meal, and refersto a combinationof a type of game (forestanimal meat or fish) and boiled or roastedplantains.When people say 'Ya hecomido','I have alreadyeaten', theyinvariablymean thattheyhave eaten a meal of thistype.While plantainscan be replacedby manioc and each typeof game by everyother,thereis no otherpossible combination.Even beans and rice,a popularAmazonian meal, does not rateas comida a real meal. While manyotheritemsare eaten; such as fruit,peanuts,maize, legitima, fungiand a varietyof insectlarvae, these never enterthe meal except as adjuncts. Normallytheyare eaten as snacks. People on theBajo Urubambaconsiderdrinkingplainwater(aguacruda,'rawwater') One transformation to be dangerous.Beforebeing drunkwatermustbe transformed. and mashed to create is to mix it with boiled ripe plantains chapo.Far more popular This is made fermented manioc beer. beer howeveris masato, by boilingand pounding

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up manioc and mixingit with masticatedred sweet potato. The resultingmassis left to fermentfortwo or threedays.To be drunk,wateris poured on the mass,mixed in and thenextractedthrougha sieve. This producesa slightly pinkishliquid thatvaries fromthe initialsweet stagesto the very strongand bitterlast stages.Native people preferthisstrongform.When available,manioc beer ends everymeal. This culinarysystemis locked into a circuitof production,circulationand consumption. I will show how the meal is locked into this circuit,beginningwith production.Vegetable crops are grown in gardenscleared in the forest.The initial clearingof the gardenis collectivein the formof the mingaor work-party.The man to whom the gardenwill belong invitesall the othermen of the communityto help. On one level, thislabour is paid forwith food and especiallymanioc beer provided by the host,but it will also be reciprocatedas labour since the host will attendthe mingasof all his guests.Further,native people say thattheyhave some rightto the cropsgrownin the gardenswhich theyhave helped to make: at least,theycannotbe lightlydenied iftheyshould ask forpartof the crop. The work of planting,weeding and harvestingthe gardenis done by the marriedcouple who own the garden,with help fromtheirchildrenand close kiniftheyneed it. The work ofharvesting plantains and manioc forcooking is primarilywomen's work and mustbe done everytwo to three days. Harvestingmanioc for manioc beer is also women's work and is more arduous given thatmore is harvestedat any 9ne time than is the case for cooking. While men may help in the harvestingand transportof plantainsand manioc, they will not cook eitherand most certainlywill not make manioc beer. The productionof game is primarilymen's work. It is an almostdaily affairand seldominvolvesan absencefromthecommunityofmore thana fewhours.The major problemboth in huntingand in fishingis findingthe preyratherthankillingit. The easiestprey to findare fishtrappedin pools in the forestby the fallingwaterlevel, which are killed by poisoning the pool with a varietyof vegetablepiscicides,while the most difficultare verylarge catfishfeedingin the deep riverpools, taken with harpoons. Hunting forestanimalsfollows a similarprogression:the easiestprey to locate arethosesmallbirds,rodentsand monkeyswhichfeedin and aroundold gardens, while the hardestto hunt are tapirand spidermonkeywhich are extremelywaryof people and live farfrominhabitedareas. Central to huntingand fishingas formsof production,and to nativepeople's models of these activities,is skillin locatingthe prey.3 The ease with which game can be located determinesthe extentto which women and childrenparticipatein production.Fish-poisoningexpeditionsare open to all, as is hook-and-linecapture-ofsmallerfish.Women do not participatein other formsof fishingexcept to steerthe canoe while a man fisheswith a cast-net.Women will accompanyhuntingmen to carryand reload the guns and will occasionallyhunt themselves,but thisis only when thereare no able men about. The sexual divisionof labour in productionis most intensein such stronglygender-identified tasksas manioc beer productionand the clearingof forestforgardens, but it is presentin varyingdegreesthroughoutfood production.However, when the circulationof food productsis analysed,the gender-identification of foods begins a subtle change. While native people consider that anythingthat a person produces belongs to him- or herself,thisis not separablefromthe proper destinationof that productas it is circulated.This destinationis determinedby the natureof theproduct and by the statusof the producerin relationto others,which I will now discuss.

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Plantainsand manioc are almost never given away in raw form.Someone who needs thesestaplesmay requestthem of a co-residentand will be told to harvestthe standingcrop in the garden.The presumptionis thatsuch requestswill seldom be necessarysince the structureof labour-sharingin gardenproductionmeans thatall marriedpeople in the communityhave gardens.Cooked plantainsand manioc are onlyevergivenaway as partofmeals,eatenin thedonor'shouse. Manioc beeris given The fermented away,butonlywhen itis servedto guestsin thehouse or duringfestivals. massis nevergiven to anyone. Manioc beer is the firstthingofferedto visitorsand if a woman has none she will apologise,forit is a seriousinsultnot to offerbeer ifit is available.Manioc beer is essentialto all parties,fiestas, whethergivenby an individual or by the community.The fiestais judged by the quantityof beer provided and any hintthatthehostsare holdingback anyfortheirown consumptionis a common cause of complaint.At mostfiestasmeals are also provided,but only once. Partlybecause the supply of game fluctuatesso greatly,it is a source of intense interestto nativepeople. The only timewhen nativepeople are casual about game is when it is abundant:in one case, when huge quantitiesof fishwere being caughtby a man cast-netting themigratingshoalsofbottom-feeders which ascend therivereach dryseason,his mothershoutedacrossthe villagein a high whooping voice Quick, sister-in-law,come runmngwith your basket. Such quantitiesof fishlike you never saw!

This is in starkcontrastto the rainyseasonwhen the fishare spreadout in thevastness of the floodedriverand forest;thenmen hide theirsmallcatchesin theirnetsand tell inquirers'There are no fish,just nothing'.Such carefulconcealmentof game is not simplya sign of meanness,since the game is oftengive to those fromwhom it has been so assiduouslyhidden. It is an attemptto controlwho receivesgame, forgame will be givento whoever actuallysees it. A good catch,sufficient to feed everyone,is carriedthroughthe village. openlyand dramatically Presentsof game should be given to anyone who is hungry,i.e. everyone.The most importantconventionis thatthe game a man produces should be given to his wife. If the catchis easilydivisible,as with a quantityof smallfish,he may give some to his close femalekin on the way back to his house, but she will receive the bulk of thecatch.The woman will clean thegame and sendpresentsofvaryingsizesto women she names.Such presentsare oftencarriedby childrenand maybe directlyreciprocated by the receiver.The presentsflow in the names of women, even when carriedby a child or by the man who produced it: the name used is usuallya kin termand the like 'Your auntsentyou thisfish'.Men do not send game is presentedwithstatements game to each other,forthe assumptionis thatall men can obtaingame everyday and a man's failureto produce game is a reflectionof his lazinessor lack of skill.Men will ofteneat the meals servedby theirwives withoutenquiringwho caughtthe game. This has the curious but highlysignificant resultthatwhile women do not actually produce much game manymealseatenby a marriedcouple originatein the circulation of game among women ratherthanthe directproductionof game by the man. The cycles of productivelabour in food productionhave theirend-pointin the consumptionof meals composed of game and plantainsand of manioc beer. This in strongor weak forms.But at the level of productivelabour is gender-identified, circulationthe gender-identity of a product is transformed. The relationsin which thesetransformations occur and in which food itemscirculatecannotbe understood simplyin genderterms,but requirean analysisof marriageand kinship.

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Relationsofdemandand respect The natureofmarriagein thenativecommunitiesoftheBajo Urubambais inseparable fromthe natureof food production.The house in which the couple lives and the gardenon which theydepend forvegetablestaplesare made only in the contextof marriage:theyare thingsa man mustmake forhiswife.There is no otherrelationship in which eitherhouse-buildingor garden-makingtakesplace. Unmarriedmen do not build houses or clear gardensforthemselves.One old man put it as follows: When a man wants a wife, he builds a house and clears a garden to show thathe is hardworking.

thisis not strictly Admittedly, true,formostnewlymarriedmen do neitherforseveral years.Further,thisprescriptionobscuresa crucialaspect of the maritalrelationship. An unmarriedman could only build a house or clear a gardenalone: withouta wife to make manioc beer, he could not hold a collectivework partyand thus no-one would help him. No otherwoman would make beer forhim. Similarly,while young unmarriedwomen mayhelp theirmothersin cooking,gardenwork or in manioc beer preparation,theyneverown houses or gardensthemselvesfortheyhave no husbands to make theseforthem. Only marriedpeople controlthe crucialresourceswhich make productionpossible and theydo so throughmarriageitselfBut, equally,all adultsshouldbe married.There isno place inproductionforunmarriedadults.Unmarriedadultsareunderno obligation to do much work in the houses of theirparentsor otherkin and oftendo verylittle, but theyareexpectedand constantly urgedto marry.This is a factofcrucialimportance in understanding the economy offood productionin thesecommunities.The unmarned adult does not produce, or produces verylittleand sporadically,because he or she has no-one forwhom to produce. The unmarriedare fedbecause theyare kin to otherswho are producing,but theseproviderscannotdemandanyreturn,fordemand is prohibitedin relationsbetween adult kin. The unmarriedconsume because they have kin, but do not produce because they have-no spouses. The food they eat is produced because theirkin are marriedand thusworkingforeach other.Unlike kin, spouses can and do make demandson each other. There is a fundamental splitin thesocialuniversearoundthisrelationship ofdemand. This is indicatedin the term respetar (Piro: gishinika),'to respect'. Relationshipsof respectare characterised by prohibitionon alljoking about the one respectedand by an absence of explicitdemand. The mostthatis permittedis a polite request,oftenin the high-pitchedregisterdenotingrespect.The mostintenselyrespectful relationship is thatbetween a woman and her son-in-law,which is characterisedby a complete prohibitionon all but essentialconversation,which is carriedon in an extremelyhigh and softtone. Other relationsof respect,of decreasingdegreesof intensity, are those between a man and his son-in-law,a woman and herparents-in-law, betweenparents and adult children,between siblings,between parents'siblingsand siblings'children, and to a lesserdegree stillbetween more distantkin such as cousins or grandparents and grandchildren. The relationshipbetween spouses is not characterisedby respect: spousesjoke about each otherand demand thingsfromeach otheropenly. Theplaceofsexuality The relationship betweenrespectand demandis foundin thefieldoffood production, but is most stronglymarkedin the area of sexuality.People whom one respectsare

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people with whom sexual relationsare prohibited.Since mostjoking is of a sexual nature,joking abouta respectedpersonisalso prohibited.Relationsofdemandbetween adultsare inevitablysexual relations.The relationsbetween spousesare constitutedby thereciprocalsatisfaction oftwo typesofdemands.On theone hand thereare demands and on the otherdemandsforfood. Men demand of theirwives forsexual satisfaction thattheyharvestplantainsand manioc, thattheycook, thattheymake manioc beer and thattheysatisfy theirsexualdesire.Women demandofmen thattheycleargardens, theirsexual desire.Failureon thepartof one partnerto satisfy huntand fishand satisfy the demandsof the otherleads to retaliation.Men who do not huntor fishforsome daysare frequentlyfacedwith a wife who refusesto cook. She will eat with her kin and provide nothingforhim. Similarly,a man will not huntor fishfora wifewho is negligentin cooking. Serious negligenceleads to abandonment,which is tantamount in thisarea thatthe to divorce in thissociety.So common is abandonment/divorce local Doninican missionariesrefuseto celebratemarriageson the groundsthatnative people have insufficient respectforthissacrament.Admittedly,theyare seldom asked to do so. The characterof the relationsbetween demand and sexualityon one hand and respecton theotheris seen more clearlyin thecase ofsiblings-in-law.Conventionally, these relationsare characterisedby extremelack of respect,since siblings-in-laware expected to joke about each other at all times.This joking, among men especially, takes the formof the attributionof homosexualityto the other. One day, as I was sittingtalkingto a man and his sister'shusband,he leantforwardand said in a serious voice, pointingat his brother-in-law: I am a big man, a chief,for I have two wives. I have one over therein my house and I have this one here.

bantering:one Siblings-in-lawof the opposite sex are expected to engage in simnilar woman paid a visitto her sickbrother-in-lawand whiled away the timedebatingthe effectsof his seriousillnesson his sexual potency,saying'De repente ya se ha podridotu pico','Perhapsyourpenis has rotted'. The relationof oppositionbetween sexualityand respectfunctionsto divide the world into one of a rangeof potentialsexual partnerswho can be spousesand a set of people forbiddenas spouses.But thissexualprohibitionestablishesanotherrelationship which can be translatedinto which refersdirectlyto food. The Piro termkshinikanu, Spanish as respetuoso, 'respectful',also carriesthe meanings 'one who loves, thinks about, remembersanother'. It is in relationsof respectthat food, especiallygame, circulates.The productionof game and itsinitialmovementfromtheproducerto his spouse occurs in a relationshipof demand. But beyond this,it is circulatedin the relationsof caringwhich existbetween thosewho respecteach other.The expression 'he/sheloves me a lot, and alwaysremembersme and managesto give me something' Thus thereis a close connexionbetweentwo is frequently heardofgame distribution. modes of circulatingfood products and two modes of relationship:sexualityand circulationthroughdemand on one hand and respectand circulationthroughcaring/memoryon the other. The circulationthroughmemoryand respectis establishedbecause incestis prohibited,but, equally, the circulationthroughdemand and sexualityis established throughheterosexuality.This is an extremelyimportantpoint, althoughone often ignoredin anthropology(cf.Rubin 1975). It is a point one cannotignoreon theBajo

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because ifpeople are silentabout incest,which is almostnever discussed, Urubanmba theyhave a greatdeal to say about homosexuality.As I noted above, homo-erotic joking is the orderof the day between brothers-in-law. But it is homo-eroticismof an interesting kind,forwhat people findfunnyis not the idea of choosing a partner of the same sex but the choice of organ.The receptivemale homosexual,the maricon, is treatedwith ridiculebecause 'le han hechocomomujer','theyhave screwedhim like a woman'. That thisis not simplymisogynyis attestedby the ridiculewhich attaches to the penetratinglesbian, the tacachera 'to pound plantainsin an (fromtachachear, uprightmortar').Both are ridiculedfortheirfalserelationsto theirgenitals:one treats the anus as a male vagina,while the otherpretendsto have a penis. Their respective partnersare not ridiculedat all, fortheypreservea truerelationshipto theirgenitals. The connexion between sexualityand food productionand circulationcan clearly be seen in thesecases of genderidentityassociatedwithsexual deviation.The maricon may be a sexual partnerto a man, but he can neverbe a wife,nor can the tacachera be a husband.In local popular belief,all are forcedeitherto conformto the sexual and productivestereotypesor to leave the subsistenceeconomy. Maricones leave forthe towns and citiesof Amazonia, where theybecome prostitutes and homosexual cooks I knew was unique in runninga successful and waiters,while the only active tacachera shop in her communityand in actuallybuyinggame formoneyfromher neighbours. Oral and sexualdesire Having shown thatthereare systematicconnexions between sexual desire and the constructionof thepersonas a producerin the subsistenceeconomy of thissociety,it is now possible to link thissystemto the otherside of the obsessionof thesepeople with food and sex. This is the fieldof oral desire.By oral desireI mean the desirefor of hungerbut as sourcesof pleasure.Through particularfoods,not simplyas satisfiers an analysisof the connexions between sexual and oral desire, particularlyin the metaphoricrelationsbetween food itemsand sexual substances,I will show how this relationshiplies at the core of the subsistenceeconomy. In termsoforaldesire,plantainsarenothighlymarked;people mayhave preferences forone varietyover another,but seldomremarkon thevarietybeing servedin a meal. In the absence of game,plantainsmay be eaten alone, but only to enganiar al estomago, 'to trickthe stomach'(satisfy immediatehungerpangs).But ifplantainsare not highly markedas a source of oral pleasure,theyare essentialin two ways. First,game cannot be eaten in theirabsence since thiswould cause sickness.Secondly,as I noted above, at thewell-being theyare whatpeople reallyeat; one man expressedhis consternation of the missionschoolteachers,who eat neithermanioc nor plantains. Game, by contrast,does satisfyhunger.Indeed, it is with referenceto game that people generallymentionhunger.Times when game is scarce,such as the heightof therainyseason,are referred to as cuandocasimurrimos de hambre, 'when we almostdied of hunger'.This is a characteristic but significant exaggeration,fordeathby starvation is unknown to local people. What such statementsreferto is a world lackingin oral pleasure,as day followsday eatingonly plantainsand beans. The hungerforgame is a hungerfororalpleasureand everymeal is accompaniedby commentson the relative meritsofthefood being eaten. These include the speciesof game,fromthe extremely desirablesuch as spidermonkeyand macaw to the slightlynauseatingsuch as anteater evaluatedin termsof age, smell,colour and alligator.Each individualcaughtis further

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and especiallyitsfatness.Further,each personhas his or herown particularpreferences forgame speciesand oftenpersonalprohibitionson eatingcertainanimals.The desire expressedfor game is intense,as it is forparticularspecies. People not infrequently make statementsof the order 'I would give my life to eat collared peccary',or 'To my mother,eatingcapybarais like a festival,forthenshe is happy'. The link between sexual and oral desirecan firstbe exploredby notingthatboth plantainsand game are metaphoricofthe male genitals.The termmitayomeans game, but it is also a metaphorforthe penis. This is partof a sustainedseriesof metaphors which linkgame productionto male sexuality.For example,animalsare said to 'want' the hunter,just as women are attractedto him, and so make themselvesavailable to be killed. Indeed, all the formsof huntingmagic, such as herbalbathsand tree frog women as in attracting poison, are said to be equally as effectivein attracting game. This is seen as a liabilityof theseformsof magic, fortheyattractall women. Proper love magic,pushanga, attracts onlythedesiredpartnerherself(or himself,forlove magic is also used by women). Platano,'plantain',isalsoa metaphorforthepenis,whichis easilyenoughunderstood. But the only food metaphorused forthe vagina is huayo,'fruit'.Why should both formsof realfood be metaphoricof the penis,while a food which is peripheralto the culinarysystemis metaphoricof the vagina?I thinkthe reasonis thatthesemetaphors are not structured simplyby directreferenceto the objectsthemselves,whetherfoods or genitalorgans,but at the level of desire. The use of foods as metaphorsforthe genitalsoccursonlyinjoking,fornativepeople have standard,non-euphemistic, names forthegenitalia.The use ofthefoodmetaphorsinjoking, I would agree,continuously drawsattentionto the metaphoricrelationshipbetween oral and sexual desire,rather thanthatbetween food itemsand genitalsas objects. The scarcityand desirability of game forall people is analogous to the scarcityand ofwomen formen. For men on theBajo Urubamba,as forthe Sharanahua desirability men describedby Siskind,women are scarce. This is less a demographicfactthan a statementabout a certaineconomy of sexuality.Women are scarcenot because there are fewerof them than of men, nor because men are polygynous,but because they controlwho theirsexual partnersare. The scarce women are young women, those fromaroundpubertyto theirearlytwenties.Such women are the focusof the intense sexual interestof all men who are not theirkin. They can affordto pick and choose whom theywill sleep with and it is they,not young men, who are most criticalof theirsexualpartners.They can affordthisselectivity because theyknow thattheirkin will defendthemfromany unwelcome advance. By contrast,young men receiveno supportfromtheirkin in tryingto secure sexual partnersand mustrelyon theirown resources.Indeed, a major motivationfor young men's entryinto wage labour in lumberingis theirneed to generatecash to supply theirlovers with store-bought presents.But where young men do receive support,and young girlsdo not, is in the issue of marriage.The parentsof a young woman ally themselveswith one of her lovers and oblige them to marryand work foreach other.While I never heard of a young girlbeing forcedto marrya man who was not also herlover,therewere many casesin which thegirlrefusedto getmarriedat all. The difference lies not in thesexual As a lover, relationshipof the man and woman, but in theirproductiverelationships. a woman receivespresentsfromtheman in returnforsexualaccessshe herselfinitiated. As a wife,a woman mustwork forher husbandand satisfyhis desireforfood.4

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It is at thislevel thattheanalogiesbetweengenitaliaand food are operative.Women never sufferfroma dearthof male sexuality,but theycan make finediscriminations between the respectivevalues of different men. Thus, forwomen, male genitaliaare simultaneouslysuper-abundant,like plantains,and also open to infinitevarietyin desirability,like game. For men, women are scarce, like the fruitswhich appear seasonallyand arefrequently stolenby otherpeople. Further,suchmetaphorsarejokes: they elicit laughterwhen they are used. Siskindarguesthatit is because game and women circulateagainsteach otherin theseeconomiesthatsuchmetaphoricequations are possible. In contrast,I would argue that no such exchange takes place. These on the natureof desire,not economic metaphoricequationsare humorousreflections balance sheets. Maniocbeer This point will become clearerif we considerthe othermajor termin the culinary system,manioc beer. Technically, the process of making manioc beer transforms low-value food (bothmanioc and sweetpotato)intosomethingwhichis highlyvalued. People on the Bajo Urubamba have a strongdesireformanioc beer: a mild stateof drunkennessis consideredgood in itselfBut thisdrunkennessis only good ifshared withothers,in drinkingpartiesor duringcollectiveworkparties.It makespeople both more livelyand more willingto work. But thereare contradictions between drinking manioc beer and otherareasoflife.The consumptionof manioc beer precludesgame production:men will neitherhuntnor fishwhen theyare drunk.Conversely,ifmen are seriouslyintenton hunting,theywill sneak out of the villageto avoid invitations to drinkmanioc beer. Male consumptionof manioc beer is a source ofseriousmarital tension.Husbands and wives oftendrinkmanioc beer separatelyand frequentlythe wife wil not see her husbandfordays.Because men do not hunt or fishwhile they are drunktheirwives and childrengo hungry.Women frequently sayoftheirhusbands 'That one isjust a drunk.He goes offlooking formanioc beer insteadof looking for food forus'. There is a surprisingcontradictionhere,forthe thingwhich takesmen away fromtheirwives is a femaleproduct.But it is a femaleproductwhich circulates among men in the names of men: men inviteothermen to drinktheirwives' beer. There is a crucialpointhere. The circulationofmanioc beer,a femaleproduct,sets up two formsof sociality.One is the collectivework partyforgarden-clearingand house-building,and the otheris the drinkingparty.Both are essentialformarriage: the firstin the set of exchangeswhich constitutemarriageand the second in bringing togetheryoung men and women as lovers.Yet the circulationof manioc beer is in contradictionwith the circulationof game. The giftsof game thata man givesto his wife are centralto the relationshipbetween them,just as the giftsof male-produced game between women are centralto the relationsof respectand caringwhich sustain kin ties. Given itsimportancewithintheserelationships, does manioc beer operateas a metaphor,like game, plantainsand fruit? Masato,'manioc beer', is not, to my knowledge,used as a metaphorof any sexual or corporealsubstance.5However, the actual process of making manioc beer, and variousritualusages,suggeststhatthissubstanceis a sustainedanalogyto the process of the conceptionand birthofa child.The poundingof thelargemassofwhiteboiled manioc and the constantadditionof chewed red sweetpotatoas it is spatinto themass is similarto native people's accounts of copulation,in which white semen and red

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blood mix to formthe foetus.The pounding of the massin an aluminiumpot causes thepot to swell out and is said to make the pot 'pregnant'(barrigona). The fermenting mass is storedin a paintedceramicpot which is explicitlylikened to a femalebody. Further,the last dregsof manioc beer, thinand strongsmelling,are likened to ishpa, 'urine', but especiallythe amnioticfluidreleasedat birth. When the lastdregsof manioc beer have been drunk,the remainingmassof fibres is thrownaway to be eaten by domesticanimals.When a childis born,it is of course kept.However, theanalogybetweenmanioc beer and childis maintainedin therituals ofbirth:immediatelyafterthe childis born,thefatherofthe childis expectedto tomar la ishpa,'drinkthe amnioticfluid'. He actuallyconsumes aguardiente, cane alcohol, which is treatedby nativepeople as a highlyrefinedversionof manioc beer.6 The analogygoes deeper still,forjust as manioc beer disruptsthe flowsof game fromhusband to wife, a newborn child disruptsthe maritalrelationsof its parents. This disruptiontakes the formof the couvadeprohibitions,which have been much discussedforAmazoniansocieties.7In the case of the Bajo Urubamba,a crucialpoint about theseprohibitionsis thattheyprohibitmost of the physicalbehaviourwhich refersto marriage.Thus a man cannot hunt,fishor clear gardens,while the woman cannot cook, wash clothesor make manioc beer. Nor can eitherpartnerengage in sexualintercourse, witheach otheror anyoneelse. Performing theseprohibitedactions causestheactivityto reboundon the child.The object oftheaction (theanimalkilled, the tree felled,the clotheswashed) will communicateits essence to the child. Thus jaguars cause the child to cryconstantlythroughthe night,forjaguars have powerful nocturnalvision. The clothescause the childto writhein pain,just as theyare wrung in washing. Sexual intercoursecauses coughing, as the man's semen lodges in the child's throat.Food eaten turnsthe child into thatfood, while sexual activityturns sexual fluidsinto the child's food. Around the birthof a child, food and sex cease to be metaphoricallyrelatedand transform one intothe otherin thebody ofthe child.Gender-identified food products threatento transform the child into a game species or a forestplant, while sexual intercoursethreatensto lodge semen in the child's throat.Childbirththus effectsa transformation in the relationsbetween sexual and oral desire,notable also in the father'sdrinkingof the 'amnioticfluid'.This is because the productionof childrenin thissocietyis about the transformation of flowsfromone sphereinto another.It is as theparentsof childrenthata newlymarriedcouple become fulladultproducers,with theirown house and garden.Equally, it is throughthese childrenthatthe demand relationsbetween members of one generationbecome relationsof respect across generations:the demand relationsbetween spouses and thejoking relationsbetween into uniformrelationsof respectand caringbetween siblings-in-laware transformed ascendentand descendentkin. It is thiswhich establishesthe analogyof the child and manioc beer. Both are the summationofalltheflowsin theirrespectivedomainsofsexualityand foodproduction, but both cruciallyaffectthe relationswithinthose domains. Without manioc beer, therewould be no partieswhereyoung men and women meet,get drunkand initiate thesexualrelationswhichlead to marriage.Equally,withoutmaniocbeer,therewould be no work partiesand hence no houses or gardens,no plantainsto make a meal and no house to eat in. But the cycle of convivialityand work surroundingmanioc beer leads to the temporarycessationof game production,which is centralto marriageand

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the relationsbetween spouses. Similarly,withoutchildrentherewould be no young men or women, no kin or affines,nobody to get marriedand to produce. But the production of childrentemporarilystops the satisfactionof oral and sexual desire. Manioc beerand childrenarethusboth crucialto thesubsistenceeconomyby effecting the transformations between flows.The analogybetween manioc beer and children is not establishedat the level ofjoking, but at the level of productionand of ritual practice. do in thesubsistence Hhat children economy Unlike manioc beer, childrenare not objects of desire,they are subjectsof desire. Where then do they stand in this subsistenceeconomy of desires?Sub-adolescent childrenarenotgender-identified producers.Theirparentsseldomaddressthemexcept to demand thattheydo something.The taskstheyare assignedare invariablysimply an adjunctto adultactivity:steeringthe canoe while a man fishes,fetchingwaterfor cooking,washingdishes,peeling plantains,and especiallythe endlesstaskof looking afteryoungersiblings.The labour of these childrendoes not circulatein theirnames fortheyare treatedas extensionsoftheirparentsin termsofproduction.Further,they depend entirelyon theirparentsforfood: even older boys, who are encouraged to huntand fish,depend on theirparentsforplantains. Not onlyare childrennot gender-identified producers,theyare not sexualsubjects. It is onlywhen the child entersadolescence thatthe parentscease to orderhim or her around and stopjoking at the child's expense. Simnilarly, the derogatorynicknames which parentsor other kin give childrenin infancyare dropped when they reach adolescence, only to be replacedlaterwith nicknamesgiven by siblings-in-law.This is because adolescentshave begun to acquire 'blood', identifiedherewithsexualodour, and theymustcease to sleep withtheirparentsor siblingsand shouldsleep alone. This is thepreludeto activesexuality,thesearchforwomen byyoungmen and thereception ofloversbyyoungwomen. Pre-adolescentchildren,lackingsexuality,sleepwiththeir parents,are laughed at and orderedaround. This revealsthatthe reciprocalnatureof relationsof demand, ofjoking or of respectis exclusiveto relationsbetween adults, while relationsbetween adultsand childrenare asymmetrical. Lacking as theyare in sexual desire,it is the oral desireof young childrenthatis of most concernto theirparents.Both men and women findthe sound of theirchildren cryingfromhungerextremelydisturbing.Men would oftensay thattheyhad gone fishingeven when theyheld out littleprospectof successbecause 'it hurtsme to hear mychildrencryingfromhunger'.Childrencannotcontroltheirhungerpangsand can withfood. But thereis anotherformof oral desireshown by children, onlybe satisfied which does not hurttheirparentsso much as infuriatethem. When I firstheardpeople on the Bajo Urubamba say thatchildreneat earth,I was not greatlysurprised.It seemed to me entirelypossible thattheydid so in order to alleviatethesymptomsoftheirparasiticinfestations or to gaincertainmineralsdeficient in theirdiets.One day, as I talkedto the old man whose house I lived in, the subject cropped up and I mentionedthatI had dim memoriesof eatingearthmyself,by way of youthfulinterestin tasteand texture.He looked at me in horrorand slowlystated 'For all thatI am now an old man,neveronce in mylifehave I eatenearth'.Somewhat startled,and now more waryin my questioning,I began to investigateearth-eating more carefully.Childrenwho eat earthare called viciosos, literally'vicious ones', but

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perhapsbettertranslatedas 'perverts'.When I suggestedto people thatpossiblythe childrendid thisbecause of intestinalworms,theylooked incredulousand suggested I had the causal link the wrong way around. The discoverythata child is perverse causes immense fearand alarm. One woman forceddog excrementinto her son's mouthin an exasperatedeffort to cure him of thishabit.More orthodoxis a drinkof theplantpirosanango, which causesviolentand prolongedvomiting.Perversionof this kind is alarmingbecause the earthcollectsin the child'sstomach,leading to a general swellingof the body and then to death. From an adult perspective,it is a formof suicide. One woman shoutedloudly at a boy believed to eat earth'Why do you do this?Do you want to die? Do you want to go to the cemeteryand cryon your own all nightlong?' Why childrenon theBajo Urubamba should eat earth,and indeed whetheror not theyactuallydo, is hardto say. It possiblyrepresentsa sortof bizarreinitiativeon the partof the,child. Childrenare at a seriousdisadvantagein thissubsistenceeconomy. Unlike adults,theyare not independentproducersand so depend on theirparentsfor the satisfaction of theiroral desire.But because theycannot demand anythingfrom theirparents,theycan only crywhen theyare hungry.Given these circumstances, it does not seem totallyimprobablethatchildrenwill seek to satisfy intensehungerby theirown labour and eat the only substanceclose-to-handin any quantity:earth. However thatmightbe fromthe child'sperspective,thisis not how parentssee it. Froman adultperspective,thechild'shungerforrealfoodis legitimate.The satisfaction of thishungerevokes love in the child and therebygeneratesthe respectwhich is kinship.This real food is produced in relationsof demand between adult men and women relatedas sexual partners.Given to the child,it makesthe child'sbody strong and fullof blood. It is thisblood which will eventuallyallow the child to have sexual work hard and create more kinspeople. Of viciosos, relationships, it is said no tienen sangre,'theyhave no blood'. Blood, as the emblem of kin ties and as the source of and sexualprowess,definesthebody ofthehealthy,activelyproducphysicalstrength tive adult. In its lonely consumptionof a non-food,the perversechild destroysthat withinitselfwhich has the potentialto turnit into a healthyadult with relationships with others.Thus froman adultperspective,the eatingof earthis a sortof attackby thechildon thefutureofthesubsistenceeconomy.Earthis producedbylabourwhich in a relationshipwhichis not one ofdemandand is consumed is not gender-identified, directlyby the producers.Earth,the supremeantithesisof real food, is produced and 8 consumedin a perversecaricatureof the subsistenceeconomy. On the Bajo Urubamba, it is childrenwho make the whole subsistenceeconomy function,but only because they are the passive recipientsof the productsof adult labour and are not sexuallyactive.What seemed to me an innocuous activityon the partof certainchildren,the eatingof earth,is experiencedby adultsas a threatto the entiresubsistenceeconomy.Perversechildren,in theeyesofadults,aremovingoutside the subsistenceeconomy which gives life to people, and by destroyingthemselves threatento destroythat economy as well. For this,and out of parentallove, their parentsforcethem to vormitout the earthinside them. The subsistenceeconomy of the nativepeople of the Bajo Urubamba worksbecause only certainformsof sexual and oral desireare legitimate,and the desireto eat earthis not one of them.

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Conclusion In summary,in thisarticleI have arguedthatin the subsistenceeconomy of the native people of theBajo Urubamba a certainlimitednumberand classesof foodsare linked to a certainsystemofsocial relations.I have not arguedthatthesystemoffoodsreflects thesystemofsocialrelations,northattheprocessesofproducingthesefoodsdetermines the systemof social relations.Instead,I have argued that each particularperson is attributedwith a particulargenderidentity,both as a producerof specificfoods and as a sexual subject,and is providedwith the routeby which to satisfy both sexual and oral desiresthroughrelationswith otherpeople. Relations of marriagebetween men and women, based on mutualdemandforfood and sexual gratification, are the central productiverelations,but theyare both createdfromand create in turnrelationsof caringbetweenkin. In thissubsistenceeconomy,people are made dependenton each otherbecause theycannotpossess,as individuals,the totalityofproductive,sexualand consumptivepositions.Adultsare sexual subjects,but childrenare not; men produce some foods,women produceotherfoods;sexualdesirescan be satisfied bysomepeople, but not by others;the satisfaction of oral desirescan be demanded fromspouses,but only awaited fromkin. Sex and food are thuslinked togetherin a dense networkof relationsof mutual desire, and thus constitutea fertilefield for both serious and humorousmetaphoricexpansion. The concern of Native Amazonian peoples with food and sex can thusbe seen as partof a largersystemin which corporealprocessesare partof generalsocial concern. As I noted in the introduction,such a propositionhas received attentionfrommany of Native Amazonian societies.However, such analysesleave opaque ethnographers why corporealidioms should be so importantto Native Amazonian societies,rather than any otheridioms. I would argue,fromthe data presentedhere, t1hat the power of corporeal idioms in such societies derives from the importanceof the sexual, of the subsistence productiveand consumingbody and itspleasuresin the structuring economy. This pointcan be relatedto Collier and Rosaldo's analysesof'brideservicesocieties' (1981), a categorywhich includesNative Amazonian societies,and to the discussion of thiswork by Strathern(1985). As Strathernpointsout, in such societies'itemsdo not come to standforlabour and do not come to standforpersons' (1985: 197). I would suggest,at least forNative Amazonian societies,thatthe body and its desires lies at the heartof the economy,servingas a point of attachmentforsocial concerns. These economies do not operate around the formulationof particularsubjects as proprietorsof particulargoods and by extensionthe exchangesfounded upon such nor around the giftexchange idioms of 'bridewealthsocieties',but proprietorship, rathertheyfunctionthroughthe relationsestablishedbetween people by means of theirdifferent bodies and corporealdesires.The idiom is notproprietorial sincepeople are not seen as subjectswho possess theirbodies or labour power. The idioms are ratherthoseofcorporealidentityandintegrity and how theseareproducedor destroyed social relations.Concern with the body in shamaniccuringand sorcery,in through what is eaten and what is not, in the endlessseriesof prohibitionsof sexual and other in theimageryofkinshipand affinity and in theritualconstruction activities, ofidentity, so frequentlydiscussedin the ethnographicliterature,can thusbe seen as intimately linkedto the particulareconomies of Native Amazonian peoples. Livingin a Native Amazonian communityand hearingthe endlesstalkof food and

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sex, it is easy to imaginethatone is listeningto expressionsof simplebiological need. Western formulationwhere bodily functionlies outside But this is a distinctively Societyin the realmof Nature and Necessity.In Native Amazonian culturesthebody and its desiresare of immediatesocial significanceand the satisfactionof corporeal thecreationofsocialrelations.Where Westem people benignly desireissimultaneously view a child's eatingof earthas a naive explorationof the pleasuresand pitfallsof an unfamiliar world,the nativepeople of theBajo Urubamba see somethingmuch more project is to build a world in sinister.In theireyes, the perversechild's horrifying which its desiresmatteronly to itself. NOTES

on the Bajo Urubambariverin Peru between1980 and The presentarticleis based on fieldwork 1982. This researchwas fundedby the Social ScienceResearchCouncil of GreatBritainand by the brief was collecteddunrng of London.Additionalinformation CentralResearchFundof theUniversity Overing,PeterGose, return visitsto theBajo Urubambain 1984 and 1987. 1 shouldliketo thankJoanna on Torenfortheirhelpand comments CeciliaMcCallum,AndrewJonesand Chnrstina MariaPhylactou, earlierversions. 'subsistence economy'withthemeaningthatit has recendycome The presentarticleusestheterrn has As Fienup-Riordhan on theCanadianand AlaskanArcticand Subarctic. to acquirein theliterature economyis not pointedout in herstudyof theNelsonIslandEskimoofAlaska(1984), thesubsistence specificsocialrelations aboutthesatisfaction of 'basichumanneeds'butaboutthecreationof culturally of culturalyspecificitemsfromtheenvironment. circulation and consumption theproduction, through of labourand economy,the circulation The presentarticlefocuseson onlyone partof thesubsistence betweenlandandpeople. ignoresthewidercontextofcirculations goodsbetweenpeople,andlargely 2 A rather byKaj Arhemin hisstudyoftheMakunaoftheNorthwest simlilar is putforward argument relationset up betweenfood and sex encodesthe Amazon(1981). Arhemarguesthatthe metaphoric He arguesthatproteinin the formof game relationship betweenthe Makuna and theirecosystem. factorin just as womenare thecriticallimiting factorin theirecosystem, animalsis thecriticallimiting theirsocialreproduction (1981: 196-206). 3 It is significant thatthegameanimalsarelocatedin termsofwhatis knownabouttheirfeedingand speciesis likelyto be andfishermen knowwhenand wherea particular sexualbehaviour.Good hunters thegamebyimitating theirvocalisations. People explicitly feedingandalso,in somecases,how to attract gamespecies. to theparticular statethatthesecallsaresexuallyattractive 4 Thispointsupports in bnrde-service societiesoffers Collierand Rosaldo'sclaim(1981) thatmarriage between littleadvantage to women,buta greatdeal to men,butI feelthattheyhavefailedto distinguish to adulthood,and fullyadultstatus.Unlesstheyareveryold and whicharea transition earlymamrages, possibleto find to die soon,widowedor abandonedwomenon theUrubambado everything expecting This hasa oftheavailablestockthantheiradolescentcounterparts. a new husbandand arefarlesscrintical fortheirchildren, whichI discussin a latersectionofthisarticle. greatdealto do withproviding 'mother'smilk',butthereversemeta5Manoc beeris occasionally jokinglycaUedlechede la madre, the comuse of 'maniocbeer' occursin shamanism: metaphoric phoris neverused.The onlystandard is mimaatito, 'mylittlemaniocbeer'. monesteuphemism usedbyshamansforthecuringhallucinogens 6 Piro girl'sinitiationceremony,as the people drinkthe strongly Similarly, duringthe traditional skirtinto a adultwoman'sskirt. fermented dregsof thebeer,the girlis changedout of her initiation 'mouthclothing',and are metaphoric of women'sgenitals.As the skirtis Skirtsare calledmkalnamchi, changed,theguestssing: numeta konchoga Konchoga, Maniocbeerofthedregsmakesme drunk. 7 Cf Riviere 1974; Butt Colson 1974; Menget 1979.

8 Thereareadultviciosos. theytendto be oldermenwho havelosttheirwivesor young Signiificantly, bothhavelosttheirsexualandproducwomenwhosehusbandsareabsentin lumbenrng: newlymarried tivePartner and arefullydependent on kin.Suchperverse adultsdo not,I was told,eatearth,butrather in theeconomyofmoney. whicharegoodswhichcirculate andcamphor, aspinrn ash,matches, cigarette

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Arhem, Kaj 1981. Makuna socialorganization: a studyin descent, allianceand theformation ofcorporate groupsin thenorth-west Amazon. Uppsala: Universitetsforlaget. Beattie,J.M. & R.G. Lienhardt (eds) 1975. Studiesin socialanthropology in memory ofE.E. Evans-Pritchard. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Butt Colson, AudreyJ. 1975. Birth customsof the Akawaio. In Beattie & Lienhardt1975. Collier, J. & M. Rosaldo 1981. Politics and gender in simple societies. In Ortner & Whitehead 1981. naturalsymbolism Crocker, ChristopherJ.1985. Vitalsouls: Bororocosmology, and shamanism.Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press. and ritualdistribution. Fienup-Riordan, Ann 1984. The NelsonIslandEskimo:socialstructure Anchorage: Univ. of Alaska Press. Gregor, Thomas 1985. Anxiouspleasures:thesexual livesofan Amazonianpeople.Chicago: Univ. Press. Gross,D. (ed.) 1973. Peoplesand cultures ofnativeSouthAmerica.New York: Doubleclay & Natural History Press. Hirschon, R.R. (ed.) 1984. Womenandproperty, womenas property. London: Croom Helm. Holmberg, Allen 1969. Nomadsofthelongbow:theSirionoofeastemBolivia.Garden City, NY: Govt Printing Office [originallypublished 1950]. Hugh-Jones,Christine1979. FromtheMilk river:spatialand temporal in Amazonia. Cambridge: Univ. processes Press. Izard, M. & P. Smith 1979. Lafonctionsymbolique: essaisd'anthropologie. Paris: Gallimard. Levi-Strauss,Claude 1970. The rawand thecooked.London: JonathanCape. . 1978. The originoftablemanners. London: JonathanCape. Menget, Patrick 1979. Temps de naltre,tempsd'etre: la couvade. In Izard & Smith 1979. Ortner,S. & H. Whitehead (eds) 1981. Sexual meanings.Cambridge: Univ. Press. Reichel-Dolmatoff,Geraldo 1971. Amazoniancosmos:thesexualand religious symbolism oftheTukanoIndians. Chicago: Univ. Press. Reiter, Rayna (ed.) 1975. Towardsan anthropology ofwomen.New York, London: Riviere, Peter 1974. The couvade: a problem reborn. Man (N.S.) 9, 423-35. in women: notes on the 'political economy' of sex. In Reiter 1975. Rubin, Gayle 1975. The traffic Seeger, Anthony,Roberto da Matta & E.B. Viveiros de Castro 1979. A construcaoda pessoa nas sociedades indigenasbrasileiras.Bol. Mus. nac. 32. London: Oxford Univ. Press. Siskind,Janet1973a. To huntin themorning. . 1973b. Tropical foresthuntersand the economy of sex. In Gross 1973. Strathern,Marilyn 1984. Subject or object? Women and the circulation of valuables in Highland New Guinea. In Hirschon 1984. 1985. Kinship and economy: constitutiveordersof a provisionalkind. Am. Ethnol.12, 191-209. -

L'enfant pervers: le desir dans une economie de subsistance Amazonienne IndigZene Resume Partantde l'importancedes discussionssurla nourritureet le sexe dans la vie quotidienne des populations Amazoniennes Indigenes,l'articleanalysela place du desirsexuel et le desirde nourrituredansl'economie de subsistancede la population indigene de la riviereBago Urubamba au Perou. II decritla production, la circulation,la consommation de la nourritureet explore le lien entrece systemeet la constructiondes categoriessexuelles, les identitessexuelles et les relationsde mariage, d'affiniteet de parente. A travers une analysede l'utilisationd'articlesde nourriturecomme metaphoresde plaisanteriedes organesgenitaux males et femelles,il est argumenteque la sexualite et la nourrituresont rendus analogues au niveau du desir. En dernierlieu, l'analyse de ce desir oral qui est interditchez les enfants,mene a la conclusion, que c'est la constructionde personnescomme sujets de desirsparticuliersoraux et sexuels qui structure les economies de subsistanceAmazoniennes.