Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Campo Loro and Puesto Paz. Such spiritual authorities often “gave” Bible
verses to one another or discussed parables on the radio, as in the fol-
lowing advice given by a preacher at Campo Loro to a man in Bolivia:
i am happy that you are listening to my words, but you must not forget the teachings
i am giving you. the word of god is the only thing that can save us. the word of god
is true. Before, when our grandfathers lived in the forest, they looked for a spirit that
could save us but they never found one. they believed that the
sarode
could save them.
they only believed in the
sarode
because they did not know about any other spirit. But
today, we have the teachings of the word of god, and today everything is very good.
it is very good because we now have only one god. we now know that it is only god
that can save people.
If these conversations were only taken as texts, as I initially approached
them, their significance seemed self-evident: Ayoreo radio users were cre-
ating a kind of collective belonging predicated on expressions of Chris-
tian faith. This kind of belonging did not imply continuity so much as
rupture. It was predicated on explicitly distinguishing the moral present
of
Cojñone-Gari
from the sinful past of
Erami
. Radio conversations evoked
a world through binary oppositions: past, Indian, traditional, satanic, and
forest were set against present, civilized, modern, Christian, and moral.
This impression seemed to be further strengthened when I learned
that other Ayoreo routinely singled out Totobiegosode as a homogenous
group of New People particularly in need of Christian advice. In the fol-
lowing conversation between Jochade and a prominent preacher from
Puesto Paz, Bolivia, the pastor suggested the Totobiegosode were morally
deficient and should capture the forest bands, while Jochade invoked
Christian imagery to bring the conversation back to an acceptable middle
ground. Having failed, he ended the conversation:
ajnocai: what about those who are in the forest? cambio.
Jochade: we do not know anything about them. we have not found anything yet.
cambio.
ajnocai: that's how it is. i heard in caNOB that you all there found something from
them. cambio.
Jochade: that is how it is, ajnocai. we did not find anything, cambio.
ajnocai: we have not forgotten about you when we pray to god. we never forget
you all and we never forget to pray that god arrives to them too. we are always
praying so that they arrive together with you all and that they come to know god,
cambio.
