Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Becoming New was the same as becoming ashamed. Indeed,
ajengome
was considered to be the defining ontological state of
isagode
, or “touched
ones,” who had to be ashamed before their captors for giving up their
own willpower. Yet becoming newly Indigenous meant that
ajengome
itself was a fractured and incoherent ideal. Should one be more ashamed
before Dejai or his budding evangelical rival, Achinguirai? Should one
ajengome
Dupade
as well as an imagined audience of
Cojñone
at the same
time? What if some of these
Cojñone
were not missionaries but immoral
culturalists and thus suspected of being sent by the Devil?
Despite or perhaps because of this incoherence, shame was the crucial
medium by which the former Areguede'urasade were taught to interpret
their position in the New World. They may have accepted multiple kinds
of
ajengome
by their public silence, but they were keenly aware of the
contradictions this implied. In the stories they told in private about their
lives, they pointed to a fundamental deception. Siquei in particular of-
fered a counter-narrative of contact:
I came back to camp. the women were crying. they were crying a lot. I said that dejai
and the others had been captured by the Ijnapuigosode [in 1986] but they were alive
and living with them now. “they will kill us all, they will kill us all,” they cried. “Quit
crying,” I said. “We will live with them too. prepare your things. don't cry and we will
go with them now. . . . You all always say that you want to live with the
Cojñone
, so
get ready and let's go.” ajua'nate was crying. She said that she was going to stay alone
because ajua doesn't want to talk to any
Cojñone
. I said, “prepare your things and let's
go. they won't kill us because they don't kill each other anymore. asôre is there with
them.” the father of asôre became angry. “Why didn't you stay with asôre? they will
kill him!” . . . ebedai'date began to cry again, and she was crying loudly. unoro'nate
[his second wife] wanted to stay there too, but I said, “prepare our things and let's
go.” ebedai'date cried all the way to the camp. She was very afraid of the
Cojñone
. We
thought they would kill us. areguede said, “I want to stay one more night here.” but
my son stayed there so I must go too. he wanted to fight with them. So we all went.
When we got there, asôre said they believe in some kind of god that is in the sky. I
asked if the Sun was their god, but everyone laughed. they said that no one had seen
this god but that he had a lot of spirit.
By 2007, Siquei and the others said their decision to surrender was based
on a mistaken idea about what life in
Cojñone-Gari
entailed. In such
descriptions, the former Areguede'urasade members subtly positioned
themselves against their condition as the lowest-ranking members of
the Totobiegosode. Pointing out this fundamental mistake in their own
