Gender and Sociality in Amazonia

Gender and Sociality in Amazonia

The culture of the Cashinahua was studied by Cecilia McCallum in an

attempt to understand the creation of gender and the effects of sociality in

their amazonian culture. She more specifically studied the physical and

symbolic creation of gender within the Cashinahua's culture. McCallum's

personal insight allows readers to have a more indepth look at the

Cashinahua culture which enables one to have a better understanding on

how it compares to the considerably modern western culture.This

information is essential to our class discussions because it gives a more

complete insight into a culture instead of the less explanative versions we

often tend to read in our daily class readings.

McCallum discussed in Gender and Sociality in Amazonia the

physical making of persons. She used the metaphor of cooking for the

birthing process. It is a good way of explaining how the Cashinahua

percieve the process of forming a child. The creation of a child or ba va

according to the Cashinahua occurs due to repeated intercourse. This

theory is quite similar to western culture since we know it occurs due to

repeated intercourse without the use of birth control. What is quite unique

about the Cashinahua is that they have interesting concepts on what a child

is made of, believing that semen, or male blood as it is referred
to and

actual blood make up a baby. Western cultures have of course the biology

to prove the semen and the egg theory for making a child. The Cashinahua

also believe that any man who makes repeated love to a woman while she

is pregnant will be the father of the child even if he is not the biological

one. This could be seen as similar to the process of adoption in

westernized cultures, though a parent may not be a biological one the child

is raised by parents as if it was their own.

Another physical aspect of Cashinahua culture... [continues]

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