Learning to (not) be seen in the Amazon: Enchanted beings and fish-people on the Negro and Uaupés rivers

The article undertakes an ethnographic approach between the water spirits and fish people as narrated in stories told by the Baré and Tukano, respectively, two large groups of indigenous peoples located along the Negro and Uaupés Rivers. We explore accounts of the appearances and manifestations of these water inhabitants within human communities and their significant participation in the social life of these peoples, mapping their influences on community formation, kinship relations, and the constitution of personhood. The convergence between the two cases is evident, and their integrated treatment will allow us to outline some singularities that characterize the relationship between humans and non-humans in the Northwestern Amazon region.

Keywords
Baré; Tukano; Northwest Amazon; Enchanted; Human/non-human