De la percepción en antropología. Algunas reflexiones sobre la noción de persona desde los estudios amazónicos

Abstract

In this article "perception" is used as a starting point to approach a more adequate and profound comprehension of the concept of person and the social sphere in anthropological studies. The author’s analyses derive from ethnographic experiences in societies and cultures of the Jivaroan complex, especially of the Candoshi-Muvato (Peru) and, in a more ample and comparative sense, from a larger number of recent works related to the Amerindian peoples of the Amazonian region in general (but also including a few publications about Melanesia). Autochthonous Amazonian visions of the construction of the person (which also include non-human beings) are founded on the concept of corporality as the base of perceptions and emotions. According to the author, a tripartite model of internal and external relations between body and world provides the essential elements of an Amerindian theory of perception in which the person is to be held distinct from the idea of "individuality".