A TOPOLOGY OF POWER

SKY AND SOCIAL-SPACE IN THE ARGENTINEAN CHACO

Alejandro Martn Lpez

Instituto de Ciencias Antropolgicas, Facultad de Filosofa y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
CONICET

Introduction

This paper will discuss the ways in which social
relations build the sky among several aboriginal groups
of the Argentinean Chaco, creating a space that can be
described in topological terms. Shaped by power relations
between humans and non-humans, the sky of the Mocov,
Toba and Wich is a real map of the symbolic struggles
for identity and leadership among these groups.
Since 1998, we have been working on a research
project that involves anthropological fieldwork and
ethno-historical research in order to understand the
astronomy of these groups, focusing on the Mocov
ethnoastronomy.

Mocov, Toba and Wich

Originally hunters and gatherers, Mocov, Toba
and Wich are three of the most relevant aboriginal
groups in the Argentinean Chaco. The Mocov and the
Toba belong to the Guaycur linguistic group, and the
Wich to the Mataco-Mataguayo linguistic group. These
aboriginal people underwent several changes during
colonial times (e.g. some of them adopted the horse),
however, they retained an important autonomy degree
until the 20
th
century, when the Argentine national
society carried out a systematic campaign of expansion
within their traditional territory. Nowadays, a population
of fifteen thousand Mocov, seventy thousand Toba and
forty thousand Wich survive by working as rural
labourers and by developing a variable amount of hunting
and gathering.
Roberto Lehmann-Nitsches works are the first
research about these groups astronomy (Lehmann-
Nitsche, R. 1923, Lehmann-Nitsche, R. 1924-25,
Lehmann-Nitsche, R. 1924). Since the XX century some
important scholars are working on cosmology and
astronomy from toba people (Wright, P. G. 2008, Cordeu,
E. 1969-70, Braunstein, J . 1995, Ruiz Moras, E. 2000,
Miller, E. S. 1975, Mtraux, A. 1935), pilag and toba-
pilag people (Idoyaga Molina, A. 1989, Gmez, C. P.
2006 ), wich people (Dasso, C. 1989, Bara, G. 2001,
Braunstein, J . 1989), and mocov people (Gimnez
Bentez, S. et al. 2004, Gimnez Bentez, S. et al. 2006,
Lpez, A. M. and Gimnez Bentez, S. 2008, Lpez, A.
M. 2009).

Ethno-territory

The celestial space should be addressed in the
context of the study of the ethno-territory among these
groups. The concept of ethno-territory refers to a
socially constructed spatiality, essential to the collective
identity (Toledo Llancaqueo, V. 2005, 17 -my
translation-). These ethno-territories are the basis in
which indigenous movements and power relations -that
flow through them- are articulated. Among many South
American indigenous groups, the ethno-territories acquire
a distinctly relational feature, based on a conception of
space linked to the human body, a body with appetites or
desires that establish relations with other bodies
(Echeverri, J . . 2005, 238). The ethno-territory is,
therefore, an arena of disputes and power relations
between groups in unequal conditions. There you can see
struggles for material and symbolic resources, including
the links with the sacred. The celestial space, conceived
as the region that is the source of wealth and power, is
transformed by the groups studied in the centre of their
ontological idea of territory.

Social topology

Therefore, we intend to draw a topology of the
cosmos of these groups. As the term suggests, it means to
delineate a qualitative description of the "geometry" of a
space that is characterized by its ability to be "deformed"
or "distorted" continuously. The first description of one
of these cosmologies with a topological view is the one of
Pablo Wright about Tobas cosmos (Wright, P. G. 2008).
But, in the present work our aim is not only to extend this
topological description to other related groups, but also,
to think these topologies in terms of social topologies,
and use them as analytical tools.
The cosmos of these groups is a space tensioned
by the actors who occupy it, and their linkages. In the
cosmos constructed by the ethno-territoriality of Mocov,
Tobas and Wich, space is a real social field in Bourdieu's
terms (Bourdieu, P. 2005, Bourdieu, P. 1997a). A field
whose "geometry" is largely shaped by capitals and
trajectories of those who inhabit it, human and non-
humans. In the social play of spatial relationships in these
groups, one of the dominant forms of capital is power. So
our topology of the cosmos among the Mocov, Tobas
and Wich not only it will be a mapping of their ethno-
territories conceived and lived by them but also, it will be
a cartography of power and power relations from their
perspective. To feel the texture of these territories is to
perceive the roughness, the tensions generated by these
1
links. It is thus a quite mobile and changing
"topography", but not a capricious one.

Cosmology and power conceptions

In order to pursue this endeavour, we will
discuss the idea of power. Among these groups, power
and how to manage it, how to get it, increase it and keep
it, how to relate to those who have more than one, are
fundamental questions of cosmology.
Agreeing with Cordeu (1998), we can refer to
two main styles of world-view in terms of conceptions of
power. On the one hand, we would have an active
world-view style, organized around the idea of gaps and
differences, and for which the bonds between people are
generally hierarchical and asymmetrical. On the other
hand, there is a "speculative" style focusing on ideas
about harmony and agreement aimed to the integration of
beings and energies. The first of these styles is associated
with a dynamic conception of power, in which this is seen
as a "non-ordinary energy" characterized by its activity,
its efficacy and its link to fertility. This kind of
conception its the dominant one in the groups that we
study. This is power as a capacity to act, as potentiality,
as a force that has someone or something, that makes it
capable of being fertile, rich, and abundant. Any activity
that requires some talent needs that its agent has power.
Not just any power but the specific power for that task.
And that power is derived from a specific power-being or
beings, associated with the concerned task, skill, or space
region.
In this sense, the fundamental notion that
structures life experience in these groups, is the notion of
meeting with an other that has plenty of power.
These meetings, organized according to the scale of
power of the actors involved, are the units of experience
in this space-time continuum. The cosmography of these
groups contains the memory of relevant events, focusing
on "resources", "powers" and "dangers". And memory is
always exegesis. In this kind of meetings, the presence of
the powerful being transform the qualitative nature of the
local time-space. During the meeting this time-space has
properties linked with the scale of power of this powerful
being, typical features of the original times.

Body and habitus

Due to the fact that we are not only referring to
native theories about the nature of celestial space, but
also the implicit ideas about it, person, body, language
and habitus plays a main role. In modern anthropology,
the body is seeing as a key to understand the connections
between person, cosmology, territory and society (Seeger,
A. et al. 1979, Echeverri, J . . 2005).
In the groups we study, the body its seeing as
condition of possibility of the person and vehicle of
relations (Tola, F. 2009, 46). It is a body always in
transformation, with fuzzy and changing boundaries
(Wright, P. G. 2008). A body crossed by fluids entering
and leaving. A porous and multiple body, long
interpenetrated by other bodies. And this exchange of
fluids is a particular record of intersubjective relations.
The body is not a border but a space of mediation (Tola,
F. 2009, 46). Tola (2009, 47) suggest the concept of
embodied person, that includes human and non-human
beings with different and changing body regimes. The
human bodies are in permanent contact with bodies,
objects and fluids from celestial beings. In this sense, the
meeting with a powerful being can affect the human
body. For example, we can consider the meteorites. The
contact with meteorites can origin rains, and only the
shamans can manipulate this objects without danger.
Also, certain fungus is another body regime of metallic
meteorites, and people use these funguses to treat
injuries, specially caused by iron weapons (Gimnez
Bentez, S. et al. 2004).
Powerful celestial beings can appear on Earth in
different body regimes: some strange exemplar of
animal or vegetal specie associated with this being or also
a white man. The color or brightness of the body is a
manifestation of power. The interpretation of the nature
of power of different parts of the sky are linked with this
idea of brightness =power. And the nature of power of
some region is connected with the presence of some kind
of beings there.
The topology of the celestial space is formed by
power and relations between the beings that inhabit the
sky. And this topology is transmitted to the practical
conscience trough the constitution of habitus. In terms of
Bourdieu (1997b), habitus refers to a generative principle,
that function as a kind of matrix of principles of
perception, appreciation and action. The social agents
tends to operate from a set of knowledge, preferences and
feelings, conformed in past experiences, which have
become a more or less stable principle of action. The
habitus is a "practical sense" or "sense of the game" that
lets players guide their action and conscious perception of
the situation and develops appropriate responses to it, as a
sort of "smell" that suggests how to anticipate future
developments from the present situation. But, these
logics of practice are coherent only in general terms
and their incompleteness is an important part of their
nature.
An example of this is how the structure of
language conveys certain apprehension of space and time.
In particular, the Toba and Mocov languages have
structures that incorporate the notion of "meeting" as a
basic structure of experience. These languages use
explicit forms to indicate the degree of confidence that
the speaker attributes to the information provided by his
statement. The key criterion for this is if the speaker is a
direct witness or not of the events described
(evidentiality). These linguistic structures therefore give
great importance to direct contact with the powerful
beings that shape the world as sources of information
about it. Thus the shamans and elders are privileged
sources of knowledge in cosmology. And cosmology is a
sort of "know how" in the context of social relationships
on a cosmic scale.
2
In a similar way, these languages give a central
role to the concept of path in the sense of a general
structure to organize knowledge. Narrative strategies and
classification procedures are based in this metaphor. For
example, the construction of personal biographies and
mythical stories like series of wanderings. In this sense
the path is like a chain punctuated by marks. And these
marks are important encounters with others. In the sky,
the Milky Way is seeing through this model (Lpez, A.
M. and Gimnez Bentez, S. 2008).

Flexible topology and metaphors

Habitus, mental images, metaphors, conceptions
of body and person have a central importance in the
analysis of the cosmological discourses from these
groups. Not taking into account these concepts have been
the origin of some misunderstandings in the academic
production.
It is well known the existence of almost three
levels in the cosmos of this people (Wright, P. G. 2008,
Miller, E. S. 1975, Cordeu, E. 1969-70, Idoyaga Molina,
A. 1989). But these levels are not layers in the sense of
a rigid system of flat strata. First at all, the important fact
is the existence of differentiated domains and relations
between them. These relations are expressed many times
by the idea of some order of layers. The existence of an
order and the social value of this order, not the exact
number or sequence of layers, is the important thing (this
point is also referred for the Tobas by Wright, P. G. 2008,
197). In the same sense, the flat nature of these layers is
not an important matter. For this reason the term plane
is not a good choice. The same person can draw these
domains in a vertical arrange or in a horizontal one
(Wright, P. G. 2008, 145-149). These cosmological
models are relational and situational constructions, as
Wright shows in the Toba case (Wright, P. G. 2008, 151
and 171). And the search for a unique world
representation is an ethnocentric mistake (Wright, P. G.
2008, 150). Axes like up-down, west-east, day-night are
part of and essentially fluid and dynamic world-view
(Wright, P. G. 2008, 174-175).
We will think the spatial images and metaphors
of these groups in terms of contextual world-models, and
not as if they were "candid pictures". For example, the
world tree that connects these layers is much more than a
naive mystical tree. It is a true artery of the world
where resources and beings travel up and down, a
fundamental communication to life on earth. These layers
and the tree that connects them are, as stated above,
flexible and changing images. On the one hand, the layers
can change their shape from one communication situation
to another. On the other hand, this universe is
interconnected by a tangled network of tunnels, in which
the world tree is the most important. Associated with
lagoons, swirls of dust, and still completely invisibles and
only detectable by shamans, these tunnels create a very
dynamic and porous universe (Lpez, A. M. and Gimnez
Bentez, S. 2008).
As mentioned, the non-human powerful beings,
which guard the vital resources, make up domains of
authority and influence in space. Due to their presence in
these areas, space takes a "texture" that refers to the time
of origins. The relations between these beings and
humans are fundamental in the understanding of the
economy of power that shapes the space of heaven in
these communities. In this sense, the Milky Way area is
at the present time an area restricted to the shamans. And
the space near the Sun and the Moon can be inaccessible
even for the most powerful of them (Snchez, O. 2009,
391). This inaccessibility has an important social effect,
because if you have a meeting with Sun or Moon, they
can give you the management of metals and fire. The
white people have these secrets, and for this reason they
can oppress the aboriginal people.

Shamans as cosmologist

Shamans, men full of power, are the human
equivalent of the non-human masters. Their ability to
"see" and "travel" through the different layers of the
world makes them the main characters in the contest for
leadership and the definition of identity. As mentioned,
the sky is not an open region, not everyone can access it.
This unique cosmic experience of the shamans makes
them the most important traditional cosmologists in these
groups.
The topology of the celestial space among these
groups, being fundamentally shaped by the scales of
power of the beings that inhabit it and their relationships,
it becomes essential to the experience of inhabiting. In
this sense, perceiving the texture of the celestial space
means to be able to account the types of beings that
inhabit it. Thus, the topology turns into a mapping of
these groups social space, which involves the bounds
between humans and non-humans. And again it is not
mainly a theoretical understanding but a corporeal
experience based on everyday habitus.
In this sense, the idea of pacto pact- as a
mechanism for managing unequal power relations, is
transformed into another nucleus of organization of
experience and relationships. The pact is a medium to
domesticate the exuberance and excess of the powerful
beings and obtain from them some power. The human
needs an attitude of "respect" and the accomplishment of
some restrictions in food, circulation, etc. To make a pact,
the human in question also needs some amount of power.
For this reason, traditionally, only the shamans can make
pacts with the beings that rule the world structure.

New cosmologist

Between 1940 and 1960 an important series of
changes take place in the Chaco. The crescent presence of
Evangelical churches, schools, medical facilities,
government agencies and NGOs became alternative
spaces that provide resources, ways to construct prestige
and social networks both inside and outside the
community. Thereby, young teachers, teachers
3
assistants, nurses, pastors and politicians positioned
themselves as new leaders, and for this reason, new
cosmologist. The topology of celestial space as it is
transmitted by the Christian scriptures and the scholar
books, especially by the drawings that illustrate them,
have created areas of interaction and symbolic
resignification (Wright, P. G. 2008, Ceriani Cernadas, C.
and Citro, S. 2005). Now, even the radio and television
play an active role in the new experience of the celestial
space in these groups.
This access of young literate to cosmologic
production generates conflicts with the elders who value
the traditional ways and context of cosmological
knowledge. The new cosmological production is also
flexible and situated. But new truth criteria, ways of
legitimation, and some preoccupation for consistency
appears.

Mundus Imaginalis

We consider that it is important incorporate in
the study of the social construction of space what might
be called, according to Henry Corbin, Mundus imaginalis
or visionary space (Corbin, H. 1996). The way in
which the territory is conceived among the communities
we studied it is not only based on the evidence of the
senses in the waking state but also, on three other types of
experiences: dreams, altered states of consciousness and
active imagination. The role of shamanic experiences
and dreams in the conceptualizations of space that we
studied, and the ideas about the constitution of the person
and experience in these groups, makes particularly
relevant Corbins suggestions. Moreover, the connections
between the astronomical and the night and between the
night and the dreams, creates important links between
astronomy and the dream world, providing to the celestial
space many features of the oniric reality. This oniric
condition of the cosmos topology is not only visible in
their fuzzy and variable character. Another important
feature of this cosmic topology is related to the visionary
space that Corbin studied. Corbin (1996, 125) says that,
in the Mundus Imaginalis, the internal acts of beings
projects visible forms. In fact, each conscious being
generates it own visionary space. These forms are real
ones but at the same time are ways of being or attributes
of the conscious being in question. In this sense, the
visionary space of a conscious being is it own celestial
body. Certainly, the cosmologies that we study are not
considered by Corbin. But his analysis and
phenomenological descriptions has a value that goes
beyond the particular case deals. The description we have
made about how the presence of a given "texture" to their
spatial and temporal environment, is well suited to
address the experience of our informants. Corbin (1996,
61 and 227) also mentions the connection between power
or glory and the visionary light ( he calls it: light-
being). In fact, in the tradition that he studied, bodies
and souls are different states of this light-being. He
(Corbin, H. 1996, 60-63) remarks that many
geographical, historical and calendrical descriptions are
in fact visionary geography and visionary history.
The reason is that, in the tradition he studied, all the
important things, the fundamental things for the cosmos,
occurs in this visionary world. Corbin (1996, 51) prefers
the word visionary or imaginal and not the word
mythical. This is because, for these people, this
visionary dimension is not only a real aspect of the world,
in fact is the most real one. The access to this dimension
is, at the present, restricted to who has certain special
abilities. Corbins (1996, 51) calls active imagination to
the mental operation that allows the visionary creativity.
If we remember that Corbin and J ung were both members
of the Eranos Circle, we can use the work of J ung to
clarify the nature of the active imagination. J ung call
active imagination to a method that allows to establish
an active dialogue between the unconscious and the
waking state.
We think that this frame is very interesting in
order to understand the nature of the cosmologies of these
aboriginal people and their flexible topology. We can add
to the Corbin-J ung conception the idea that the active
imagination and the archetypal images are not ahistorical
categories, they are socially constructed. And the process
of this construction mainly involves the habitus and the
logics of practice. Thus, we can understand how social
practices shape the topology of these cosmic spaces. And
this topology is a sensorial representation of the social
relations that structure these groups.
One of the most important practices in this
process of social construction is the experience of the
meeting with powerful beings. The young people learn by
imitation to construct the socially accepted categories to
make sense of the experiences in the loneliness of the
woods, or in the exaltation of the cult. People think these
experiences using categories, images, and metaphors that
refer to the idea of the meeting with powerful beings.
Another important point is the group of ideas
about the body, and the degree of reality that is given to
onirics experiences. In the dreams the person makes acts
with consequences. These acts are real ones. For this
reason the dream is viewed as a time when the celestial
beings come to the earth, and the human can interact with
these entities (Wright, P. G. 2008, 168-170).
This imaginal character of many
characteristics of this cosmos doesnt means that these
are fantastic or "unreal" characteristics. The imaginal
is a dimension of the real, and beyond the metaphysical
status of their phenomena, the psychological and
sociological reality of this aspects of the cosmos is
indubitable. In fact, many mental disorders in these
groups are linked with unhappy meetings with powerful
beings. The fear of these meetings and the strange
phenomena connected with them are important factors of
social control in these communities something similar is
reported for maya communities (Hermitte, M. E. 2004)-.
A socio-historical view of the construction of
these visionary spaces is an important tool for
understanding many cosmological systems. In each case
is important to reconstruct the specific mechanisms that
construct, in practice, this imaginary. And it is important
4
5
to pay attention to the development in time of these
Mundus Imaginalis.

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