WATERING THE EARTH WITH TEARS: THE AMAZONIAN SOCIAL RELATION TO NATURE

An Open Access Environmental Humanities Digital Project

INTRODUCTION

This project presents the Amazonian relation to nature by linking short videos of testimonies, stories, and songs to the names of the plant and animal species that are the subjects of the narratives. The species and videos are also linked to the various stages of the human lifecycle through which they are experienced. Furthermore, they are linked to the sensory mode through which the species is perceived or engaged in the video: sound (language, singing), sight (gesture, the visual arts), smell, o taste. Our approach is to interview knowledgeable individuals in the forest setting where their memories are activated by the plants and animals they see. The videos presented here are edited down from these longer interviews to exemplify key aspects of Kichwa thinking about nature or particular species. Although the subtitles are set to English they can be changed to Spanish or Kichwa by clicking the settings icon. Much of our recent work focuses on how the Kichwa language serves as a vehicle through which the relation to nature is shaped and expressed.