Toxicity and Plant Animacy in Amazonia: Cosmology, Chemosensation and Ecosemiotics

Summary

In Indigenous Amazonian societies such as the Makushi of Guyana and the Matsigenka of Peru, certain plants are regarded as 'plant persons' with subjectivity, especially those used for healing, harming, seducing, or protecting. The authors examine how chemosensory properties like bitterness, causticity, taste, odor, and texture shape interactions with plants, particularly toxic and medicinal species. Makushi shamanic plants called bina 'charms' have animacy entangled with phytochemical components and preparation methods. Matsigenka knowledge of bamboo species reveals interpenetration of tactile and chemical perceptions with ecological cycles. These examples show plant animacy expressed through sensorial and ecosemiotic processes that defy Western dualisms of mind/body, nature/culture, and subject/object.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In Indigenous Amazonian life-worlds, plants used for diverse purposes such as protecting, harming, seducing and curing are sometimes considered to be ‘plant persons’, imbued with special kinds of subjectivity. In examining plant animism in Amazonia, we consider case studies of the knowledge and use of toxic, medicinal and charm plants from two distinctive societies – the Makushi people of Guyana (Daly) and the Matsigenka of Peru (Shepard). We have focused on the chemosensory modes of communication (taste, odour, texture, etc.) that shape Makushi and Matsigenka interactions with plants, with a particular emphasis on bitterness, causticity and other toxic properties that often embody a plant's power to heal or harm. Here, we delve deeper into Makushi understandings and uses of shamanic plants within the category of bina ‘charms’, exploring how their animacy is entangled with chemosensory properties, phytochemical components and modes of preparation and administration. We also revisit Matsigenka knowledge, concepts and uses of various bamboo species, revealing a complex interpenetration between tactile and chemical perceptions, phenological cycles and eco-cosmological elaborations. Using these cross-cultural examples, we show plant animacy can be expressed through sensorial and ecosemiotic processes of embodiment and ensoulment which defy Cartesian mind/body, nature/culture and subject/object dualisms. In order to fully comprehend plants, we suggest a deeper engagement between anthropology and the natural sciences. Indigenous perspectives on plant animacy raise far-reaching questions about the meanings of body, soul and non-human agency in Indigenous Amazonia, contributing to the relevance of anthropology and ethnobiology in the critical context of the Anthropocene.