About the Book:The Andean nation of Ecuador derives much of its revenue from petroleum that is extracted from its vast Upper Amazonian rain forest, which is home to ten indigenous nationalities. Norman E. Whitten Jr. and Dorothea Scott Whitten have lived among and studied one such people, the Canelos Quichua, for nearly forty years. In Puyo Runa, they present a trenchant ethnography of history, ecology, imagery, and cosmology to focus on shamans, ceramic artists, myth, ritual, and political engagements. Canelos Quichua are active participants in national politics, including large-scale movements for social justice for Andean and Amazonian people. Puyo Runa offers readers exceptional insight into this cultural world, revealing its intricacies and embedded humanisms.Table of Contents: Preface and Acknowledgements ix Notes on Orthography and Pronunciation xxi Notes on Pronouns, People, and Pseudonyms xxv 1. Puyo Runa and Nayapi Llacta 1 2. Cultural Reflexivities, Images, and Locality 30 3. Empowerment, Knowledge, and Vision 59 4. Connections: Creative Expressions of Canelos Quichua WomenDorothea Scott Whitten 90 5. Imagery and the Control of Power 119 6. Cultural Performance 140 7. Aesthetic Contours: History, Conjuncture, and TransformationDorothea Scott Whitten and Norman Whitten 167 8. Return of the Yumbo: The Caminata from Amazonia to Andean QuitoNorman Whitten, Dorothea Scott Whitten, and Alfonso Chango 200 9.Causaunchimi!: Processes of Empowerment 231 Glossary 259 References 271 Index 293