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Cited by 92Anthropological Studies and InsightsPosthumanist Ethics and ActivismIndigenous Studies in Latin America

There might be blood: oil, humility, and the cosmopolitics of a Cofán petro-being

CEPEK, MICHAEL L.·2016·American Ethnologist
DOI 10.1111/amet.12379
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Abstract

ABSTRACT A central directive of recent writings on cosmopolitics and ontology is that critically minded anthropologists should “humble” themselves and view their subjects’ statements as propositions that disclose multiple real worlds. An exploration of Cofán people's uncertainty regarding the idea that oil is the blood of a sacred mythological being—a position that romanticizing Westerners repeatedly attribute to them—calls into question the implications of the call for anthropological humility. Cofán discussions of oil's sanguinary nature demonstrate that the best way to comprehend the intellectual agency of our collaborators is to acknowledge, rather than ignore, the social, pragmatic, and epistemological contours of their discourse, cosmological or otherwise. [ cosmopolitics , ontology , oil , indigeneity , Cofán , Ecuador, Amazonia ] Una directriz central de escritos recientes sobre cosmopolítica y ontología es que los antropólogos con espíritu crítico deberían “humillarse” y tomar las afirmaciones de sus sujetos de estudio como proposiciones que revelan múltiples mundos reales. Explorar la indecisión que tienen los cofán acerca de la idea de que el petróleo es la sangre de un sagrado ser mitológico —posición que les atribuyen constantemente los occidentales románticos— cuestiona las implicaciones de esta llamada a la humildad. Las discusiones entre los cofán acerca de la naturaleza sanguinaria del petróleo nos muestran que la mejor manera de comprender la capacidad intelectual de nuestros colaboradores es reconocer, en vez de ignorar, los contornos sociales, pragmáticos y epistemológicos de su discurso, sea este cosmológico o no. [ cosmopolítica , ontología , petróleo , indigeneidad , Cofán , Ecuador , Amazonia ]

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Crossref · 10.1111/amet.12379

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  • Indigenous mobilization is usually more ambivalent than portrayed in academic debates or activist campaigns, and a reductionist portrayal can constrain actually existing people and their relationship to territory.

    “This body of work points out that Indigenous mobilization is usually more ambivalent than portrayed in academic debates or activist campaigns, and that a reductionist portrayal can constrain actually existing people and their relationship to territory (Cepek, 2016;Kirsch, 2007).”

    From Mining indigenous territories: Consensus, tensions and ambivalences in the Salar de Atacama (2022) · cites this paper as Cepek, 2016

  • Debating territoriality and ontology issues risks turning Indigenous peoples into ideal, 'radical' political subjects and misrepresenting actually existing people when they take a more ambivalent stance towards mining and other territorial projects.

    “While debating these issues is crucial in times of global mining expansion and the rapid loss of cultural diversity, it also involves the risk of turning Indigenous peoples into ideal, 'radical' political subjects.Thereby, it risks misrepresenting actually existing people, when they take a more ambivalent stance towards mining and other territorial projects (Bessire and Bond, 2014;Cepek, 2016;Ne”

    From Mining indigenous territories: Consensus, tensions and ambivalences in the Salar de Atacama (2022) · cites this paper as Cepek, 2016

Cites

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1 of the 48 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 16

  1. Avgeropoulos Avger, 2008, The Blood of Kouan Kouan
  2. Forero Juan, 2010, ‘Gringo Chief’ Randy Borman Helps Cofan Indians Survive, Thrive, Washington Post
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  5. Killick Evan.2014. “Whose Truth Is It Anyway?” Review ofTruth in Motion:The Recursive Anthropology of Cuban Divination by Martin Holbraad.Anthropology of This Century no. 9 (January). Accessed August 6 2015.http://aotcpress.com/articles/truth/.
  6. Laidlaw James.2012. “Ontologically Challenged: A Review of Morgan Axel Pedersen'sNot Quite Shamans:Spirit Worlds and Political Lives in Northern Mongolia.”Anthropology of This Century no. 4 (May). Accessed August 5 2015.http://aotcpress.com/articles/ontologically-challenged.
  7. Latour Bruno, 1983, The Raw and the Cooked
  8. Lowrey Kathleen, 2011, Review of Storytelling Globalization from the Chaco and Beyond, by Mario Blaser, Environment and Society: Advances in Research, 2, 182
  9. Pedersen Morten Axel, 2007, Thinking through Things: Theorising Artefacts Ethnographically, 141
  10. Pedersen Morten Axel, 2012, Common Nonsense: A Review of Certain Reviews of ‘the’ Ontological Turn, Anthropology of This Century
  11. Rancière Jacques, 1999, Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy
  12. Schmitt Carl, 1996, The Concept of the Political
  13. Schutz Alfred, 1973, The Structures of the Life‐World
  14. Stengers Isabelle, 2005, Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy, 994
  15. 10.1177/0308275X09364070 · DOI
  16. Viveiros de Castro Eduardo.2003. “AND.” InManchester Papers in Social Anthropology vol.7. Accessed August 1 2016.https://sites.google.com/a/abaetenet.net/nansi/abaetextos/anthropology-and-science-e-viveiros-de-castro.

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Authors
CEPEK, M. L.
Affiliations
The University of Texas at San Antonio (US)
Corresponding author
CEPEK, MICHAEL L.
ORCID
CEPEK, MICHAEL L.
Venue
American Ethnologist
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2016-11
Volume
43
Issue
4
Pages
623-635
ISSN
  • 0094-0496 (ISSN-L)
  • 1548-1425
DOI
10.1111/amet.12379
OpenAlex
W2550089043
Cited by
92
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1
FWCI
28.53
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 21 d)
Locations
American Ethnologist (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Wenner-Gren Foundation (8518)
  • American Council of Learned Societies
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Anthropological Studies and Insights
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Indigenous Studies in Latin America
Keywords
Cofán people, oil, cosmopolitics, ontology, indigeneity, indigenous cosmology, Amazon basin

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