The Life and Times of Grandfather Alonso Hegemony and Experience: Critical Studies in Anthropology and History A series edited by William Roseberry and Hermann Rebel The Life and Times of Grandfather Alonso CULTURE AND HISTORY IN THE UPPER AMAZON BLANCA MURATORIO • ..JII Rutgers University Press ~~ New Brunswick, New Jersey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Dllta Muratorio, Blanca. IRucuyaya Alonso y Ia historia social y econ6mica del Alto Napo, 1850-1950. English} The life and times of Grandfather Alonso: culture and history in the upper Amazon I Blanca Muratorio. p. cm.-(Hegemony and experience :critical studies in anthropology and history) Translation of: Rucuyaya Alonso y Ia historia social y economica del Alto Napo, 1850-1950. Includes bibliographical references (p. )and index. ISBN0-8135-1684-6(cloth) ISBN0-8135-1685-4(pbk.) 1. Indians of South America-Ecuador-Napo (Province)-Social conditions. 2. Andi, Alonso. 3. Quechua Indians-Biography. 4. Quechua Indians-Social conditions. 5. Indians of South America Ecuador-Napo (Province)-Economic conditions. 6. Quechua Indians Economic conditions. I. Title. II. Series. F3721.1.N3M8613 1991 305.898'PR3-dc20 90-21012 CIP Copyright C> 1991 by Blanca Muratorio All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States of America In Memory of Rucuyaya Alonso Contents List of lliustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1. The Forest Travelers 18 2. Ethnicity, Language, Culture :36 3. Family and Youth 50 4. The Forest and the River 64 5. The State, Missionaries, and Native Consciousness, 1767-1896 72 6. Christianity and the Missions 94 7. Liberalism and Rubber: The Early Twentieth Century in the Oriente 99 B. The Days of the Varas, the Apu, and the Patrons 122 9. The Company and the Auca 133 10. Gold, Oil, and Cattle: The· Twentieth Century in Tena-Archidona 141 11. My Friends the Yachaj 181 12. Dreams and Death 191 13. Reflections 196 14. The Cultural Bases of Resistance 202 Epilogue 230 Appendix 1. Employment Contract of a Rubber Laborer, 1909 (AGN) 237 Appendix 2. Settlement of Peon's Account, Marking the Articles in Dispute, 1930 (AGN) 239 ~otes 243 Glossary 259 References 269 Index 283 The chapter titles of Grandfather Alonso's narratives are in italics. Illustrations FIGURES 1. Rucuyaya Alonso, 1985 2. Crossing a ford of the Cosanga River 3. Osculati abandoned by his Indian guides 4. Napo Runa carrying a whiteman 5. Traveler arriving at Archidona in 1847 6. Gathering of Indians in Tena 7. Rucumama Rebeca Cerda, Rucuyaya Alonso's wife, 1985 8. Families in the Andi muntun living with Rucuyaya Alonso and Rucumama Rebeca 9. Pano River 10. Aerial view ofTena, 1985 MAPS 1. Northern Oriente area, showing Tena-Archidona region in Napo Province 3 2. Tena-Archidona 19