Cultivating Sociality: Aesthetic Factors in the Composition and Function of Piaroa Homegardens

Heckler, SL

Abstract

Anthropological analyses of settlement patterns minimize the importance of homegardens. Ethnobiological studies of homegardens usually focus on composition, ecological functioning or economic contribution. Because homegardens form part of the dwelling space, however, the factors that influence them and the functions they serve are as complex and dynamic as the lives of the people who created them. This paper, largely based on a comparison of homegarden maps of three Piaroa communities, explores their composition and economic utility, but also their temporal dynamics, spatial arrangement, symbolic values and aesthetic importance. Piaroa homegardens contribute to the quality of life and are sites of sociality for the people who live in them: the pragmatic and aesthetic cannot be separated.

Citation

Heckler, S. (2004). Cultivating Sociality: Aesthetic Factors in the Composition and Function of Piaroa Homegardens. Journal of ethnobiology, 24(2), 203-232

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2004
• Deposit Date: Jun 1, 2007
• Journal: Journal of ethnobiology.
• Print ISSN: 0278-0771
• Electronic ISSN: 2162-4496
• Publisher: Society of Ethnobiology
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 203-232
• Keywords: Homegardens, Piaroa, Agrobiodiversity, Amazon, Venezuela.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1581874
• Publisher URL: http://ethnobiology.org/journal/w3/24/2/2/