198
CluTtter8
Campins'snarrativeof his two-month stay on La Tortugasharpensour
focuson the intricacyof the dancebetwt-encivilizationandbarbarism-and
the tremendouscost of enablingthesecategoriesto retain any sernblance
of sernanticsubstanceand stability.A freshly trained criollo physician,newly
would seernto hold modernity comarrivedfrom the centerof Venezuela,
fortably in his grasp,but Campins'snarrativeirnpliesthat modernity can
Here
elementsoi barbarisr-n.
play its civilizingrole only when it incorporates
magic;
with
it
is
combined
works
when
it acquiressymbiosis:biomedicine
hygiene can be irnposedwhen its sharp edgeshave given way to a relaxation of sanitarydiscipline.Here the modernLirtin Americansubjectlearns
that i s
t hat u n d er neat hhis 1int hi s c a s e c) i v i l i z e ds e l f l u rk s a c o nsci ousness
of
the
claim
fragility
the
very
in the end." It is,ironically,
"underdeveloped
their violent impositionover
to r.nodernityand civilizationthat necessitates
racializedsubjects.
Campins'sexperienceteachesus that modernity would ceaseto exist if
in killing its opponent,the premodern,savage,irrational,trait succeeded
ditional community.Without an "Othet" moclernityhas no meansof defining, legitimating,and reproducingitself. Campins'snarrativeaiso suggeststhat modernity is most powerfulwhen it is most deeplyengagedwith
its opponent,generatingir violencethat hasgreatpotentialfor coercionand
hegemony.The willingness of the racializedTortugansto use this logic
againsttheir Mariusan cousinsbearswitnessto the puissanceof compromisedmodernity.Perhapsevenmore itrrportant,Cirmpins'snilrrativereveals
rational,and irhistorithat modernity'simage as bounded,homogeneous,
calis no lessfallaciousand powerfulthan Campins'sclaimthat the poisoned
dogs on La Tortuga died of cholera.The modernity that landedon the isaud interests,racialprojland wasshotthrough with institutionalresources
modern forcescould
These
violence.
threat
of
promises,
and
the
false
ects,lies,
base-specifically,
themselveswithout a technoiogical
not haveestablished
story it was only
without machineguns,IVs, and antibiotics.ln Ctrrnpins's
of tl'repremodern,that
oi cholera,the quintessence
the suddenappearance
enabledmodernity to be establishedso visibly, if so ephemeraily,on La
Tortuga.
9
Culture EqualsCholera
Ot'ficialExplanations
t'or the Epidemic
No one in DeltaAmacnro was preparedfor cholerain the openingdaysof
August r992. Most communitiesin the fluvial areafound themselvesin the
positionof the Mariusans:they didn't know whilt the diseasewas,where it
c,rrnefrom, how it was transmitted,or what to do about it. In contrast,public healthauthorities,politicians,and most residentsof Tucupitaand Barrancasknew that caseswere being reportedin nearby statesand that an epidemiccould emergein Delta Amacuro.Yet almost nothing had been done
to enablepr.rctitionersto respondswiftly to an outbreak.
Talking and writing about cholera-where it camefrom, whom it affected,
and why it afiectedthenr-formed a crucialpart of the actionsand events
that constitutedthe epiclemic.
The clebate
centeredon a numberof key questions:Where did choleracome frorn, and how dld it get to the deltar?
How
did choleraspreadfrom personto personand placeto place?Finally,who
wasto blamefnr the high irrcidence
of infectionand deathin the delta? Layirrg the blarneon "the Warao" and "their cultnre" couldhaveprofotrndimplicationsfor questionsof citizenshipand civil rights,affectingwhat sorts
of servicesand legalprotectionsindf genascoulddemandand what they would
[-relikely to gain fron'rpressingthosedemancls.
Pinning the responsibility
on publicinstitutionscouldIeadto dismissalsfrom influentialpositions,attackson the legitimacyof key agencies,
disruptionsin relationswith neighboring statesand the nationalgovernment,and r-rpheavals
in the balanceof
pc'rwer
betweenpoliticalpartiesand socialnetworksin Delta Amacuro.
Weighing in on thesequestionswas not the prerogativeof epidemiologists,physicians,or proft-ssionals
alone.Shapirlgperceprions
of the disease
a.d its "victirns" wasa gamein which everyonehad a stake,includingother
stateinstitutions and the press.lIt is emphaticaliynot rhe casethat only
criollostold "dominant" narrativesand indisenastheir ,,resistant"coun1gg
2oo
I
Clttrpter,1
terparrs,or that the formt-r were told only on the mainlandand the latter
in the fluvial area.Theseexplanationscirculatedwidely within the regior.r.
asindigenastold dominantnarrativesin the course
Many personsclassified
of explainingwhy their "less-civilized"nc'ighborsseemedto be tnore susthe stoceptibleto cholera,and rnany criollosproducedand disserninated
ries that challengedthe biomedicalunderpinningsof accountsadvancedby
public healthofficiais.
Justthree daysafter the first caseswere officially reported,unidentified
officialsof the RegionalIlealth Serviceannouncedthat six peoplehad died
area,becoming"victims of choleraafter consumilg a cerin the Pedernales
tain quantity of the crabsthat are producedin that region." Although the
as benarnesof these "victirns" lvere "unknown," they were idc'ntifiec-l
who
in the
groups,
longing to "fishermenfrom the Warao andcriolloethnic
region and
height of the harvesttime for capturingcrabsin the Pedernales
"2 An
other palrtsof the lower c{elta,gatherlargequantitiesof thesespecies.
proinformation
based
on
next
day,
the
in
Notidiario
articlethat appeared
route
of
the
regardinS;
vided by Daniel Rodriguez,hedgedthis assertion
transmissionof choleraby suggestingthat nineteenpeoplehad cclntracted
the diseaseand two had died, "presumaltlydue to the ingestionof harry
analysiswas
The epideuriological
by the mortal disease."
crabscontaminatc'd
All
much
stronger.
becarne
cholera
more hesitant,Lrutthe racializationof
was
caseswc'resaidto haveinvolvedindigenas,and evc'nthe variety of crab
racializedthrough the irssertionthat "in their nirtivelanguageit is known
as 'n to to n s . " ' 3
detectivework. Although
pieceof epidemiological
This wtrsa rern,.rrkabie
initial hypothesis,it would have
the consumptionof cral.tsformed a gooc-l
beendifficult-particularly without visiting the area-to rule out the posfood or drinksibility that travelersfrom infectedareashad contatrrinated
reached
and presentecl
was
conclusion
which
this
ing water.The rapiditywith
6
investigation-1gfl9615
to the press-as the result of an epidemiological
racializinglogicthat wasin placelong beforethe epidemicbegan.Recallth:rt
had assertedthat if cholerawere to appearin VeneMSAS epiderniologists
Becauseof
ztrela,pcrorand/or indigtrto cornnrunitieswould be responsible.
and
the exthe state'sproblematicreiationshipto the nationalgovernrnent
of nationalism
istenceof epidernicsin gther Venezueianstates,iliscourse's
gaineclno ground as ir tool for replesentingthe diseasein Delta Atnacrtro.
evoked
betweencholeraand poverty had beenoccasionally
The association
but,
by and
as
crio//os,
in the delta,especiailywhen patit'ntswere classifit'd
were delarge,the quesrionsof how thc epidemicbeganand how it sprc,rcl
with "the
scribedin racialrermsfrom thc start.Cholera was thus associated
CrLltrrrtEtlttttlsChctle
ra
I
zc:r
favorite dish of the Waraos of tlrat region," ro rluote the director of thc'
Mal ari ol ogi ai n Tu cupit a. l
During the following rwo weeks,crabsbecarnethe rhetoricalanchorfor
far-rangingattenrptsto link choltra to the "custolls" and "culture" of indiccrids.An article in the national newspaperUltimas Noflcias statedthirt
crabswere not only "an exquisitedish" ['rut"an aphrodisiac,"evokingangther inrage,one of eroticism.sMost accounts,however,attribtrteda relito the crab.An articlein Notitliarioquotedan asserrion
gious significance
lry "the Warao physician,"VicenteMedina,that the gatheringof crabsby
sons-irr-lawwas the forcethat [ent a "closelyunified" chilracterto indigetttt
socialrelations.The collectiveconsumptionof crabsand cakesmirdefrom
nrorichepalm starchprovidednot only "camaraderie"but irlscla cnrcialcontext for "the olal transmissionof ancientknowledgethat constitutesthe
race."6Lamentingthat this "sacredfood" had become
sotrlof this seafrrring
the trearerof chol er a,M cdina suggest ed
t hat at r t hor it iescoulduset he epidernicto "reestablishthe confidenceof the Warao" by enablingthem "to
avoidthr'bad spirits." Medina was the p,.-rfect
ventriloquist:his accountof
rheorigin of cholerawils given cultural authenticityaswell as scientificauthority becausehe could speaklor and abor-rt"Warao culture" as an indiSdnrrat the sametime that he could speakin the voiceof the phvsician.
A srrbsequent
articlein Notidisrio illusrraredthe "traditional" importanceof crabs,along with other shellfishand fish. in the diet of the dtnia
Waroo by narrirtinga jclurneynndertakenby "variousWarao f,rrnilies"to
catchclabs,followedby their consumprionin "the annualcelebrationof the
rnagi call i turgi calfest ivalknown as'nozuar a'inwhich t hev celebr at a
e colIectivebanqr-ret
with crabsand rlurunm,a starchthat is extractedfrom the
moriche palm." The articleadded,"Unfortunately,the crabshad been rniectedr.viththe \/ibrio cltolarae."The articlethen'roved to the terror that
ensuedfrom the deathof "one of the principalu,isidatusof the group, . . .
causingpanicin the alltochthonous
"TThe sourceof thc epidemrc
collectivity.
had been pinpointedonly two weeksafter it started,anclit haclbeen presentedvia the pressin the form of a single,easily cornprehensible
narrative' Epiderniol'gistsgerrerallyare hesitarrrto designatea single,definitive
point .f origirr and metlnsof rrarnsmission
for epidemics.Epiderniologists
arestill unsurehow the Peruvianepidcrnicbegan,andit hasbeenmuch morc
thoro'glrly invr'stigatedthan the-sirtrationin Delta Arnacuro.sBc-navides,
Medina,and Rodrigtiez,on rhe.othcr hand,apparentlydrew a definitiveepidemi ol ogi cal
conclusion.
Thi s narrati veco nst it r t cda sor tof vent r iloqt r isr nJur ses
andphysicia. s
askcdpatientswhat they hadeatcnpridr tu e*pc.t"r-r.*gcholerasymptoms,
Chaptter t1
and crabsappearedon the list. The inforn-rationthat patientsoffer in clinicontexts,eachwith
calencountersis oftcn repeatedin a seriesof subsequent
a different setting,audience,and set of rhetoricalrequirements,which allows medicalprofessionals
to ct',ntrolhlw this informationwill tteusedand
r e rc c p ti o n (."
ho w i t wi l l s hopebr o, r de p
Is i n fo rma ti o rrrhrt emergedfr,rrn
b y b i l i ngualnurses,reiniti a l cl i n ic alc nc ount er si n rh e d c l taffi , tro n s l o te d
reportedby radioto authoritiesin Tucupita,usedin conlayedto physicians,
structingofflcialstories,and given to the press,crabswere promotedfrom
the statusof one item in a list of foodsconsumedto that of the causalfacnarrative.At tl'resametime,crabs-consumed by
tor in arnepidemiological
nearly everyonein the clelta-were racializedand culturalized.They were
construedas a facetof the culture of a particulargroup. Crabsprovideda
rhetoricalglue to join an epidemiologicalnarrativeto an ilnthropological
story.
This story was,however,a powerful cuitural invention. Although the
noarais often celebrated
by eatingcrabsin the southeastdelta,the feastis
virtually unknown in the northwest.l0I inquired in many communitiesin
the Pedernales
area,and in no casedid peoplerecallever having celebrated
the noartt or having eatencrabsas part of a ritual event.Publichealth auaccountsthat
thoritiesand journalistscollaboratedin taking c'thnographic
"traditional
relatedt<-r
culture" of irnone region,constructingthern as the
narrativewith
other region,and using them to infuse ,.rnepidemiologicirl
one facetof life
ethnographicauthority.By a cultural logic of synecdoche,
for some residentsof one areaof the deltacameto standfor activitiesand
for an entire racialized
ways of thinking that are pen'asiveand inesc,l;table
populrrtion.
Use of the term noartthelpedrenderthe story authenticand authoritative. Officialswho make no effort to learnWarao neverthelessgenerallypossessa tiny vocabularyof Warao words an.{phrases,someof which reflect
their particulirrareaof expt-rtise.
Slippingone of theseinto il conversation,
report, or statementto the presscreirtedthe illusion that the official understoor.l
how indigenasthink and feel,sireakand act.The use of the word
noara, which enteredthis group of catchwordswhen the articlewas published,cleatedthe impressionthat the story was basedon ilirectexperience
of the story was also fostered
of the eventsin question.Readyacceptance
One widespread
by its rt'sonance
with other common imirgesoi indigt'rttts.
tenderrcy
to participate
is
a
near-pLrthological
imageattributedrt indigcnas
in elaborateand even extravagantrituals in which they dancegaily (and
perhapsIicentiously)evenin timesof imr-ninentdanger.This irnageinvoked
Cult ur eEt lualsCholt r o
I
zo3
rhe stereotypeof indigenasas beingIike animals,unableto developa sober
of their sit uat ion.
i rss(' ssl nenf
The crabstory wasa localtransformationof a dominantnarrative,which
globallyfor,r year and a half, that blamedcevicl.re
for the Pehad circr"rlated
Pu[.tlic
health authoritiesin Delta Amacuro repeatedthis
ruviarnoutbreak.
srory,changingdetailsto reflectanthropologicalnarrativesof "Warao cr-rlrure."When "eatingbluecrabs,. . . oneof the mostimportantphasesof their
ancestralculture[,]" was identifiedas thc.sourceof cholerain the delta,a
invention becamea credil'rle
story that seernedto explain
powerfulcultr-rral
everythi ng.I1
The crab rhetoricoffereda number of benefitsto public health institutions.It locatedcholerafar from Tucupitain geographicand cultural terms,
racializingtime-spirce
rhetoricto the
rherebymusteringthe well-estabhshed
in Tucupita.Moreoveq,rt
task of making choleraseernremote for re-aders
p()rtravedthc-epidemicas the unfortunilte result of chance:a bacteriahad
to infecta humblecreaturethat lay at the centerof a culture.Only
hrrpl.rened
elementsof the naturaland cultural environmentof the lower deltafigured
in this drama-any possiblerole for governmentagenciesor corporations
wasconrzt-niently
erased.Pressreleases
linked anthropologicaland medical
knowlr'clge,
drawingon the lexiconsof both.This juxtapositionof scientific
authority and cultural authenticitywas linked particularlycloselyin comments offered by Meclina.Benavidesand Rodriguezbecamethe primirry
definersof the choleraepidemic.By quoting indigenas,either by repeating
statementsmade to theseofficialsor by interviewing cholerarefugeesirr
Tucupita,reporterswere ableto createthe impressionthat they possessed
drarnatic,first-handinformation-without venturinginto the delta.The inclusicrnof photographsof impoverishecl
and diseasedintligenabodiesgave
thesestatementsgreaterauthenticity-the personsdepictedin the photos
seemedto be speakingdirectly to the reader.Suchnarrativestrategiesmade
theseconstructionsseemlike direct refltctionsof the socialworld.l2They
intbur'dquicklyconcotedstoriesr,r'iththe metaphysics
of presence
and powerfr-rlrracesof the real.
This initial formulation had,neverrheless,
two fatal flaws.First,the clairn
that crabswere the sourceof the disease
wasquickly discre.dited
by the vcry
sltccL-ss
of the anti-crab1'rrol.taganda.
The RegionalHealth selvice prohibitetl
the'constrmption
of shclltishand thc GuardiaNacionalconfiscated
crabsand
fith. R l,loridiarloarticlequoted" ruriq,,r\lil2o,nb.nn., n, sayingthat evcn
though they had stoppedeatinghairy crabs,new casesof cholerawere reported.l3
Crabsordinarilvareboiledin the delta,and,sincecholeradiesquickly
2o4
I
Chnpt er9
at high temperaturetimtnersiotrin boilingwater rerlovesthe dangerof infe.ction.
Evenif somepatientsdid ingestvibriosby eatingcrabs,this epidemiologicaIstory-crabs-equai-cholera-wastoo sirnple.
the validity oi the crabstories.Salornon
Second,many ind(genns refr"rted
Medina recalledhis conversationwith thc doctorin Nabirsanuka.
tz Not:,t'nrbcr
t99z
NIcdina,
TttruTtittt,
Sttlottt6rt
The crlol/ostell
"How couldthis havehappened?"
We askedourselvcs,
"the fish are
crktllos
say
that
The
"the
iniecting
you."
water
is
us that
killing you; your food,crabs,is killing you; crabsareangry at you, are
whcn you eatcrrrbsthey kill you."
hurting you, hirvekilledyor"r;
Ever
But we don't believethat.Wc haveeatenthem for generations.
sinceI wasa smallchild,eversinceassmallchildr.'nwe becamcconsciotts,
we h a v eeat ennot hingb u t c ra b sA. n d w e d i d n ' t d i e ! H ow coul dw e dre
from crabs?Crabsrvon'tkill you! Crabsale otrr food,fish is our food
When we got hungry,we atethem.We atefish,we cookedthernand
atethe-m,arrdwe didn't get sick.Ovc-rtht-reIpointingtowardTucupital
they say,"You atebadfish,thosefish that you atewele bad.""No," we
responded
to therr, "no, fish don't cirusedeath."I eatfish.Wt'Waraotake
our foodfrom the land.We eatpalnrhearts.And we h,rveeatenthem sincc
...
beforetherewt'rerriollos,beforewe hadheardof criolltts.
Th at ' swhatI s aid. T h ed o c to rre s p o n c l e"dl s, th a t true?"" l t' s true."
And [the doctor]truly learnedfrom this,he reallylealned."Well, then,
wc can'trlenythis,it's true."
providesa classicexampleof reporte.lspet'ch,the itrvocaThis passage
tion of a world brought to life by recountingwords spokenwithin it. Narratorscanembedirn interpretationof a repollgdeventsimply by repeating
those of crtowhat was said.laMedina portraystwo opposedperspectives,
/lo physicianandindigettttpatients.He pointsout that it seemsillogicalthat
foodswould suddenlybecomedangerouswithout any evidentreason,but
he also placescrabs,swamp fish, palm hearts,and grubs at the heart of
"Warao" identity and its projectedcontinuity.Although some Mariusans
do continueto spendmost of the yearin the morichegrovesand to eat foods
de ri ve dfrom t he f olc s t ,[.y r9 9 : mi n y Mtrtu s a trss p c ltl nl t)reti nrel i vi rrg
nearthe mouth of the Mariusa,wherethey consumedfc,odspreparedfrom
colnmerciallyproducedrvheatflotlr; corn flor-r4rice, and stlgat as well as
catingfish and crabs.Simplificationand idealization,the erasureof history
y , n o l e s so f a ro l e i n M e d i n a ' sthan i n offi ci alacan d h e te ' r ogenc it play
he drawsbetweenfoodand identity arc more
counts,even if the connections
in La
positivethirrrthoseprovidedby physiciansor the Mariusans'relative's
'fortuga.
Cr r lt ur eEqualsChc, lcr a
I
zo5
Medina's accounrdiffers from officialversionsin form as well as content.Although his narrativeinitially placesthe protagonistsin distinctcrro11oand "Vrlarao"carnps,the relationshiphe projectsbetweenthem is less
an insurrnountableculturalvoid than a movementfrom oppositionto synrhesis,dialogue,and at leasra paltial sharingof perspectives.
Rather than
two homogeneous
voicesthat aroseindependentlyof eachother,
inraginir.rg
Me.dinaprojectsa heteroglossia-a cornplexset of relarionsbetweeninultiple voicesthat mutually influenceone another.15
It is clearthat Medina
andotherswerelisteningcarefullyto how physicirlns
explainedthe epidemic
evenin the courseof constructing;
alternativeaccorlnts,
and he gavethe docr{)rcre(l i tfor rhe sct ner ( 'cept ivit y.
The crabs-equal-cholera
discourseultirrately failed to containthe eprdt'micin politicalterms.Some of the very institutional officialswho were
ch,rrgedwith enforcingit beganto der.ryit. BlancaC6rdenas,then the directoroi ORAI, lovescrabs.She reported,"flndigena residents]would see
Llsthere in the [ORAII pilot centerin Arawabisi,right, stayingthere with
them and eatingcrabsright in front of them."16By eatingcrabsshe challengedboth key aspectsof the epidemiological
narrarive:the assertionthat
crabstransmited cholera,and their racialization
asa synecdoche
for "Warao
culture." Resistanceto the inirial broadsideby public health atrthoriries
crossed,rsupposedlyclear-curracialdivide,threateningto revealthat the
cr"rltural
logic they had employeddid not providea foolproofmc'ansof explrriningthe epidemicor a perfectdeusex machinathat coulclshieldstate
institutionsfrom politicalscrutiny.
E X P A N T]IN G
FILTI{,
FOOD ,
TH E C R A B S TOR Y :
A ND
S IIA MA N S
Publichealth officialsrealizedthat thty nec'deda broadet more inclusrvc,
.nd Inorc co'rplex
juxtarpose
to successfully
culture and germs.
'arrative
onc strategyrnaintained
the focus o. food but widenedits scopt--.
nafael
Ori huel a,mi ni ster of healt h,laid t he gr oundwor k f or t his expansionby
announci ngthat th e high r at esof choler ainf ect ionwt r e due t o , , eat ing
hLrbitsi. the Delra Amacuro."l; Luis Echezuria,the national cpidemiolo8lst,went much further:"The choleraoutbreakin DcltaAnractrrois rhemost
serlollsone to emergein the country by virtue of its soci.cultural
characte'istics,duc to the comportmentof the itnitt wttrLto,who have
a no.radic
behaviorsi'rilar to the Yucpaof zulia state,and who are also
charactcrizecl
by food custo.ls that art-diffictrlt to change,such as the i'gcsti..
of rarv
fishandmear."lsNote the shift herefr'rn crabsro ,,foodcustoms,,,
includine
2c,6
I
Chapter9
methodsof preparation,which painteda much more generalizedpictureof
indigenaculture.
Echezuria'sremarks-delivered by one oi the most powerftrl public
health officialsin the country during a brief visit to the region-did not
reflectdetailede'mpiricalknowledgeof food production,preparation,and
consumption.Eating raw meat was deemedto be repulsivein every delta
tirat crabs,parcommunity that I (CharlesBriggs)visited.I heardassertiorls
crab
season,are someticularly the first few harvestedat the beginningof tlre
times eatenraw but I have never witnessedanyoneeatingraw seafoodin
the delta.
The culturalizationof choleraextendedbeyond"the Warao."Echezuria,
El Globo,laid the blame-on
quoted in an articlein the CaracasnL-wspaper
indigentsasa Sroup:"'The indigenashavebeenshown to be the most vulhaving beenrelegatedto
nerableinhabitantsof our country to the disease,
adversesanitaryconditionsin a contaminatednaturalenvironment.Moreoveq,'assertedEchezurfa,'their cllstoms make the work of preventlon
difficult."' EchezuriaalsoracializedcholerainZulia and Delta Amacuro in
parallelfashion:"'The situation in Delta Amacuro is similar to what has
happenedinZulia, where 8o percentof the choleracasestook placearnong
the Wayi and Parupeno[sicl 1tnias.ln the delta,95 percentof the casesare
for high morbidity and moramon6;Warao."'ieDanielRodriguezaccounted
tality in the deltain similar terms.
i taJ, a n tn ryr9 9 q
D a n i e lRodr iguez , T u c rrp t4
The Indianis accustomed
to living in conditionsof very LradenvironWe know the
mentaihygiene;that'swhy [tl.rere
wasso much cholera].
situationof these'people:tlreyeaton the floo4and they defecate-o4,
They do it
discreetly.
let'ssay,they don't havea systemof defecating
in the openair.The tlies,which landon foo.l,landtirst on the fecesand
thenon the foodand then on the bottle,the pacifierof the child,andthen
they giveit fthe childl the bottle.
thereby
This stittementcoversa broadset of materialand bodily practices,
creatinga globalizedirnageof indiganaclomesticspace.
MagdalenaBenavidesalsouseda common formula of diseasetransntission,the fecal-oralcycle,in creatirlga powerfulimageof hygienicignorance
and resistance.
Bcnat,idas,
Moturirt,1t March r9r15
It4agdaletto
toilets,etc.But in the deltaIn the city,we-ll,therearesewagefacilities,
they bathe,they go poo-poo,andeverything[in the sameplacel.In the
the fish,and
the wate4they corrtaminate
samespotthat they contarninate
Cult ur eEqualsCholer a
I
zo7
a viciouscycle.And they don't havethis habitof washrng
this establishes
their hands.'Iheydon't want-they don'r usetoiletpaper;nor do they
protecttheir hands,well, [when defecating].
No, no, yes.no-prerhapsthey
don't even-.I don't know I don't evenknow how they wipethemselves.
So thereis nothinglike,"Look,your fingernailsaredirty.Washthem!"
No, nothinglike that.So then this contamination-anus,hand,moutliis constantamongthem.It wouidbe unlikelythat an indigenawouldwash
her hands.First,it's rhat they eaton the f'loor.
his <-rr
details,Benavidesbuildsan imageof peoplewho are not
Using scatological
only disgustingbut wiilfully so-they just don't care.The lack of funds tcr
pnrchasesoapor toiletpaperandthe failLrreof institutionsto providepotable
water or to conductextensivehealth educationprogramsare washedaway
b1,this river of negativeimages.Journalistsreproducedtheserepresentationsby includingphotographsof refugeescookingandeatingon the ground
around open-airfires in articieson cholera(seephotographzr, pagero7).
Foodpreparationand consumptionbecamea key areaof surveillanceby
publichealth officials.Maria Vargas(seechapter6) kept her eye on rl.rein"I personallywent at six in tl'remorning, ar
digertttslir,,ingin Barrancirs.
nvelveo'clockin the day,and at six in the eveningto seewhat they were
catin5land how they were eatingand how they preparedit," shestarecl.
'Ar
that tirne, I took on the role, I actedas if they were my children.I would
scoldthem and I would make a scene.'20
The precisetiming of her visits
providesa scnseof verisimilitudeand makesher observarions
seemdetailed
antlsystematic.
This importantfeatureof her nan ativeis a micldle-class
projection:membersof thesehouseholdsgenerallypreparedtwo mealsa day,
mid-morning trndmid-:rfternoon,when sufficientfood wasavailable.As Vargas'scmpiricalfailing reveals,totalizingimagesll'ere basedlesson careful
observatiorr
than on stereotypesof indigenasthat circulatedwidely.
The broaderculinarynarrativewasnot only racializedbut aisogendered,
sincewomendid mostof the foodprcparertio..
Thus the blarmefor the cholera
epidcrnicwas placedespeciallyon intligenawomen.Genderspecificityalso
enrbrirced
human re-production
and chiltl survival.Benavidesattemptedto
link not only rnorbidity and mortality during the epidemicbut alsoinfant
rnortality and poor healthconditionsin the deltain generalto rhe wav thar
irtdigenttmothersview lifc and death.
Nlagdaletra
lJcrtLnidt,s,
NTtrturIn,
ir l\4orchr,19;
The Inr-lians-they'rcpeoplewho acct'ptdeathas,r norrnal,naturalevent
in their livc's.And when an Indiandies,it's not anythingtranscendenral.
An Indiandiesandnothinghappens.
Or; let,ssay,thereisn,t,thereisn,t
this,r-rh,
atachmcntto life,or anythinglike thrrt.Or; iet,ssay,this affction
2oc9
I
Cltapter9
ior life. Among them, "lt's a11the sarne.A child diesand I haveanother
tomorrowand it dics."Okay,maybeit's because
it's alr,vays
beenlike
that-they havetheir childrenand they die.Or; let's say,for them death
is like,a childis born and ir dies.It's ali the same.So then this-well.
they will think that when a disease
comesalongthat decimates
them,
it's because
oneof thoseevil spiritsis gemingevenwith them.They say,
"Darn,this spirit is-." Well,okay,in their ctrsewe haveto teachthem
to takecareof their lives,because
they don't love their lives.And I imagine that that must be why they live their liveslike that,asii todaywere
their lastday.
In the hundredsof interviewsthar I haveconductedduring my caree4I have
never felt sucha strong urge to jurnp to rny feet,shout at my interlocuro4,
burst into tears,and run from the room. I could not believethat she had
madethis statement,and into a taperecorderat that. But in zooo a new director of the RegionalHealth Serviceprovidedme with a neariy identical
statement.The problemis srrr.rctural,
nor individual.Statementssuchas rhis
one cleariy signalthe dep'thof the colonialrelationshipand the degreeto
which peeplginternalizeraciststereotypes.
It recallsthe famousquotarion
from GeneralWilliam C. Westmorelandregardinghis Vietnameseadversaries:"Well, the Oriental doesn'tput the samehigh price on life as does
the Western.Life is plentiful. Life is cheapin the Orient. And, as the philosophyof the Orient expresses
it, life is nor irnportanr.'21The promorion
of suchan irlage is a too] often usedto legitimatestatepoliciesthat render
subalternlives expendable.
The portraitsof "indigenousculture" that replacedthe crabstory did not
focuson food and excretionalone.Recalithar Echezuriaincltided"nomadic
behavior" as part of the "socioculturalcharacteristics"
that made the epidemicin the deltathe most seriousin the country.Rodriguezand Benavides
juxtaposedcraband nomadtropesto arguethat ind{genLts
were infectedby
eating clabsand that they spreadthe diseasethrough their "migration."
After suggestingthat indigenastrnderutilizedhealth servicesbecauseof
their greaterfaith in "shamans,"Rodriguezplacedthis "nomadic"character
at the heart of "Warao cnstonrs."
D a rri aR
l odr iguezT,uc u p i ttr,
1 4 J a n u ttryrg 9 4
lt's alsovery difficLrlt-evenwhenthey want to find us-becauscrheir
verv customsleadthernto live in very dispersed,
isolatedplaces.
Thev're
very disperscd.
And they'renomads,too,because
they continuemoving
in keepingwith n'hercthey find food.And if the fishingis bc.trerin a certain place,they look for that placeanclthe.yleaveand settlethere.And
Ct t lt ur eEqt t olsClt olt r s
I
zo9
if that placestopsproducing,[ii] it doesn'thavewhat they'reafter,they
leavc-they move to anotherplace.And they keepcutting [nnnnctt]
palms.They go-if they are plantinggardenshere,thcy settlefor a
little while here,and then they rnoveto anotherplacewhercthey can
thei l act ivit ics.
Lrndertakc
The poeticparallelismin Rodriguez's666sgn1-1herepetitionof phrasesthat
and random migrations
describemovement-creates a senseof ceaseless
amonglocations.It irnpliesa logic that retlectsonly very short-term calcuThis pictureemerged
lationsbasedon the availabilityof natural resources.
cle.arlyin an article publishedin rr CaracasnewspapetUItinMs Notlcias:
"Hr-rngerand malnutrition are their worst enemies;nevertheless,they
Thcy
swanr Ipululan] nornadicallyaboutthe territory in a perpetuirlse,rrch.
fish and then run here and there."22The efforts of peopleto ieavean arei.l
whr.recholerawaspresentand medicalserviceswere few areextractedfrom
of the epidemicand from history itself.Thc shiftless,
the circumstances
chrroticwanderingsthat thesenarrativesdepictbecomereflectionsof pc-rvasivr',timelessculturalpatternsand a life whoseterms aredictatedby nature.
Here we seea new dimensionof the tin-re-space
dislocationprocess.Irrjuncture that is indlgettasaredisplacecl
frorn the modernten'rporill-sptrtial
habitedby publichealth officialsand journalisrsinto a distanced,
prernodern realmthat respondsnot to historicaltime but to the seasonal
fluctuatlons
of natllre.Spaceis further racializedby imagining rnodern,crlollo subjects
asoccupyingfixedpclintson the mainlandand indigenasaslilckingany srable relationshipto space.Rodriguez'sreferenceto fish and rrranncapalms
inadvertentlydrawsour artentionto the role oi capitalin shapingthis "nomirdism."The temporarycampsthat wereestablished
nearsiteswherefish
rvereabundantwere generallyorientedtorvardcourmercialproductionthc fish weresoldin Tucupitaor Barrancas-and the indigenaworkerswere
often irr the employ of criollos.Thefactoriesthat processed
manacapalms
paid sr-rch
ir low wage that workr.rshad to tra'.,elever greaterdistancesin
order to harvestenoughtrees-a hundredor more rrday-to earn a iiving
wag;e.Moreovel the staterequiresindigenasto travel frequently to Tucupita in order to obtain bureaucraricdocuments,paychecks,
officialpermrssion,and the like, a fact thar Rodriguezdoesnot nore.A rnagicalsleightof
hand rt'ndeledthe role of the stateinvisibleby convertingit into cultural
dif[erence.
A "study" conducted
l.tyRodriguez,Benavides,
ar-rd
a colle.rgue,
which was
concludedsome ren days into thc'epidernic,citt-drhesepopulationrloven-Ientsnot only as the primary means by whlch cholerawas spreading
21o
I
Cultu'e EquttlsCholertt
ChLtpter g
through the deita but also as a central facet of Warao culture. The people,
said the report, "were trying to escapefrom the.Iruu (spirit) that is causing the disease among the Warao."23 Durirrg her intr'rview, Benavides
speciiied the motive for this nomadism as an irrational fear of death.
Bt'tnaidt:s, lv4aturin, i t March t995
hTrtgdalt'ttct
The most seriotrsproblem [during the outbreirk]was the problernof the
movement of the irr,ligenrrs-that is, those indigtnas went all over the
place.Wlren sorneintligennsdied over here, they lost themselve'ssornewhere else,in the areasthat had not br'cn infected,and they iniected them,
the ones who came from here. Or let's say that this movc-mentwas what
screwedus up, becausecasesof cholerastarted to come up all over the
place.That was the problem. . . .
You can forget about those communities [if there should be another
epidemic].They're not going to respondbecausethey don't know how
to help [cholerapatients],they don't know They forgot about that, they
forgot. First, it's that the intligenos-they're here in a village and someone dies here and they bury him there and they get lost. They go away
from there. Or let's say that memory, they don't have it anymore. At
le,rstthcy aren't secingthat "over there-here, solreone died of cholera
here." No, they go away from there as if to forget everything, since the
spirit is over there. So it's not like us. When my son dies,"Goliy, hcre's
my child's picture and my child's car,his toy. I rernember hirn every little
rvhile.And, dear God, don't let that other child who I have die, becauseif
this shoLrldhappen,I don't know how I would faceit." No, the indigenas
don' t havc tha t wa y o f think ing.
In the passagequoted earlier Benavides argues rhat indigenas do not love
life, that it has no value for "them." Here we see the flip side: the assertion
tltat irtdigt'rtashave such a cultural aversion to death that people flee the
place where the death occurred and attempt to erase rnemory, to wipe the
dead from their minds. This feature becomes another means of making a
binary contrast betw een indigena and crio//o cultures. In racializing the production of cultural memory, Benavidesexcluclesintl{genLtsfrom the clebates
regarding the events that deeply affected their cotnmunities [.y asserting
that they are culturally inc,rpableof representing death. The statentent repudiates the ethnographic literature, which stressesthe centrality of re'verence for the dead in delta communities and the wealth of rituals in which
nrernories o[ kttitlnmottmta (ottr ancestors) arc' elaborately enacted.za
Benavides's statement also contradicts her interpretation of "Warao"
mothers, who seem to care too little about the death of their infants. It seerns
as if Benavides never spent enough tirne in a delta commtrnity to be present
when a death occurred. If shc had, she woulcl have witnessed the wouren's
I
zt:-
lamentsthat are sung from the moment peopledie until after the
s,ttttt,25
funeral has ended.Srrnaconstructmemoriesthat are often rememberedand canbe sung word for word-years later.Under the guiseof presenting
detailedknowledgeof indiguro culture,Benavidesimaginesopposingand
racializedpatternsof affectivt-responsethat producea vision of a fundanrentalcultural chasmthat obstructsthe penetrarionof modernity into the
dc.lta.Her pessimisticprojectionof the possibilityof helpingto preventfuttrre clroleraoutbreaksby teachingindigenasabout biornedicaltechniques
was presentedspecificallvas a commenton the health educationprogram
that Claraand I were attemptingto establishfor the delta.
Publichealth rhetorictransfonnedthe Mariusans'responseto the r'pidemicinto one of the causesthat fueledit. Benavidessuggestedthat if the
epidemiccrossedover into Monagasstate,"the movelnentof the indigenous people"would be to blame.25
Moreove4,the study conductedby Benavidesand Rodrfguezassertedthat this "con'rpulsive
exodus"was responsil.,lefor irnpedingthe effectiveness
of public health measuresfor controlling
choler,r.z7
HEBU VERSUS
VIB R IO
Officialsalsoattributedthe bodily presenceol indigenason urban streets,
rvlrichBe'navides
and Rodrfguezdubbedan 6xodocontpttlsi-oo
(compulsiveI
exodus),to a magico-religious
understandingof the world that led them to
I
rnakennthinking, irrational decisions.2s
Belief in hebu was cited over and
I
overasconstitutingthe coreof "Waraoculture,"the basisof indigenas'fear '
of cholera,and one of the centralobstacles
confrontedby public healthauthorities in general.Theseassertionsby public heaith authoritiesand reporterswere largely based,howevet on an erroneoustranslation.Hebn
rt'fersboth to spirits that can causean illnessand to particularsigns and
symptomsassociated
with a disease.
In the early months of the epidemic,
vetnacularhealersopenly admitted that tlrey did not knoll'the "origin"
(tthotana)of cholera;use of the term hebu durtng this period was thus
largelyconfinedto physicalmirnifestations
of the disease.
Choosingto translatehcbrras "spirit" (espiritu)ratherthan "disease"thus constitutedan act
oI mistranslrrtion
that lined up with racistrepresentarional
practices,
efforts
to characterize
indfgenasas irrationirland foreign.The oppositionbetween
scienccand rnagicthat makesmodernity seemreal hild beenreinventedyet
agai n.
As the epidemicwore on into Octobe4,EI Diario de Monagttsreported
,,shaman,,
thirtthe proble.mlay in resistancc
ro insrirutionalrnedicine.2')The
z'r 2
Cht t pt er9
(pittch e ),a k ey s y r lbol ol i n d i g c ttac u l tu re i n th e n a ti o nali rnagi nati on,
Beservedas the principalembodimentof superstitionand anti-n-rodernity.
navidesargSed,"lt was difflcult at any given moment to managethe situation . . . becaus.'the intligenasdon't go rapidly to get help when sonteone
is sick.No, they first get treatedby thcir shamansand their ways of curing,
arrdonly when they seethat the sharnanstuff is not working do they go [to
the clinicl,and by that tirne nothing can be done."30
Thesenirrrativesturned cholcrainto a battlebetweeuthe doctorand the
pioche.Sornearguedthat the ultirnateeffectsof the epidernicrnight be posif iuc,Inadvertentlyrecapitulatingthe battlesbetweenphysiciansand other
Cristopractitionersthat took placeduring nint'teenth-centuryepidernics,'li
noninstitutional
heaithe
inability
of
telror,
bai Bayeh suggestedthat the
ers to crlrepatients,the death oI numeroushealers,arrdthe successof institutional practitionersproduceda major step forward in the processof
" B ec aus et lr e i r s h a ma n sc o u l d n ' th e l p a n y m ore-even thei r
as si rn i l a tion:
shamansdied.So,then,in whom shouldthey believein that moment?They
have.to believein the criol/o,in the physician;this attitude was precisely
help
what led them to havefaith that the physician,the governmcntwor"ricl
thern."32In this way, cholerastoriescotrldhavehappy endings.
The delta,like the restof the world,is the horneof multiple healingpracwasa physiciananda publichealthofficialin the early r99os,
tices.Benavides
to be an activeparticipantin popularverbut shewas alsolvidely L'relieved
nacularhealingpracticesthat evokethe spirit of Marfa Lionza,a nlythologicalintlfgenawho is reveredas a goddessof the natural world. In centL'rs/or "courts," throughout Venezttela,adepts enter spacesthirt they
believeare filled with the spirits of peoplewho lived in colonialand postccrlonialepochs,including caciqucs,physicians,and leaderssuch as Sirn6n
flowers,andinBolivar.Surroundedby statues,offerings,perfumes,candles,
their voices
assume
cense,adel'rts
becomepossessed
by thesespirits-they
gives them
and make dramirticgestures.Followersbelievethat possession
power and the ability to heal tlre sick.33Benavidesis said to be a leading
practitionerof the Tucupita"court." When she was the directorof the Regional Health Service,FatherPabloRornerowas calledto perform an exorcism to drive evil spirits from the officeat Tllcupita,tvhoseelltrancL'was
gracedby a statueof the Virgin of the Valley (photograph34). Benavides's
purportedsupportof suchpluralistichealingpracticesdid not preclude/rer
from understandingthe role of viruses,bacteria,furrguses,or othcr biomedicalpathogensor believingin the efficacyof institutionalmedicine'
How could Bcnavitlescourbinethesc fort.nsof therapy without getting
brandedas intrinsicallyand irredeemablypremodernwhen racializedsub-
r
C t t ltt r r eEqt t ulsCholcr t
21J
i
ii
,f
*
Photograph
34. Shrineto the Virgin of the Valley,located
in tlrevestibule
of theheadquartels
of the Regional
Health
Service,
MSAS,Tucupita.
Photograph
by CharlesL. Briggs.
jectscould not? As globaiizationhas led to the growing autonr)myof cultural, financial,ethnic,religious,and mediadomains,sociallife has become
increasinglyfragmented.'r+
Professionals
canoccupycomplementaryroies:
a lawyer canalsobe a churchgoer,
sportsenthusiast,amateurmusician,and
so fortlr.15The professionaland conrplementaryrolesare so colnpartmentalizcd,and the cornplementaryrolesso privatized,that evenobviouscontradictionsl.retween
the two influenceneither.In fact,we might seethe degret' of divergencebetweenthe various professionaland complemenrary
rolesthat an individualassumesasfunctional,crearingflexiblesubjectswho
can qui ckl y and readilyadaptt o t he shif t ing dem andsoI t he giobalm ar ket.16Contradictionsthus canbe deemedproductivefor personsgrantedthe
statusof modernsubjects.
Benavidesdid not seemro be vulnerablero chargesof beingpremodern,
2a4
I
Chapt er9
roles-political party
irrationarl,
superstitious,
or the like.Her complementary
leadet mariachi singe4and follower of Lionza-were known to virtually all
in Tucr.rpita,
but they were not seenas contaminatingor modprofessionals
ifying influenceson her professionalrole.Her purportedprrrticipationin a
religious realm that seemedto contradicther alignment with rnodernity and
sciencecouldbe construedasa rationairesponseto Venezuela'sshifting, often
chaoticpositionin a globalworld. Indeed,someVenezuelanpresidentshave
beenrumored to c,rll upon spirit healersor to participatein tl-recourts of Lionza.Effortsto harnessthe powerof magicconstitlltea "magicof the state"
that is just as apparentin politicalritualsconductedin Miraflores,the presidentialpalace,
as in Sorte,the magicmountain visitedby Lionza.37
The situation is very different for racializedsubjects,who are definedin
oppositionto "the nirtionalsociety"-thirt is, the criollo majority.Here the
liberty to moveamonga rangeof professional
and complementaryroleswas
keptnearly
clearlydenied.On the onehand,racialgatekeeping
mechanisrns
al1indigertasfrom enteringthe professionalranks,exceptthat of teacherin
indigetn communities.An exampleis providedby VicenteMec.lina.
A graduateof the leadingrnedicalschoolin the country and the recipientof a postdoctoraldegree,he held high administrativepositionsin the re.gionalpublic
hcalth networkand servedas a deputy col-lgressman.
Nevertheless,
Ricardo
Campinssuggestedthat indigenas"will never understandwhat a virus is,
what a bacteriais,what a fungus is. . . . I think that eventhe indigenawho
is a physician,Dr. [VicenteMetlina],even he must llot understandit very
well." By marking Medina .lsa racialOtheq Carnpinsimpliesthat he could
neversufficientlyembracescienceand modernity to fully gain the statusof
a professional.
By the sametoken, racializedsubjectsare not grantedthe right to occupy conrplementaryroles,at leastin the sameway.If an intligenawent to
a nonbiomedicalpractitionetsheor he was permarlentlyidentifiedwith an
uncivilizedreligionandwascleemed
incapable
of enteringthe modernwcrrld.
Physiciansoftenwarnedtheir patients," lf you go visit that witch,don't ever
comebackhere! " Any dimensionof an indigenouslife deemedalien to the
modern rvorld of the nation-stateand glolralcultr.rrecan beconrea sign of
that individual'sinner essence.
An indigenacouldnot hold on, howevertenuously,to a professionalidentity were he or shean activeparticipantin the
court of Maria Lionza.
Under globalizartion,
sociallife is becomingincreasingly"deprivatized"
people's
lives
come
as
under increasingsurveilianceand regulationby the
poi nt to
es
nati o n -stat e
andot her heg e mo n i ci n s ti tu ti o n s .3SEe v e raexarnpl
l
Indigettttsongarrddancetroupeswere oiten
this plrenornenonin the deltar.
r
Ctilture EqualsCholera
I
zt 5
askedto perform aspectsof the nahanantufor crio//oaudiences,
indicating
rhat someof the most private religiousactivitiesof the delta had beendeprivatizedin orderto confirmthe modernity of the nation-stateand its suitability for standingas a liberal,pluralistic,dernocrnticcounrry on a global
Missionariesand officialsconsideredthe work of indigenous"witches"
srage.3e
and regulation;the regional
and "quacks"to be mattersfor statesurveillance
directorof ORAI told me that he pllannedto standardizethe activitiesof all
designatingwhich areappropriateand how
indigenareligiouspractitioners,
Someofficialscelebratedthe demiseof the many
they shouldbe performed.a0
indigenouspractitionerswho diedduring the epidemicand the lossof faith
how powerfully social
in their crlrativepowers.Finally,Benavidesrevealecl
roleshad beenracializedin the deltawhen shedismissedindigenaadultsas
potentialrecipientsof health carebecausethey combinedvernacularancl
irrstitutionalforn-rsclf healine.
A N {E TA -GE OC R A P H Y
OF B LA ME
Publichealthofficialsoften citcdanotherfactot the geographyof the fluvial
region,in their explanationsof the epidemic."The fact that the geography
of EDA [DeltaAmacr.rro
State]is iragmented[accidentttda]"
limited the very
possibilityof "governmentality"-the degreeto whlch officialscouldm,rintain surveillanceanclregulatethe movement and practicesof delta resirlt-nts.rrThe geographicalconditionsthat formed the basisof this spatiirl
imagining were the region'slow populationdensity,the distancebetween
communities,the inaccessible
Iocationo1somepeoplein the forest,and the
t'luvialcharircterof the delta itsc.lf.l2By projectinga model of terra firma
and a system of ro,rdwaysas the spatialnorm, the geographyof the delta
was rendcredincomprehensible,
inaccessible,
and foreign.
Spatialdivisionsfor governrnentemployeeswele constructedin terms
of adrninistrativeboundariesand centers.The seeminglyinsunnountable
distances
betweenhealthproviderswere produced,in part,by the failure of
theseofficialsto constructan adequatenetwork of ciinicsin an areaof some
4tl,ooosquarr-kilometers.This institutionalcartograp'rhy
was nirturalizedconsiderec-l
part of the landitself-and this in turn erasedthe socialprocesses
that createdit. This image is quite similar to the familiar colonialrepresentationof a "tropical environment" as a natural spacethat is primitivr.,
alien,anclthreatening.Assertionsthat the densityof rainfall,seasonal
t-luctuations,and variationsin the depth of the Orinoco made the delta a nattrral home for choleracharacterized
the environmc-r.rt
as directly propagating diseaseand i'serted a colorrialdiscon.seint. the arsumentsof nrodern
-L'
i$f
,il
2a6
I
Ch ap ter 9
il
#
Ctrlt rrr a Equnls Cho It' rtt
247
'!il
officials. Journalists who never left the rnainland incorporated this spatial
conception into their cholera narratives.
The jurnp from spaceto culture was short, as Rodriguez suSSests'
D a ni el Ro drigu ez, Tucupit tt, t 4 | a n rLttr y t 9 94
There are some ["Warao"] for whom it is not so easy to get to a physician, or to reach a ntlrse, becausethey live-they don't have an outboirrtl rnotor, they have to go by paddle'.Let's say they have to cross great
distances.And in these rTloments-let's say that there is a whole series
of factors that have an inflr.rencehere: first, they have their healerslcrrranderosl,and then when they [the patients]want to get to a placewhere
they can provide them with rnedicalassistance,they're very far away'
So, when they arrive, they arrive in vely bad condition, they just 6nn/1-'
When they ai" pla.e,l in the physician'shands,sinceit was hard for them
to irrrive,the physician can't do anything ior them [in other words, the
patient is too closeto death for treatment to be effectivt']'
Here distance is calculated both institutionally and in terms of technology.
Locations connectedby motorboats seem closer than those linked by paddlepropelled canoes.Rodriguez interweaves the healer trope, creating another
length of the familiar rhetorical fabric of "It's not our faultl"
campin s,s expliln ario n of why c holer a ied t o s uc h h i g h m o r b i d i t y i n
the delta suggested how culture bec,ttnespatialized and how spacebecame
culturalized.
'
R icardoCa tttpin s,I i No ut ' , r r b( ' ,lqd4
'rhert, are many facrorsthat I think are responsibiefor maintaining-and
will keep on mainraining-cholera. BecauseI imagine-it's begn a rvhile
since l,ve been ir.rthe delta-but I inragine that they must still be seeing
cholera in the delta,even if the health authorities say they aren't lt's
that they [the "Warao"] defecatein the rivet they eat raw fish, they eat
se,rfood,[they e.at]these squid raw. All the fruits of the sea,especially in
t1.,.n.,t.. pu.i of the t.lelta,they eat raw T6ey defecatcin tlre rive1,or let's
say that they dun't have any kind oi tninimum sanitzrrynomrs, riSht?
due to the geographv of the delta' to the way in which it
.tnd
",,id"nily
is formed [estd crtncebidol,is such as to maintain that diseasefor years,
centuries,you see,becauseof those same conditions,as much mental as
natural.Well, first the mental or psychologicalones of rhe indigenas'
right, and then the part rhar has to do rvith the geography.of thc deltath.r. t*o thir.rgsbecorneconjoined and the'y make a spiral. And that is
a spiral that \vill rnaintain it, right, that will maintirin it for a long tirne.
Beyond the false assumptions regarding the consumption of seafood, this
,ror"*.,l, reveals how spatial imaginings go beyond thc' visible features of
,K
w
as much as a "mental"
an area.Here the geographyof the deltais conceived
as a physicalphenomenon,one that lies in the interiot at the very essence
t o a single"r nent al"
and spaccar e assir nilat ed
of thi ngs.C ul tura lpr act ices
or "psychological"conditionthat is then convertedinto a ctrusalfactorthat
producesand sustainsthe epidemic.
As was true for Conrad'sMarlow the primitivity of the country and of
unity that invadesthe interior spaceof
thc culture achievesa psychological
all who enter it. As hurnansfusewith nature,they losetheir drive and capocity to control it, a desirethat has servet'las one of the cornelstonesof
As SergeantGilbertoSalas,whcr
moclcrnitysincethe sevellteenthcentury.l-r
contingentin Pedernales
at the time of
commandedthe GuardiaNaci<-rnal
feJon the
tlre epidemic,put it, "The indigena who lives wild [silaestremen
r ivers,the doctordoesn'treirchhim in time,the teacherdoesn'tccrmein time,
with the
so he is a nran who is living wildly there.He lives in accordanccnirturirlenvironmentth:rt surroundshirn."r- This fr.rsionof spaceand culture is projectedinto the future. The geographyprevents teachersand
But the exdoctorsfrom arriving "in time," and the culture neverchanges.
tractionof indigenasfrom history and rnodernityis a productof the material and discursivestrategiL-s
of the very institutionalactorswho are telling
the storv.+5
For BenavidesanciRodriguez,the arlthority of thesespatialand
temporal irnaginingsis enhancedby the scientificlangu,rgeof epidemiology,which takesspace,tirne,population,arrdrnicrobesasconceptualand empiricalfoundations.This racializedchronotope,or fusion of notionsof space
and tirr-re,
epidemioprovidesa key rrode for juxtaposinganthropological,
Iogical,anclinstitutionalcliscourses.a"
Thesc'journeys trlongthe rivers that leadinto colonialirrteriorsalways
endirt the samepoint-Marir-rsa-which servesasa limiting caseof remoteness,prirnitivism, and ctLlturalconservatism.
The desireto dis-locatethe
"origin" of the epidemicin time and spaceenabledpublic health authorrtics to placeMariusansr.rnderguard in Barrancasand to forcibly relocate
tht'nr to Tortuga.Sinceone spadalizingand racializinglogic sr-lggesrs
that
itrtligttrabodiesand rnirrdsdirectly retlecttheir environment,cholerahas
becotle a permanent,invisible,constitrltivefeature of Mrtriusan bodies,
shapingthe way they are perceivedand treatedto rhis day.When an outbreakof diarrhealdiseasewas reportedin Mariusain Januarya997,the directoroi the RegionalHealth scrvicehopetlto dissipatefearsof a new epidernic.He told I'lotidiario,"We cannordeny tlrat there was an outbreakof
diarrlreain the above-mentionedindigertucommunity which alarmedus,
given that it happenedin the sameplacethat in r99z choleramadeits presenceknown in Dclta Arnacuro."47
Rccallthat in r99z publichealthofficials
218
Cult t r re EqualsCholer o
Chapt c ro
The deplacedthe point of origin of the choleraepidemicin Peclernales'
culof
"Warao
quintessence
gr". ,o whlch Marlusanscameto embodythe
these
of
ir.",, n.,,1the sourceoi contaminationled to a constantrewriting
nar ra ti ve s .
coloThe commentsby TortugansregardingMariusanssuggestthat this
the
into
incorporated
nial languageof space,culture,and time had becorne
the
*oy p.Jpl. .lassiiiedas indigenasconstructone another'Throughout
,,the Mariusans"were brandedas the human rnanitestationof choldelta,
Two
era,simaginedability to spling up at itny poirrtand spreadacrossspace'
Feliciano
and
ortega
of the most prominenr indigena activists,Graciela
identified Mariusa as the origin of the epidemic.Schoolteacher
G6n-rez,
"When
CataiinoP6rez olKoboinaspecifiedthe sourceof this information:
that
said
himseif
He
disease.
this
about
the doctorarrived,he told the people
they
Lrecause
there
over
it wls frorn Mariusa. . . . The Mariusansciltnefrom
there
werc.hungry.The first persongot sickthere,anothergot sick,and from
This
it went to Guayo when they came from Mariusa to the hospital."4s
itself'
disease
the
as
infectious
be
as
to
proved
epidemiologi.ul.o.rr,.u.,ion
points of resistance
were apparent.The narrativetold to us by Medina
of
in r9 9 -1p rov idesa { ir s c i n a ti n gc o u n tc r;ro i n tto th e l n eri l -geography
that when indigennscontracta life-threateningillness
blanre.He assertecl
"thc'ygo immediatelyor try to reach[a clinicl'But,well, therearetwo things
location,and the other
that makethem stay away.one is their geographical
This statement,takenout of context,
is the mentalconceptionthey have."4e
camp o[
woulci seem tu plu.. him squarelyin tl.respatial-cultural-causal
plural
person
the
third
of
referent
in
the
shift
ironic
Canlpins.But thereis irn
"mental
and
location"
"geographical
prn,]oun here,which problematizes
.,,,-,..ption."The constructionsuggeststhat the public health authorities
had piac"dclinicstoo far from the areasthey neededto serve.The problem
that
.o*", bu.k to ignorance,but it is official ignorance.Medina implies
geits
take
not
did
they
that
rlnd
health aurhoritiesdid not know the delt,r
into account.
ographiccharacteristics
WHE RE
CULTURE
MEETS
BIOL OCY
century as a
Cultural reasoningemergedtoward the'end of the nineteenth
in oppositionto the cttempt to
reacrionto evolutionaryrheory,particularrly
u,nongracialanclethnicgroupsin physiologicalternrs's0
explaindifferences
to project
This culturallogicadoptsa liberalandegalitariantone,arrdit seems
and
systematic
are
equ,rlly
an anti-racistsensibility.lt assumesthat cultures
views
distinct
complexand that they providetheir "bearers"with totally
za 9
of the world and ways of behaving.The adherentsof culttrral evolution
claimedthat societiescould be placedalong arcontinuum from savageryto
technological
progress;
civilizationaccordingto their linguistic,cultur,rl,:rnd
particuiarlythe sizeof people'sbrains,could exphysiologicaldifferences,
plainwhy somepopulationswere more "advanced."FranzBoasandhis students arguedinsteadthat the differencesbetweensocietiesshould be explainedby examiningeachculture on its own terms.sl
irsa new meansoi legitimizing
Cultur,rlreasoningwascleftlyappropriatec{
rircisrrras biologicalargulrents becamele'ssuseful:socialgroups could bt'
basedon imaginedcultural patterns.The differencesbetweenthe
separatc-d
resulting"cultures" were usedto justify socialinequalityand the effectsracismand socialconflict-believed to be inevitablewhen different social
th,lt biologicaland cultural exgroupsmeet.EtienneBalibirrhas suggested
refer to as "complemenin
what
linguists
oi
difference
oper.rte
planations
A closer
rary distribution"-that they never appearin the samecontext.s2
however,that biologlook at officialexplanationsof the epidemicsuggests,
ical reasoningand cultural reasoningcan coexist.
Direct referencesto biologicaldifferencesbetweencriollos and indigenaswoulclhavecontradictedthe cultural accountof cholera'sorigin and dicircumventedthis by drawing on
minishedits eiiect.Health professiorrals
that withthe languages
of immunologyandnutrition.Rodriguezsuggested
out rnedicalattentioncholerapatients"die in lessthan twenty-fourhoursor cven less."Then he added,"Well, and given the nutritional statusof the
indigenas,they go evenmore quickly,of course."53
Benavidesplacednutritionaland immunologicaldeficiencies
at the heartof the delta'shealthprobler.nsin gencral,stating that the "common denominatorin the entire rncligenous
areais the problernof diarrhea,diarrheain timesoi choleraor when
thereis no cholera."She continued,"There is a high rate of infant mortality from diarrhea,first, becausethey are peoplewith very bad nutrition,
peoplewith a very, very batl immunologicalmechanismpreciselybecause
of thrt nutritiorraldeficiency.So they defendthernselvesvery badly from
disetrses;
well, in the fact-of a problemwith diarrhea,after having three or
four bowel movementsthty are alreadydehydrated."sa
Given the scientificauthoriry of the discourseand irs aurhors,this formulationcirculatedwidely.The presspickedup the story quickly.N otidiario
statedthat itttligenas"are cluitr.susceptible
to any illness,to the extentthat
evt'na flu cankill rhem."';5Another articlL-suggested
that cholera"attacked
precisr'lythe poorestsectorof the population,the indigenrrs,
who are affectedseasonally
by watcr-bornediseases,
tuberculosis,
respiratorydiseases,
andacutcmalnutrition,which makesthem vrrlnerable
to any contagion,pro-
2 20
Chapt er, 1
rnedicalized
the poducing a high level of mortality."56Thesestaten-rents
iiticirleconomyof hunger;reducingit to a physiologicalrnechanism,
iust as
asa quesmorbidity andmorality from all infectiousdiseases
they presented
of inadecluacies
within the hcalth
tion of irnrnunology.Any corrsideration
The statementspointedto the dearthof detailedincarcsystemwaserased.
formationon choleraat the disposalof physiciansand publichealthofficials
anclrevealedtheir tenderrcyto lump togethera wide rangeof diarrhealdisis coreases.
Although susceptibilityto dysentericandother entericdiseases
relatedwith rnalnutrition,leadingexpertshave suggestedthat this is not
When a raciallogic seL-ms
to explainevervthing,gairring
true of cholera.sT
to up-to-datemedicalresearchseemsto be unnr'cessary.
access
At first glance,tying choleraand other diseases
to rnalnutritionand the
argument.
immune systemwould seemto weakenthe forceof the cultr"rral
It did, howeveahelp extendculpabilityfrom publichealthto other government institutions;MSAS, after all, could not be blamedfor econornicconditions.By tying malnutrition to deficientimmune systemsand the latter
to indigcnabodies,officialslinked the epidemicto biologicaldifferencesbetween races.58
Since"bad nutrition" is relatedto seculing,preparing,and
consumingfood,thesebiologicalieaturesseemedto be causedby individual and collectivechoices,
a neoliberalexplanationpar excellence.
The adoption of culturalreasoningmay subordinatebiologicalrhetoricsandplaceimportant limits on the ways they can be invokedin the public sphere,but it
doesnot rule tlrem out. TherL-is hardly a oue-way,irreversiblehistorical
passage
from bioiogicalto cultural reasoning.Balibar'sformulationis thus
a bit too simple.5e
The centuries-oldstereotypeof indigenasas being more susceptibleto
diseasethan Europeansalsoappeared,
supportinga discourseof extinctron.
Ciirdenasinitially believedthat the epidemicwould lead to the extinction
ol the indigenos'.
"I thought that [cholera]was going to finish them off. Reaily,well, I said,'Ii it keepsup like this, the Warao are going to be finished
off."'Later in the interview she stated,"They laugh at me, becauseI tell
. . . I think sometimes
them: 'I think that the Waraoare going to disappear.'
thartwithin a periodof five yearssome wiil disappearand others will disperse."Accordingto some rrio//o professionals,
indigenascould not sucwereirremediablymisrnodern
thus
their
lives
cessfullyadaptto the
world,
A comtnon
erirble.Deathcouldthereforebe construedasa welcomerelease.
ya desresponseto reportsof high mortality from cholerawas,"Pobrecitos,
carrsoron"(Poorlitle things,at leastthey're out of their n.riserynow).This
rationalizationreleasedcriollos,especiallyinstitutional officials,from any
responsibilityfor thesedeaths.This attitudewas revealedin jokes and off-
r
ii
Ct t lt ur eEqut t lsCholer n
I
zzt
ha.d rernarks.Recallthe cornmentby TomasaGabald6n,the chief of the
nursing office:"well, I think that the bestthing that couldhappento rhem
is that they could all die off!"
such staternents,
mirdeir.rvoicesrangingfron-rlamentationto gruesome
irony,were utteredoff the recordby, and for,individua]s*ho ,hareda com,
mon racialidentity and,in general,worked for the sameinstitution.In fact,
it is irrpossiblero graspthe full cornplexityof the rc-lationship
betweenbiologicaland ctrlturalreasoningwithout consideringhow privatecommenrary seepsinto the publicarena.b0
when Venezuelan
officialspubliclyalluded
to deficientimmune systemsand the greatersusceptibilityof indigenttsto
diseaseand death,they were operatingwithin a framework that had been
partly shapedby behind-closed-doors
comrnenrs.These commentswere
made in much more overtly biologicaland racist terms than were public
statements.Clara'saccountof such conversations
in MSAS officesduring
the early days of the o'tbreak providesa casein point. The dynamic ancl
complementaryrelationshipbetweenbiologicaland cultural reasoningwas
more apparentin private discourse.fokes and oft-hand remarks made in
casualconversations
and in meetingsbetweenofficialsin a broaclrangeof
institutionsduring the epidemiccharacterized
the outbreakas proving the
Lriological
preeminenceof criollos.Much like the excha'ge of sexistjokes
arrlongmen, theseprivate exchangesenhancedsocialbondsbetweenofficials
and confirmed their socialsuperiority.Individuals who found such remarks
shockingrepeatedthem in other contexts,expressingtheir senseof outrage.
As a result,thesewords were in generalcirculationalongsideother representati.ns of the epidernic.Theseprivate rernarkscreatedpowerful connectionsbetweenbiologicaland culturalexplanationsthat werecarriedover
into the publicsphere.such hybridity shouldnot surpriseus.Notionsof creolization,mestizaje,
and Indian'essbrorght culturalanclbiologicalconsrructi.ns of differencein twentieth-centuryLatin Americatogetherin complex
and shifting ways.ol
SciencestudiesspecialistBruno Latour has commentedon the miracu.
lous power that the conceptof the microbe has to enablepractitioners
to
connectthe
heterogeneous
setsof phenomena.62
By
microbiloining
'rost
ologicaldefinitionsof the epidemicto culturalreasoning,
officialscould1uxtaposeirnaginingsof food, liestas,dirty habits, nomadisrn,
spirits, and
shanrcnsin suclra way that they n.t onlyseernecl
to go togethe.seu-lessly
but also explainedwhy so many peoplewere getting
iniectedand dyrng.
official narrativesconstruedindigcnacnltureas sLtrgerreris.-_existing
apart
from politicaleconomy,history,modernity,arrdthe
curt'rar norms of ,,the
n.tional society."Cultural reasoningwas castas a form
of scientificknowl-
222
/
Culture EquttlsCltolerLt
Chapt er uI
zzl
Benavidessuggestedwhat would be neededto truly changeWarao culrure: " It i s a very c om plexpr oblem ,t he one wit h t he indigcnas; dar n,t o
get them to put a few ideasinto their heads.But you have to begin, and
with tirese
yorLhaveto begin with the little childrenwho are in the scl-rools,
new generations,becausethe old folks, damn! Like the proverb says,An
old parrot can'tlearnto talk."' Here we seethe flip sideof the "bad mother"
srereotypecited earlier.Benavidesracializesintligenasdifferentially acsanitirry
corclingto age:,rlthoughadultsare beyondthe paleof rr-rodernity,
citizenship,and "the nationalsociety,"young childrenare still potentially
valuablesubjects.
Cirrrstructionsof age and family dehumanizedaduh indigenas.Recall
Virrgas'sassertionregardingthe indigenttsliving in Barrilncas:"I actedas
if they were my children.I wourldscoldthem and I would make a scene."
Here she infantilizesher indigenapatientswithin a racialpatriarchy.The
statelrad such an atridinginterestin the welfareof indigentrchildrenthat
it couldexercisethe right to breirkthe hold of Waraocultureover the early
socializationprocess,potentially resultingin what has beenreferredto as
ethnocide.Adults couldbe construedas threatsto the survivalof their children, giving the statethe right to usurp the parentalrole.This purported
obligationof the stateto protectthe lives of racializedchildrerrsometimL-s
leclto the crimirralizationofitdigenas for infanticide.6'r
It is, of course,bitterly ironic that the obligationof the stateto protectthe lives of indigena
children did not seem to entail any seriouseffort to reducethe unconscionableratesof infant mortalitv.
edgeproducedby anthropologicalstudy of "the Warao."Curiapophysicran
werebasednot only on his work
that his statements
Manuel Mato suggested
as c p h ysi c ianwit h it t t lt gtn ap a ti (' tl tsl ' tu ta l s ottn e tte n s i vecotl v(' rsal i ()ns
with CaracilsanthropologistLeonoraVdsquez,who hadworkedior decades
that culture,not class,
in the deltaand knewWaraowell. Rodriguezspecified
"They
are-the questionof hygiene,
wasthe sourceof the choleraproblem:
hygienichabits,tl-ratthey don't have becauseof their very ctrlturallevelmore than anything else,I think that it's becauseof their cultural level.Becauseit's not so much the lack of resources,becausethe[iFp-iiiple-*ho
have few resourcesand there are peoplewho have better hygienic habits,
thesepeople,of cortrse,
and even though they don't have many resources,
don 't g e t choler a. "
The divlsionbetweenthe "two cultures" of Delta Amacuro was representedas an impenetrablebarrier for indigenas,one that madeit impossible for an htd{genato beconrea criollo or to understttnd" criolloculture."
to take it
physiciarns
and public health practitioners seet.ned
Nevertheless,
for grantedthat their gazecould comprehendindigtna culture even when
the depth of their experiencein the delta was rninimal. Physicianswould
neversrlggestthat crlol/oswho lackmedicaltraining couldaccuratelycharof compreacterizebiomedicalknorvledge,yet they f-eltperfectly capal.'le
utilized by "shamans."
beliefsand pr,rctices
hendingthe specialized
This "millenarianculture" was portrayedas being stubbornlyresistant
circumto change,even in the faceof new knowledgeor life'-threatenin5;
As Rodriguezput it, "They cantry to make ure chanl;ea ctlstolrlstances.
I, who knowshow thingsare-and they want me to changethem,and often
I don't want to changethem. So how will it be with them, who have patthe voiceof a
ternswith deeproots,more difficult,right?" Here he irssumes
m.-mberof the criol/o population,one of the peoplewhosehealth-related
behaviorsphysicians\ /ant to change."Know[ing] how thingstrre" refersto
of causalconnections
that arededucedon the basisof at leastsome
awareness
graspof scientificreasonine."The Warao,"who reliedon "their beliefs"and
who inferred that cholerawas causedlry "spirits" rather than by bacteria,
lackedan epistemologythat would enable"then-r"to produceor even receivenew knowledge.Physiciansand publichealth practitionersoften cited
the problem o{ language,referring not to their failure to learn Warao but
of the Ianguageandthe Iimitedcomro the seeminglyillogicalc|aracteristics
mand of Spanishevit.lentin many comrnuniries.Similarly overlookint the
failure oi the state to provide adequateschools,theseprofessionalssidesteppedblame for ineffectiveinstitutional efforts and their failure to improve health conditionsLryciting low levelsof literacyas the cause.
I
al.
h'