Shocdyersquo as WorldLOCALIZING MODERNITY THROUGH BEER IN THE BOLIVIAN AMAZON

Ariela ZychermanUniversity of Illinois Chicago

AbstractIn the Bolivian Amazon social economic and ecological shifts have led to changes in thelivelihood practices of the Tsimaneacute Indians Subsistence practices are now regularlybalanced with market-oriented activities particularly cash cropping and logging whichin turn transform how and what foods are produced Shocdyersquo (beer)mdasha key food inTsimaneacute social and religious practicesmdashhas embodied these changes Yet despite majorreshaping of the drink specifically the shift from manioc to plantain as the primaryingredient shocdyersquo continues to be produced and maintains its position as a culturallyvital material in Tsimaneacute life This article demonstrates how modernization andspecifically the expansion of capitalist economies can be explored through the key foodsof historically subsistence populations where social environmental and economicprocesses are interwoven with the foods that are produced and consumed Using theconcept of ldquolocalized modernityrdquo this article argues that contemporary shocdyersquo practicesnot only reflect broad forms of regional change but also formulate how these changes takeroot and are negotiated in everyday lifeKeywords modernity beer alcohol capitalism agriculture indigenous peoples Amazon

IntroductionWhen I asked Eduardo an indigenous Tsimaneacute in lowland Bolivia why he drinksshocdyersquo a fermented beverage or beer he responded ldquoShocdyersquo is like life toTsimaneacute It is our culture It is what we do Without it we are not Tsimaneacuterdquo WhenEduardo refers to shocdyersquo as a material definer of Tsimaneacute life he is not just talkingabout its symbolic purposes but he is also talking about the Tsimaneacute peoplersquoscommitment to its continued production and consumption despite a host ofcircumstances that threaten its traditional purposes The Tsimaneacute Indians are anindigenous group located in the western Bolivian Amazon in the department ofBeni near the market towns of San Borja and Yucumo The Tsimaneacute rely primarily

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on agriculture fishing hunting and gathering for subsistence However broad formsof regional development since the early twentieth century including a populationboom and the expansion of the cattle ranching and logging industries have led toan increasingly capitalist environment and new forms of livelihood including a risein cash cropping and logging Livelihood changes have brought with them areduction in the varieties and quantities of crops planted less regularity anddiversity in hunted meats and an increased amount of store-bought commodityfoods in the diet Shocdyersquo which plays a key role in Tsimaneacute social and religiouspractices has embodied these changes and despite major reshaping of the drinkspecifically the shift from manioc to plantain as the primary ingredient it continuesto be produced maintaining its position as a culturally vital material in Tsimaneacute life

In her seminal paper ldquoBread as Worldrdquo Counihan (1984) demonstrates thatshifts in the production distribution and consumption of key foods indicate largerforms of change and can be illustrative of the processes of ldquomodernization withoutdevelopmentrdquo Counihan asserts that in regions being integrated into the nationstate this signifies a decline in local production and increasing industrialconsumption patterns that are not associated with transformative infrastructuralindustrial or agrarian reforms (Counihan 1984 47) Using bread traditionally themost important food in Sardinia Italy as an example of these processes Counihanrelates classical anthropological discussions of food to emerging theoreticalarguments about modernity Counihan argues that processes of modernization inthese rural European and Western contexts lead to changes in social relationshipsspecifically a rise in individualism meaning the rise of persons autonomous indecision making and non-reliant on others for survival and a related decline incommunity ties While Counihan acknowledges that the process of individualizationis in itself related to a Western cultural context rather than a universal conceptmuch of the scholarship of modernity at the time was based on European orWestern examples This research perpetuated assertions that globallymodernization leads to patterns of individualization through which communitysocial relations break down and are replaced by individual forms of accumulation(for example Bauman 1990 Giddens 1990 Harvey 1989) Since the articlersquos initialpublication however anthropology and the related social sciences have rejectedthe homogeneous experience of a global modernity and instead have demonstratedthrough case studies in non-Western environments that modernization and thespread of capitalism have heterogeneous impacts that depend on local historiesenvironments politics economics and social systems (see for example Comaroffand Comaroff 1993 Houben and Schremf 2008 Philips 1998 Wolf 2001)

Similarly to Counihanrsquos approach to understanding modernization through keyfoods the present article demonstrates that contemporary Tsimaneacute shocdyersquopractices not only reflect the changes brought about by modernization but alsoformulate how these changes take root and are negotiated in everyday life Thearticle pushes Counihanrsquos work forward to demonstrate an alternative model aldquolocalized modernityrdquo where the capitalistic attributes of modernity are experiencedin a non-Western setting among a historically subsistence population and small-scale producers In this case social environmental and economic processes are

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interwoven specifically through the production distribution and consumption offood For populations like the Tsimaneacute global processes stemming fromldquomodernization without developmentrdquo shift how livelihoods and food are producedYet as these populations remain at the periphery of the market and of the nationstate they engage with modernity by building on existing sets of beliefs practicesand social and environmental relations which do not necessarily lead toindividualization

Arce and Long (2000) assert that modernity is appropriated reworked and re-embedded in locally situated practices from within They call this ldquolocalizedmodernityrdquo Drawing on this concept the present article argues that aspects ofmodernity defined here as the meaning cultural practices and cultural materialsof contemporary life and processes of modernization1 (in this case using Counihanrsquosdefinition of ldquomodernization without developmentrdquo particularly the expansion ofcapitalist environments) are shaped not only by the broad flows of change in theregion but also by the complexity of local histories and contemporary familial andcommunity social relationships The ldquolocalized modernityrdquo is not a fixed depictionof a place or time but instead points to the transitions that shape and are shapedby a group the process in which broad and global flows are experiencedunderstood and negotiated by a group of people in a place As Knauft puts it ldquoThealternatively modern engages the global with the local and the impact of politicaleconomy with cultural orientations and subjective dispositionsrdquo (Knauft 2002 24)The example of the Tsimaneacute demonstrates that emerging relationships betweenlivelihoods and key foods reflect larger regional developments as they areexperienced and interpreted through webs of value knowledge and practice relatedto the forest in which they are situated

Approaching key foods as materials demonstrative of a ldquolocalized modernityrdquoparticularly among producers and consumers of that food in the same location isnot widely addressed Contemporary research on food and modernity highlightsglobal capitalist relationships in the forms of global food chains often examiningcommodity flows and industrialized or corporate production where there is aseparation between the producer and the consumer (for example Barndt 2008Gewertz and Errington 2010 West 2012) Escobar argues ldquoThere is a need for acorrective theory that neutralizes this erasure of place the asymmetry that arisesfrom giving far too much importance to lsquothe globalrsquo and far to little value to lsquoplacersquordquo(Escobar 2008 7) To this end the socio-cultural dimensions of foods of small-scale producers in the wake of capitalist modernity have not been extensivelyexplored2 In these environments food items play both the role of commodity andof non-commodity as they are produced both for market purposes for householdconsumption or for other forms of exchangemdashshifting in value and meaningbetween these designations depending on their ldquospheres of exchangerdquo or how withwhom and for what purpose they are exchanged (Appaduri 1988 Fine 2002 Weiner1992) Therefore the production distribution and consumption of both food andcash are informed by historical and emerging socio-economic relationships inwhich both individualization and continued community and familial relationshipsexist and interact

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Based on fourteen months of research primarily between 2010 and 2011 butalso between 2007 and 2008 this article uses data collected from one Tsimaneacutecommunity Maraca located along the Maniqui River within the Tsimaneacute-ChimaneTierra Comunitaria de Origen about a half-dayrsquos travel by canoe foot and roadfrom the towns of San Borja and Yucumo Maraca is representative of manycommunities located a moderate distance from town which continue to relyprimarily on the forest and subsistence activities for their livelihoods but areincreasingly and regularly engaging in cash-based labor cash cropping and othermarket activities Methods included participant observation related to theproduction and consumption of beer randomized direct observations (time-allotment scans) in all seventeen households in the community (126 people) 15124-hour dietary recalls in all seventeen households and a series of rankings of beerpreference The household is the primary unit of analysis for this project becauseTsimaneacute families live in clusters (often near the parents of the wife) and share akitchen eating out of a single pot The household therefore refers to the group offamilies living near each other and sharing a kitchen Although families retainownership over their own food stocks these are pooled together in the sharing ofmeals and cooked foods

Tsimaneacute Context and ldquoModernization withoutDevelopmentrdquoAlthough the Tsimaneacute have been exposed to outsiders since the arrival of Jesuitmissionaries in the seventeenth century they maintained a distance from themarket continuing to produce the majority of their food and household materialsthrough forest-based activities including agriculture in large fields (chacos) andgardens fishing hunting and gathering Historically the Tsimaneacute only engaged inthe market moderately to purchase medicines occasional new clothing householdgoods and some commodity foods like sugar and oil In the past Tsimaneacutehouseholds accumulated cash through the minimal sale of crops domesticatedanimals and forest products wage labor and salaried labor (Godoy et al 2007)During the last half-century however without any institutional programming orpolicies directed at the Tsimaneacute regional development has included the expansionof cattle ranching evangelical missionaries a large migration of highland settlersto the region and small and large-scale logging concessions In turn increasedinteractions with outsiders declines in forest resources the expansion of localmarket places and commodity goods have shifted Tsimaneacute livelihood practices andspecifically their food production and consumption

Major regional shifts began to take place in the San Borja area in 1953 after amajor land reform followed the 1952 National Revolution In the lowlands the 1953land reform favored ranchers who were able to own large tracts of land and expandtheir holdings (Eastwood and Pollard 1985 Jones 1980) Cattle ranching hadbecome the prominent industry of the region following the collapse of the rubberindustry in the early twentieth century and by the 1930s the region had becomethe primary meat supplier for the rest of the country (Byron 2003 Jones 1980)Land titling in the 1950s allowed the ranches to expand legally into forested areas

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much of which included traditional Tsimaneacute migration and hunting areas Todaythe Ballivian province in which San Borja and the majority of Tsimaneacute communitiesare located has the highest number of productive ranching units in the region(Aguilera Guzman 2005 9) The rise in cattle ranching not only shifted hunting andmigration patterns but also changed the availability of other animal products in theregion Cattle ranching brought with it the construction of local slaughterhousesthat made fresh beef widely available for purchase in town Additionally the lessexpensive option of charkey dried beef from the head and other less desirable cutsbecame a staple in many Tsimaneacute homes

The 1953 land reform also began the process of moving people from theoverpopulated highlands to the ldquouninhabitedrdquo lowland region through government-sponsored colonizing resettlement programs Initially the migration largely avoidedthe area due to poor roads In the 1970s and 1980s however new roads passingthrough San Borja and Tsimaneacute territory improved access to the region bringingwith them large amounts of migrants particularly of Aymara and Quechua descentto the area (Reyes-Garcia 2001) The arrival of migrants led to further deforestationaround the roads where the colonists were allotted land but it also facilitated theexpansion of market towns and more frequent interactions between Tsimaneacute andoutsiders The expansion of market towns and a growing population ensuredincreased commodity trading in the region making food commodities like sugarpasta flour and oil as well as other household goods like pots plastic tubs platesbowls knives and guns readily accessible

Although the Tsimaneacute avoided conversion by the Jesuits in the seventeenthcentury evangelical missionaries from the New Tribes Mission (NTM) arriving in the1960s were more successful (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) In addition totranslating the Bible into the Tsimaneacute language they set up healthcare centersestablished a radio station whose signal reaches most Tsimaneacute communities andcreated agricultural and livestock initiative programs The NTM created bilingualschools (Tsimaneacute and Spanish) and subsequently Tsimaneacute who were historicallysemi-nomadic settled nearby (Byron 2003) Transitions into stabilized communitiessignificantly impacted food production because permanent settlements resulted inthe over-hunting and fishing of areas surrounding the communities as well as anincrease in agricultural production This is particularly the case in areas closer tothe market where more intensive slash-and-burn agriculture takes place (ApazaVargas 2002) This shift not only affected access to food but also the centrality ofthe Cocojsi (the shaman) whose role as a leader and moderator between theanimal fish and forest spirits regulated access to food The NTM preached againstaspects of Tsimaneacute spiritual practices condemning the beliefs in spirits thatmoderate plants animals and fish equating them with demons (Huanca 2006)This combined with new hunting and fishing patterns led to a decline in thecocojsirsquos spiritual leadership

After the construction of new roads enabled easier access to the region asubsequent influx of logging concessions further altered the landscape causingheavy deforestation forest degradation and a loss of local biodiversity (Killeen etal 2007) By 1987 numerous logging concessions legally and illegally extracted

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timber throughout the region The entrance and continued presence of loggers andlogging companies significantly expanded the road network in the area Tsimaneacutewho until this point still lived in fairly isolated areas now had easier access to cashgoods markets and outsiders and some Tsimaneacute found work with the concessions(Vadez and Reyes-Garcia 2005) Many Tsimaneacute associate the entrance of loggingconcessions with a decline of birds fish and animals in the region implicating themin a reduction of hunted meats and fish in the diet

To counteract the presence of loggers in the lowland territories in 1996 a newland reform Ley 1715 del Servicio Nacional de Reforma Agraria was passedrecognizing indigenous lands and creating a legal status for indigenous territoriesknown as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs) The Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute theTsimaneacute governing body obtained TCO status for more than 401000 hectares ofTsimaneacute land (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) Also in 1996 a new forestry law LeyForestal 1700 created regulations to control deforestation the exploitation of non-timber forest resources and promote sustainable forest management by reducingthe overall number of forestry concessions working in Bolivia Although officiallycurbing the overall volume of national deforestation by reducing the number ofconcessions legal logging concessions were able to function unencumbered andwere known for clandestinely pushing the boundaries of their concessionalterritories and removing significantly more trees than their plans entitled them to(Pacheco et al 2010) Three large forestry concessions were able to maintainoperations until just recently on the frontiers of the newly protected TCO Tsimaneacute

Significant decreases in forest resources combined with an increase in accessto market commodities and cash-accruing activities have affected the frequency inwhich the Tsimaneacute engage with the market As a result the Tsimaneacute are workingmore frequently outside of traditional occupations and are acquiring more cash topurchase commodities including foods that have become commonplace necessitiesin the household

Shocdyersquo the Importance of Manioc and WomenThroughout Amazonia and the tropical forests of lowland South America fermentedbeverages or beer continue to be key elements of indigenous life The Tsimaneacutelike many other indigenous groups in the Amazon have historically four major andoften overlapping uses for beer informal drinking ritualized and formal drinkingthe creation and demonstration of social relations and the maintenance of genderrelations and responsibilities (see Balee 1994 Descola 1994 Goldman 1963Goulard 2009 Heckler 2004 Hugh-Jones 1979 Johnson 2003 Uzendoski 2004)Understanding the ingredients of the beer the manner of production how beerrelates to these four categories and how these characteristics change over time canoffer insight on social economic and environmental transformations

Among the Tsimaneacute people manioc and maize have been the historicallypredominant ingredients of beer The beers from these ingredients are brewedseparately and then are mixed together According to Daillant (2004) thisdistinguishes the Tsimaneacute from other neighboring groups in the region particularlythe Moseten who while they use the same ingredients never mix them Although

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Tsimaneacute make beer with many ingredients including plantain pineapple and peachpalm it is the combination of manioc and maize that makes a ldquocomplete beerrdquo orshocdyersquo that maintains the most potential for successful spiritual use (Daillant2004) As such shocdyersquo slated for ritual purposes is always made frommanioc andoften mixed with maize Although maize is important in shocdyersquo manioc isfundamental to its production For example while beer made from manioc andmaize mixed together is called shocdyersquo when manioc beer is drunk alone it is alsoreferred to as shocdyersquo By contrast when maize beer is drunk alone it is referredto as corsquoracdye which translates as ldquomaize beerrdquo or ldquoboiled maizerdquo (Daillant 2004)

From its primary material base sweet manioc the Tsimaneacute derive significancefor shocdyersquo Manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a highly starchy root tuber that growsnatively in tropical South America Manioc is a fairly drought-resistant crop that canbe left unharvested for up to two years after reaching maturity Nutritionally it isa significant source of energy due to its high levels of carbohydrates (USDA 2014)While bitter manioc contains poisonous cyanide components and needs to be highlyprocessed before consumption sweet manioc used by the Tsimaneacute has a very lowconcentration of the toxin and does not need to be processed prior to consumption(Sarkiyayi and Agar 2010)

In the oral myths collected and compiled by the Tsimaneacute scholar Tomas Huancathe recurring story summarized below demonstrates the importance of manioc inshocdyersquo

There is thought to be a time on earth when animals were people and there wasno manioc Jaumlbaumls the mother of the shatij (agouti) made shocdyersquo out of ap (atype of tuber) She invited the curuj celestial people to come and share theshocdyersquo but they found it unsatisfying The next time they were invited to drinkher shocdyersquo they brought along manioc to satisfy their hunger Shatij saw themeating their manioc tasted it and liked it so much he asked them to come plantit for him The curuj agreed Shatij cleared the chaco agricultural field and whenit was burning the curuj came back to earth with bundles of the manioc root toplant They told shatij not to watch them plant because he would scare themanioc The curuj planted the manioc and it grew big quickly Shatij disobeyedthe curuj and watched them plant When the manioc was thrown near him it gotscared and there were thunderstorms The curuj were angry that shatijdisobeyed them and said from now on manioc will be difficult to grow and willtake a long time But then they showed him how to plant it and how to weed thefield but shatij ate manioc instead (Huanca 2006 55ndash8)

The themes that emerge from this myth highlight ideals enmeshed in both maniocand shocdyersquo First there is the celestial importance of manioc (Huanca 2006)Manioc is a cultivar given to the earth as a gift The knowledge of how to plant andmaintain it is both privileged and supernatural This gives the plant a particularstatus not inherent in most other cultivated plants which earns manioc a highersocial value and generates respect in its production and consumption Secondmanioc is associated with the drinking of shocdyersquo This story suggests that shocdyersquo

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might act as a vehicle for the consumption of manioc The implication of the storyis that manioc is a replacement for ap (a tuber) and subtly demonstrates a betterway of preparing the drink elevating it to a more satisfying product Third theshocdyersquo is produced by the female homemaker and is shared by her Thisdemonstrates the important role of women in facilitating shocdyersquo rituals Finallyshocdyersquo is consumed with friends family and neighbors shared between menwomen and children It is meant to facilitate the creation and maintenance of socialrelationships These relationships are between human and human but also betweenhuman and the supernatural Taken together these stories symbolize a relationshipbetween production and consumption that span human to supernatural relations aswell as human to human social and gender relations

Among the Tsimaneacute there is a special relationship between females andshocdyersquo The ability to make shocdyersquo is an important criterion for women to beconsidered good potential wives indeed society at large judges women who do notmake shocdyersquo to be lazy The production of shocdyersquo therefore serves to positionwomen at the center of interhousehold relationships and hierarchies Training startsearly and mothers encourage their young girls to take the initiative to make theirown pot of shocdyersquo As girls enter their early teens they learn how to see theshocdyersquo production through from start to finishmdashfrom planting and harvesting themanioc crop to preparing the shocdyersquo themselves

Shocdyersquo is prepared by peeling the manioc and cutting it into small roughlytwo-inch pieces The manioc is then boiled over a hot flame until it is soft Originallythis was prepared in large ceramic jugs but more recently large aluminum potsare used to boil the manioc After it is cooled the manioc is mashed with a largestick until it is mixed together into a thick pulp Once it is slightly cooled the womenbegin to masticate the manioc by taking spoonfuls of the pulp and swishing itaround their mouths they spit the liquefied manioc back into the pot and takeanother spoonful repeating the process Shocdyersquo is usually produced by a singlewoman However women from other households occasionally help by watching theboiling foodstuffs or masticating the manioc About one-quarter of the pot ismasticated before the process is finished When the women have finishedmasticating the pot is covered with banana leaves and left in the kitchen to cool inthe shade Before the shocdyersquo is ready to be served it is mixed with water andfiltered through a pasi The pasi is a woven sieve made from palm leaves thatseparates the fibrous strings of the manioc from the creamy liquid If maize is tobe included in the shocdyersquo the boiled and ground maize is added at this pointOnce it is filtered and mixed the shocdyersquo is consumed immediately as a sweetdrink or left to ferment a few days until it is slightly alcoholic and slightlycarbonated

It is not only important for women to make shocdyersquo it is also important for itto be sweet Sweetness is what is most valued in a good shocdyersquo and womenrsquosshocdyersquo production skills are a common topic of conversation and are largelymeasured by the sweetness of the drink and the quality of the womanrsquos saliva Theability to make shocdyersquo is in itself a gift from the gods to women In Riesterrsquoscollection of Tsimaneacute myths the god Dojitch teaches women how to masticate the

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

59

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

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ingModernitythroughBeerin

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66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

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march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

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and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

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on agriculture fishing hunting and gathering for subsistence However broad formsof regional development since the early twentieth century including a populationboom and the expansion of the cattle ranching and logging industries have led toan increasingly capitalist environment and new forms of livelihood including a risein cash cropping and logging Livelihood changes have brought with them areduction in the varieties and quantities of crops planted less regularity anddiversity in hunted meats and an increased amount of store-bought commodityfoods in the diet Shocdyersquo which plays a key role in Tsimaneacute social and religiouspractices has embodied these changes and despite major reshaping of the drinkspecifically the shift from manioc to plantain as the primary ingredient it continuesto be produced maintaining its position as a culturally vital material in Tsimaneacute life

In her seminal paper ldquoBread as Worldrdquo Counihan (1984) demonstrates thatshifts in the production distribution and consumption of key foods indicate largerforms of change and can be illustrative of the processes of ldquomodernization withoutdevelopmentrdquo Counihan asserts that in regions being integrated into the nationstate this signifies a decline in local production and increasing industrialconsumption patterns that are not associated with transformative infrastructuralindustrial or agrarian reforms (Counihan 1984 47) Using bread traditionally themost important food in Sardinia Italy as an example of these processes Counihanrelates classical anthropological discussions of food to emerging theoreticalarguments about modernity Counihan argues that processes of modernization inthese rural European and Western contexts lead to changes in social relationshipsspecifically a rise in individualism meaning the rise of persons autonomous indecision making and non-reliant on others for survival and a related decline incommunity ties While Counihan acknowledges that the process of individualizationis in itself related to a Western cultural context rather than a universal conceptmuch of the scholarship of modernity at the time was based on European orWestern examples This research perpetuated assertions that globallymodernization leads to patterns of individualization through which communitysocial relations break down and are replaced by individual forms of accumulation(for example Bauman 1990 Giddens 1990 Harvey 1989) Since the articlersquos initialpublication however anthropology and the related social sciences have rejectedthe homogeneous experience of a global modernity and instead have demonstratedthrough case studies in non-Western environments that modernization and thespread of capitalism have heterogeneous impacts that depend on local historiesenvironments politics economics and social systems (see for example Comaroffand Comaroff 1993 Houben and Schremf 2008 Philips 1998 Wolf 2001)

Similarly to Counihanrsquos approach to understanding modernization through keyfoods the present article demonstrates that contemporary Tsimaneacute shocdyersquopractices not only reflect the changes brought about by modernization but alsoformulate how these changes take root and are negotiated in everyday life Thearticle pushes Counihanrsquos work forward to demonstrate an alternative model aldquolocalized modernityrdquo where the capitalistic attributes of modernity are experiencedin a non-Western setting among a historically subsistence population and small-scale producers In this case social environmental and economic processes are

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interwoven specifically through the production distribution and consumption offood For populations like the Tsimaneacute global processes stemming fromldquomodernization without developmentrdquo shift how livelihoods and food are producedYet as these populations remain at the periphery of the market and of the nationstate they engage with modernity by building on existing sets of beliefs practicesand social and environmental relations which do not necessarily lead toindividualization

Arce and Long (2000) assert that modernity is appropriated reworked and re-embedded in locally situated practices from within They call this ldquolocalizedmodernityrdquo Drawing on this concept the present article argues that aspects ofmodernity defined here as the meaning cultural practices and cultural materialsof contemporary life and processes of modernization1 (in this case using Counihanrsquosdefinition of ldquomodernization without developmentrdquo particularly the expansion ofcapitalist environments) are shaped not only by the broad flows of change in theregion but also by the complexity of local histories and contemporary familial andcommunity social relationships The ldquolocalized modernityrdquo is not a fixed depictionof a place or time but instead points to the transitions that shape and are shapedby a group the process in which broad and global flows are experiencedunderstood and negotiated by a group of people in a place As Knauft puts it ldquoThealternatively modern engages the global with the local and the impact of politicaleconomy with cultural orientations and subjective dispositionsrdquo (Knauft 2002 24)The example of the Tsimaneacute demonstrates that emerging relationships betweenlivelihoods and key foods reflect larger regional developments as they areexperienced and interpreted through webs of value knowledge and practice relatedto the forest in which they are situated

Approaching key foods as materials demonstrative of a ldquolocalized modernityrdquoparticularly among producers and consumers of that food in the same location isnot widely addressed Contemporary research on food and modernity highlightsglobal capitalist relationships in the forms of global food chains often examiningcommodity flows and industrialized or corporate production where there is aseparation between the producer and the consumer (for example Barndt 2008Gewertz and Errington 2010 West 2012) Escobar argues ldquoThere is a need for acorrective theory that neutralizes this erasure of place the asymmetry that arisesfrom giving far too much importance to lsquothe globalrsquo and far to little value to lsquoplacersquordquo(Escobar 2008 7) To this end the socio-cultural dimensions of foods of small-scale producers in the wake of capitalist modernity have not been extensivelyexplored2 In these environments food items play both the role of commodity andof non-commodity as they are produced both for market purposes for householdconsumption or for other forms of exchangemdashshifting in value and meaningbetween these designations depending on their ldquospheres of exchangerdquo or how withwhom and for what purpose they are exchanged (Appaduri 1988 Fine 2002 Weiner1992) Therefore the production distribution and consumption of both food andcash are informed by historical and emerging socio-economic relationships inwhich both individualization and continued community and familial relationshipsexist and interact

53

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ampFoodCultureSociety

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Based on fourteen months of research primarily between 2010 and 2011 butalso between 2007 and 2008 this article uses data collected from one Tsimaneacutecommunity Maraca located along the Maniqui River within the Tsimaneacute-ChimaneTierra Comunitaria de Origen about a half-dayrsquos travel by canoe foot and roadfrom the towns of San Borja and Yucumo Maraca is representative of manycommunities located a moderate distance from town which continue to relyprimarily on the forest and subsistence activities for their livelihoods but areincreasingly and regularly engaging in cash-based labor cash cropping and othermarket activities Methods included participant observation related to theproduction and consumption of beer randomized direct observations (time-allotment scans) in all seventeen households in the community (126 people) 15124-hour dietary recalls in all seventeen households and a series of rankings of beerpreference The household is the primary unit of analysis for this project becauseTsimaneacute families live in clusters (often near the parents of the wife) and share akitchen eating out of a single pot The household therefore refers to the group offamilies living near each other and sharing a kitchen Although families retainownership over their own food stocks these are pooled together in the sharing ofmeals and cooked foods

Tsimaneacute Context and ldquoModernization withoutDevelopmentrdquoAlthough the Tsimaneacute have been exposed to outsiders since the arrival of Jesuitmissionaries in the seventeenth century they maintained a distance from themarket continuing to produce the majority of their food and household materialsthrough forest-based activities including agriculture in large fields (chacos) andgardens fishing hunting and gathering Historically the Tsimaneacute only engaged inthe market moderately to purchase medicines occasional new clothing householdgoods and some commodity foods like sugar and oil In the past Tsimaneacutehouseholds accumulated cash through the minimal sale of crops domesticatedanimals and forest products wage labor and salaried labor (Godoy et al 2007)During the last half-century however without any institutional programming orpolicies directed at the Tsimaneacute regional development has included the expansionof cattle ranching evangelical missionaries a large migration of highland settlersto the region and small and large-scale logging concessions In turn increasedinteractions with outsiders declines in forest resources the expansion of localmarket places and commodity goods have shifted Tsimaneacute livelihood practices andspecifically their food production and consumption

Major regional shifts began to take place in the San Borja area in 1953 after amajor land reform followed the 1952 National Revolution In the lowlands the 1953land reform favored ranchers who were able to own large tracts of land and expandtheir holdings (Eastwood and Pollard 1985 Jones 1980) Cattle ranching hadbecome the prominent industry of the region following the collapse of the rubberindustry in the early twentieth century and by the 1930s the region had becomethe primary meat supplier for the rest of the country (Byron 2003 Jones 1980)Land titling in the 1950s allowed the ranches to expand legally into forested areas

ArielaZycherman

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much of which included traditional Tsimaneacute migration and hunting areas Todaythe Ballivian province in which San Borja and the majority of Tsimaneacute communitiesare located has the highest number of productive ranching units in the region(Aguilera Guzman 2005 9) The rise in cattle ranching not only shifted hunting andmigration patterns but also changed the availability of other animal products in theregion Cattle ranching brought with it the construction of local slaughterhousesthat made fresh beef widely available for purchase in town Additionally the lessexpensive option of charkey dried beef from the head and other less desirable cutsbecame a staple in many Tsimaneacute homes

The 1953 land reform also began the process of moving people from theoverpopulated highlands to the ldquouninhabitedrdquo lowland region through government-sponsored colonizing resettlement programs Initially the migration largely avoidedthe area due to poor roads In the 1970s and 1980s however new roads passingthrough San Borja and Tsimaneacute territory improved access to the region bringingwith them large amounts of migrants particularly of Aymara and Quechua descentto the area (Reyes-Garcia 2001) The arrival of migrants led to further deforestationaround the roads where the colonists were allotted land but it also facilitated theexpansion of market towns and more frequent interactions between Tsimaneacute andoutsiders The expansion of market towns and a growing population ensuredincreased commodity trading in the region making food commodities like sugarpasta flour and oil as well as other household goods like pots plastic tubs platesbowls knives and guns readily accessible

Although the Tsimaneacute avoided conversion by the Jesuits in the seventeenthcentury evangelical missionaries from the New Tribes Mission (NTM) arriving in the1960s were more successful (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) In addition totranslating the Bible into the Tsimaneacute language they set up healthcare centersestablished a radio station whose signal reaches most Tsimaneacute communities andcreated agricultural and livestock initiative programs The NTM created bilingualschools (Tsimaneacute and Spanish) and subsequently Tsimaneacute who were historicallysemi-nomadic settled nearby (Byron 2003) Transitions into stabilized communitiessignificantly impacted food production because permanent settlements resulted inthe over-hunting and fishing of areas surrounding the communities as well as anincrease in agricultural production This is particularly the case in areas closer tothe market where more intensive slash-and-burn agriculture takes place (ApazaVargas 2002) This shift not only affected access to food but also the centrality ofthe Cocojsi (the shaman) whose role as a leader and moderator between theanimal fish and forest spirits regulated access to food The NTM preached againstaspects of Tsimaneacute spiritual practices condemning the beliefs in spirits thatmoderate plants animals and fish equating them with demons (Huanca 2006)This combined with new hunting and fishing patterns led to a decline in thecocojsirsquos spiritual leadership

After the construction of new roads enabled easier access to the region asubsequent influx of logging concessions further altered the landscape causingheavy deforestation forest degradation and a loss of local biodiversity (Killeen etal 2007) By 1987 numerous logging concessions legally and illegally extracted

55

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ampFoodCultureSociety

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timber throughout the region The entrance and continued presence of loggers andlogging companies significantly expanded the road network in the area Tsimaneacutewho until this point still lived in fairly isolated areas now had easier access to cashgoods markets and outsiders and some Tsimaneacute found work with the concessions(Vadez and Reyes-Garcia 2005) Many Tsimaneacute associate the entrance of loggingconcessions with a decline of birds fish and animals in the region implicating themin a reduction of hunted meats and fish in the diet

To counteract the presence of loggers in the lowland territories in 1996 a newland reform Ley 1715 del Servicio Nacional de Reforma Agraria was passedrecognizing indigenous lands and creating a legal status for indigenous territoriesknown as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs) The Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute theTsimaneacute governing body obtained TCO status for more than 401000 hectares ofTsimaneacute land (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) Also in 1996 a new forestry law LeyForestal 1700 created regulations to control deforestation the exploitation of non-timber forest resources and promote sustainable forest management by reducingthe overall number of forestry concessions working in Bolivia Although officiallycurbing the overall volume of national deforestation by reducing the number ofconcessions legal logging concessions were able to function unencumbered andwere known for clandestinely pushing the boundaries of their concessionalterritories and removing significantly more trees than their plans entitled them to(Pacheco et al 2010) Three large forestry concessions were able to maintainoperations until just recently on the frontiers of the newly protected TCO Tsimaneacute

Significant decreases in forest resources combined with an increase in accessto market commodities and cash-accruing activities have affected the frequency inwhich the Tsimaneacute engage with the market As a result the Tsimaneacute are workingmore frequently outside of traditional occupations and are acquiring more cash topurchase commodities including foods that have become commonplace necessitiesin the household

Shocdyersquo the Importance of Manioc and WomenThroughout Amazonia and the tropical forests of lowland South America fermentedbeverages or beer continue to be key elements of indigenous life The Tsimaneacutelike many other indigenous groups in the Amazon have historically four major andoften overlapping uses for beer informal drinking ritualized and formal drinkingthe creation and demonstration of social relations and the maintenance of genderrelations and responsibilities (see Balee 1994 Descola 1994 Goldman 1963Goulard 2009 Heckler 2004 Hugh-Jones 1979 Johnson 2003 Uzendoski 2004)Understanding the ingredients of the beer the manner of production how beerrelates to these four categories and how these characteristics change over time canoffer insight on social economic and environmental transformations

Among the Tsimaneacute people manioc and maize have been the historicallypredominant ingredients of beer The beers from these ingredients are brewedseparately and then are mixed together According to Daillant (2004) thisdistinguishes the Tsimaneacute from other neighboring groups in the region particularlythe Moseten who while they use the same ingredients never mix them Although

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Tsimaneacute make beer with many ingredients including plantain pineapple and peachpalm it is the combination of manioc and maize that makes a ldquocomplete beerrdquo orshocdyersquo that maintains the most potential for successful spiritual use (Daillant2004) As such shocdyersquo slated for ritual purposes is always made frommanioc andoften mixed with maize Although maize is important in shocdyersquo manioc isfundamental to its production For example while beer made from manioc andmaize mixed together is called shocdyersquo when manioc beer is drunk alone it is alsoreferred to as shocdyersquo By contrast when maize beer is drunk alone it is referredto as corsquoracdye which translates as ldquomaize beerrdquo or ldquoboiled maizerdquo (Daillant 2004)

From its primary material base sweet manioc the Tsimaneacute derive significancefor shocdyersquo Manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a highly starchy root tuber that growsnatively in tropical South America Manioc is a fairly drought-resistant crop that canbe left unharvested for up to two years after reaching maturity Nutritionally it isa significant source of energy due to its high levels of carbohydrates (USDA 2014)While bitter manioc contains poisonous cyanide components and needs to be highlyprocessed before consumption sweet manioc used by the Tsimaneacute has a very lowconcentration of the toxin and does not need to be processed prior to consumption(Sarkiyayi and Agar 2010)

In the oral myths collected and compiled by the Tsimaneacute scholar Tomas Huancathe recurring story summarized below demonstrates the importance of manioc inshocdyersquo

There is thought to be a time on earth when animals were people and there wasno manioc Jaumlbaumls the mother of the shatij (agouti) made shocdyersquo out of ap (atype of tuber) She invited the curuj celestial people to come and share theshocdyersquo but they found it unsatisfying The next time they were invited to drinkher shocdyersquo they brought along manioc to satisfy their hunger Shatij saw themeating their manioc tasted it and liked it so much he asked them to come plantit for him The curuj agreed Shatij cleared the chaco agricultural field and whenit was burning the curuj came back to earth with bundles of the manioc root toplant They told shatij not to watch them plant because he would scare themanioc The curuj planted the manioc and it grew big quickly Shatij disobeyedthe curuj and watched them plant When the manioc was thrown near him it gotscared and there were thunderstorms The curuj were angry that shatijdisobeyed them and said from now on manioc will be difficult to grow and willtake a long time But then they showed him how to plant it and how to weed thefield but shatij ate manioc instead (Huanca 2006 55ndash8)

The themes that emerge from this myth highlight ideals enmeshed in both maniocand shocdyersquo First there is the celestial importance of manioc (Huanca 2006)Manioc is a cultivar given to the earth as a gift The knowledge of how to plant andmaintain it is both privileged and supernatural This gives the plant a particularstatus not inherent in most other cultivated plants which earns manioc a highersocial value and generates respect in its production and consumption Secondmanioc is associated with the drinking of shocdyersquo This story suggests that shocdyersquo

57

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might act as a vehicle for the consumption of manioc The implication of the storyis that manioc is a replacement for ap (a tuber) and subtly demonstrates a betterway of preparing the drink elevating it to a more satisfying product Third theshocdyersquo is produced by the female homemaker and is shared by her Thisdemonstrates the important role of women in facilitating shocdyersquo rituals Finallyshocdyersquo is consumed with friends family and neighbors shared between menwomen and children It is meant to facilitate the creation and maintenance of socialrelationships These relationships are between human and human but also betweenhuman and the supernatural Taken together these stories symbolize a relationshipbetween production and consumption that span human to supernatural relations aswell as human to human social and gender relations

Among the Tsimaneacute there is a special relationship between females andshocdyersquo The ability to make shocdyersquo is an important criterion for women to beconsidered good potential wives indeed society at large judges women who do notmake shocdyersquo to be lazy The production of shocdyersquo therefore serves to positionwomen at the center of interhousehold relationships and hierarchies Training startsearly and mothers encourage their young girls to take the initiative to make theirown pot of shocdyersquo As girls enter their early teens they learn how to see theshocdyersquo production through from start to finishmdashfrom planting and harvesting themanioc crop to preparing the shocdyersquo themselves

Shocdyersquo is prepared by peeling the manioc and cutting it into small roughlytwo-inch pieces The manioc is then boiled over a hot flame until it is soft Originallythis was prepared in large ceramic jugs but more recently large aluminum potsare used to boil the manioc After it is cooled the manioc is mashed with a largestick until it is mixed together into a thick pulp Once it is slightly cooled the womenbegin to masticate the manioc by taking spoonfuls of the pulp and swishing itaround their mouths they spit the liquefied manioc back into the pot and takeanother spoonful repeating the process Shocdyersquo is usually produced by a singlewoman However women from other households occasionally help by watching theboiling foodstuffs or masticating the manioc About one-quarter of the pot ismasticated before the process is finished When the women have finishedmasticating the pot is covered with banana leaves and left in the kitchen to cool inthe shade Before the shocdyersquo is ready to be served it is mixed with water andfiltered through a pasi The pasi is a woven sieve made from palm leaves thatseparates the fibrous strings of the manioc from the creamy liquid If maize is tobe included in the shocdyersquo the boiled and ground maize is added at this pointOnce it is filtered and mixed the shocdyersquo is consumed immediately as a sweetdrink or left to ferment a few days until it is slightly alcoholic and slightlycarbonated

It is not only important for women to make shocdyersquo it is also important for itto be sweet Sweetness is what is most valued in a good shocdyersquo and womenrsquosshocdyersquo production skills are a common topic of conversation and are largelymeasured by the sweetness of the drink and the quality of the womanrsquos saliva Theability to make shocdyersquo is in itself a gift from the gods to women In Riesterrsquoscollection of Tsimaneacute myths the god Dojitch teaches women how to masticate the

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

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sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

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Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

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march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

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ingModernitythroughBeerin

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interwoven specifically through the production distribution and consumption offood For populations like the Tsimaneacute global processes stemming fromldquomodernization without developmentrdquo shift how livelihoods and food are producedYet as these populations remain at the periphery of the market and of the nationstate they engage with modernity by building on existing sets of beliefs practicesand social and environmental relations which do not necessarily lead toindividualization

Arce and Long (2000) assert that modernity is appropriated reworked and re-embedded in locally situated practices from within They call this ldquolocalizedmodernityrdquo Drawing on this concept the present article argues that aspects ofmodernity defined here as the meaning cultural practices and cultural materialsof contemporary life and processes of modernization1 (in this case using Counihanrsquosdefinition of ldquomodernization without developmentrdquo particularly the expansion ofcapitalist environments) are shaped not only by the broad flows of change in theregion but also by the complexity of local histories and contemporary familial andcommunity social relationships The ldquolocalized modernityrdquo is not a fixed depictionof a place or time but instead points to the transitions that shape and are shapedby a group the process in which broad and global flows are experiencedunderstood and negotiated by a group of people in a place As Knauft puts it ldquoThealternatively modern engages the global with the local and the impact of politicaleconomy with cultural orientations and subjective dispositionsrdquo (Knauft 2002 24)The example of the Tsimaneacute demonstrates that emerging relationships betweenlivelihoods and key foods reflect larger regional developments as they areexperienced and interpreted through webs of value knowledge and practice relatedto the forest in which they are situated

Approaching key foods as materials demonstrative of a ldquolocalized modernityrdquoparticularly among producers and consumers of that food in the same location isnot widely addressed Contemporary research on food and modernity highlightsglobal capitalist relationships in the forms of global food chains often examiningcommodity flows and industrialized or corporate production where there is aseparation between the producer and the consumer (for example Barndt 2008Gewertz and Errington 2010 West 2012) Escobar argues ldquoThere is a need for acorrective theory that neutralizes this erasure of place the asymmetry that arisesfrom giving far too much importance to lsquothe globalrsquo and far to little value to lsquoplacersquordquo(Escobar 2008 7) To this end the socio-cultural dimensions of foods of small-scale producers in the wake of capitalist modernity have not been extensivelyexplored2 In these environments food items play both the role of commodity andof non-commodity as they are produced both for market purposes for householdconsumption or for other forms of exchangemdashshifting in value and meaningbetween these designations depending on their ldquospheres of exchangerdquo or how withwhom and for what purpose they are exchanged (Appaduri 1988 Fine 2002 Weiner1992) Therefore the production distribution and consumption of both food andcash are informed by historical and emerging socio-economic relationships inwhich both individualization and continued community and familial relationshipsexist and interact

53

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Based on fourteen months of research primarily between 2010 and 2011 butalso between 2007 and 2008 this article uses data collected from one Tsimaneacutecommunity Maraca located along the Maniqui River within the Tsimaneacute-ChimaneTierra Comunitaria de Origen about a half-dayrsquos travel by canoe foot and roadfrom the towns of San Borja and Yucumo Maraca is representative of manycommunities located a moderate distance from town which continue to relyprimarily on the forest and subsistence activities for their livelihoods but areincreasingly and regularly engaging in cash-based labor cash cropping and othermarket activities Methods included participant observation related to theproduction and consumption of beer randomized direct observations (time-allotment scans) in all seventeen households in the community (126 people) 15124-hour dietary recalls in all seventeen households and a series of rankings of beerpreference The household is the primary unit of analysis for this project becauseTsimaneacute families live in clusters (often near the parents of the wife) and share akitchen eating out of a single pot The household therefore refers to the group offamilies living near each other and sharing a kitchen Although families retainownership over their own food stocks these are pooled together in the sharing ofmeals and cooked foods

Tsimaneacute Context and ldquoModernization withoutDevelopmentrdquoAlthough the Tsimaneacute have been exposed to outsiders since the arrival of Jesuitmissionaries in the seventeenth century they maintained a distance from themarket continuing to produce the majority of their food and household materialsthrough forest-based activities including agriculture in large fields (chacos) andgardens fishing hunting and gathering Historically the Tsimaneacute only engaged inthe market moderately to purchase medicines occasional new clothing householdgoods and some commodity foods like sugar and oil In the past Tsimaneacutehouseholds accumulated cash through the minimal sale of crops domesticatedanimals and forest products wage labor and salaried labor (Godoy et al 2007)During the last half-century however without any institutional programming orpolicies directed at the Tsimaneacute regional development has included the expansionof cattle ranching evangelical missionaries a large migration of highland settlersto the region and small and large-scale logging concessions In turn increasedinteractions with outsiders declines in forest resources the expansion of localmarket places and commodity goods have shifted Tsimaneacute livelihood practices andspecifically their food production and consumption

Major regional shifts began to take place in the San Borja area in 1953 after amajor land reform followed the 1952 National Revolution In the lowlands the 1953land reform favored ranchers who were able to own large tracts of land and expandtheir holdings (Eastwood and Pollard 1985 Jones 1980) Cattle ranching hadbecome the prominent industry of the region following the collapse of the rubberindustry in the early twentieth century and by the 1930s the region had becomethe primary meat supplier for the rest of the country (Byron 2003 Jones 1980)Land titling in the 1950s allowed the ranches to expand legally into forested areas

ArielaZycherman

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54

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much of which included traditional Tsimaneacute migration and hunting areas Todaythe Ballivian province in which San Borja and the majority of Tsimaneacute communitiesare located has the highest number of productive ranching units in the region(Aguilera Guzman 2005 9) The rise in cattle ranching not only shifted hunting andmigration patterns but also changed the availability of other animal products in theregion Cattle ranching brought with it the construction of local slaughterhousesthat made fresh beef widely available for purchase in town Additionally the lessexpensive option of charkey dried beef from the head and other less desirable cutsbecame a staple in many Tsimaneacute homes

The 1953 land reform also began the process of moving people from theoverpopulated highlands to the ldquouninhabitedrdquo lowland region through government-sponsored colonizing resettlement programs Initially the migration largely avoidedthe area due to poor roads In the 1970s and 1980s however new roads passingthrough San Borja and Tsimaneacute territory improved access to the region bringingwith them large amounts of migrants particularly of Aymara and Quechua descentto the area (Reyes-Garcia 2001) The arrival of migrants led to further deforestationaround the roads where the colonists were allotted land but it also facilitated theexpansion of market towns and more frequent interactions between Tsimaneacute andoutsiders The expansion of market towns and a growing population ensuredincreased commodity trading in the region making food commodities like sugarpasta flour and oil as well as other household goods like pots plastic tubs platesbowls knives and guns readily accessible

Although the Tsimaneacute avoided conversion by the Jesuits in the seventeenthcentury evangelical missionaries from the New Tribes Mission (NTM) arriving in the1960s were more successful (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) In addition totranslating the Bible into the Tsimaneacute language they set up healthcare centersestablished a radio station whose signal reaches most Tsimaneacute communities andcreated agricultural and livestock initiative programs The NTM created bilingualschools (Tsimaneacute and Spanish) and subsequently Tsimaneacute who were historicallysemi-nomadic settled nearby (Byron 2003) Transitions into stabilized communitiessignificantly impacted food production because permanent settlements resulted inthe over-hunting and fishing of areas surrounding the communities as well as anincrease in agricultural production This is particularly the case in areas closer tothe market where more intensive slash-and-burn agriculture takes place (ApazaVargas 2002) This shift not only affected access to food but also the centrality ofthe Cocojsi (the shaman) whose role as a leader and moderator between theanimal fish and forest spirits regulated access to food The NTM preached againstaspects of Tsimaneacute spiritual practices condemning the beliefs in spirits thatmoderate plants animals and fish equating them with demons (Huanca 2006)This combined with new hunting and fishing patterns led to a decline in thecocojsirsquos spiritual leadership

After the construction of new roads enabled easier access to the region asubsequent influx of logging concessions further altered the landscape causingheavy deforestation forest degradation and a loss of local biodiversity (Killeen etal 2007) By 1987 numerous logging concessions legally and illegally extracted

55

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ampFoodCultureSociety

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timber throughout the region The entrance and continued presence of loggers andlogging companies significantly expanded the road network in the area Tsimaneacutewho until this point still lived in fairly isolated areas now had easier access to cashgoods markets and outsiders and some Tsimaneacute found work with the concessions(Vadez and Reyes-Garcia 2005) Many Tsimaneacute associate the entrance of loggingconcessions with a decline of birds fish and animals in the region implicating themin a reduction of hunted meats and fish in the diet

To counteract the presence of loggers in the lowland territories in 1996 a newland reform Ley 1715 del Servicio Nacional de Reforma Agraria was passedrecognizing indigenous lands and creating a legal status for indigenous territoriesknown as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs) The Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute theTsimaneacute governing body obtained TCO status for more than 401000 hectares ofTsimaneacute land (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) Also in 1996 a new forestry law LeyForestal 1700 created regulations to control deforestation the exploitation of non-timber forest resources and promote sustainable forest management by reducingthe overall number of forestry concessions working in Bolivia Although officiallycurbing the overall volume of national deforestation by reducing the number ofconcessions legal logging concessions were able to function unencumbered andwere known for clandestinely pushing the boundaries of their concessionalterritories and removing significantly more trees than their plans entitled them to(Pacheco et al 2010) Three large forestry concessions were able to maintainoperations until just recently on the frontiers of the newly protected TCO Tsimaneacute

Significant decreases in forest resources combined with an increase in accessto market commodities and cash-accruing activities have affected the frequency inwhich the Tsimaneacute engage with the market As a result the Tsimaneacute are workingmore frequently outside of traditional occupations and are acquiring more cash topurchase commodities including foods that have become commonplace necessitiesin the household

Shocdyersquo the Importance of Manioc and WomenThroughout Amazonia and the tropical forests of lowland South America fermentedbeverages or beer continue to be key elements of indigenous life The Tsimaneacutelike many other indigenous groups in the Amazon have historically four major andoften overlapping uses for beer informal drinking ritualized and formal drinkingthe creation and demonstration of social relations and the maintenance of genderrelations and responsibilities (see Balee 1994 Descola 1994 Goldman 1963Goulard 2009 Heckler 2004 Hugh-Jones 1979 Johnson 2003 Uzendoski 2004)Understanding the ingredients of the beer the manner of production how beerrelates to these four categories and how these characteristics change over time canoffer insight on social economic and environmental transformations

Among the Tsimaneacute people manioc and maize have been the historicallypredominant ingredients of beer The beers from these ingredients are brewedseparately and then are mixed together According to Daillant (2004) thisdistinguishes the Tsimaneacute from other neighboring groups in the region particularlythe Moseten who while they use the same ingredients never mix them Although

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Tsimaneacute make beer with many ingredients including plantain pineapple and peachpalm it is the combination of manioc and maize that makes a ldquocomplete beerrdquo orshocdyersquo that maintains the most potential for successful spiritual use (Daillant2004) As such shocdyersquo slated for ritual purposes is always made frommanioc andoften mixed with maize Although maize is important in shocdyersquo manioc isfundamental to its production For example while beer made from manioc andmaize mixed together is called shocdyersquo when manioc beer is drunk alone it is alsoreferred to as shocdyersquo By contrast when maize beer is drunk alone it is referredto as corsquoracdye which translates as ldquomaize beerrdquo or ldquoboiled maizerdquo (Daillant 2004)

From its primary material base sweet manioc the Tsimaneacute derive significancefor shocdyersquo Manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a highly starchy root tuber that growsnatively in tropical South America Manioc is a fairly drought-resistant crop that canbe left unharvested for up to two years after reaching maturity Nutritionally it isa significant source of energy due to its high levels of carbohydrates (USDA 2014)While bitter manioc contains poisonous cyanide components and needs to be highlyprocessed before consumption sweet manioc used by the Tsimaneacute has a very lowconcentration of the toxin and does not need to be processed prior to consumption(Sarkiyayi and Agar 2010)

In the oral myths collected and compiled by the Tsimaneacute scholar Tomas Huancathe recurring story summarized below demonstrates the importance of manioc inshocdyersquo

There is thought to be a time on earth when animals were people and there wasno manioc Jaumlbaumls the mother of the shatij (agouti) made shocdyersquo out of ap (atype of tuber) She invited the curuj celestial people to come and share theshocdyersquo but they found it unsatisfying The next time they were invited to drinkher shocdyersquo they brought along manioc to satisfy their hunger Shatij saw themeating their manioc tasted it and liked it so much he asked them to come plantit for him The curuj agreed Shatij cleared the chaco agricultural field and whenit was burning the curuj came back to earth with bundles of the manioc root toplant They told shatij not to watch them plant because he would scare themanioc The curuj planted the manioc and it grew big quickly Shatij disobeyedthe curuj and watched them plant When the manioc was thrown near him it gotscared and there were thunderstorms The curuj were angry that shatijdisobeyed them and said from now on manioc will be difficult to grow and willtake a long time But then they showed him how to plant it and how to weed thefield but shatij ate manioc instead (Huanca 2006 55ndash8)

The themes that emerge from this myth highlight ideals enmeshed in both maniocand shocdyersquo First there is the celestial importance of manioc (Huanca 2006)Manioc is a cultivar given to the earth as a gift The knowledge of how to plant andmaintain it is both privileged and supernatural This gives the plant a particularstatus not inherent in most other cultivated plants which earns manioc a highersocial value and generates respect in its production and consumption Secondmanioc is associated with the drinking of shocdyersquo This story suggests that shocdyersquo

57

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might act as a vehicle for the consumption of manioc The implication of the storyis that manioc is a replacement for ap (a tuber) and subtly demonstrates a betterway of preparing the drink elevating it to a more satisfying product Third theshocdyersquo is produced by the female homemaker and is shared by her Thisdemonstrates the important role of women in facilitating shocdyersquo rituals Finallyshocdyersquo is consumed with friends family and neighbors shared between menwomen and children It is meant to facilitate the creation and maintenance of socialrelationships These relationships are between human and human but also betweenhuman and the supernatural Taken together these stories symbolize a relationshipbetween production and consumption that span human to supernatural relations aswell as human to human social and gender relations

Among the Tsimaneacute there is a special relationship between females andshocdyersquo The ability to make shocdyersquo is an important criterion for women to beconsidered good potential wives indeed society at large judges women who do notmake shocdyersquo to be lazy The production of shocdyersquo therefore serves to positionwomen at the center of interhousehold relationships and hierarchies Training startsearly and mothers encourage their young girls to take the initiative to make theirown pot of shocdyersquo As girls enter their early teens they learn how to see theshocdyersquo production through from start to finishmdashfrom planting and harvesting themanioc crop to preparing the shocdyersquo themselves

Shocdyersquo is prepared by peeling the manioc and cutting it into small roughlytwo-inch pieces The manioc is then boiled over a hot flame until it is soft Originallythis was prepared in large ceramic jugs but more recently large aluminum potsare used to boil the manioc After it is cooled the manioc is mashed with a largestick until it is mixed together into a thick pulp Once it is slightly cooled the womenbegin to masticate the manioc by taking spoonfuls of the pulp and swishing itaround their mouths they spit the liquefied manioc back into the pot and takeanother spoonful repeating the process Shocdyersquo is usually produced by a singlewoman However women from other households occasionally help by watching theboiling foodstuffs or masticating the manioc About one-quarter of the pot ismasticated before the process is finished When the women have finishedmasticating the pot is covered with banana leaves and left in the kitchen to cool inthe shade Before the shocdyersquo is ready to be served it is mixed with water andfiltered through a pasi The pasi is a woven sieve made from palm leaves thatseparates the fibrous strings of the manioc from the creamy liquid If maize is tobe included in the shocdyersquo the boiled and ground maize is added at this pointOnce it is filtered and mixed the shocdyersquo is consumed immediately as a sweetdrink or left to ferment a few days until it is slightly alcoholic and slightlycarbonated

It is not only important for women to make shocdyersquo it is also important for itto be sweet Sweetness is what is most valued in a good shocdyersquo and womenrsquosshocdyersquo production skills are a common topic of conversation and are largelymeasured by the sweetness of the drink and the quality of the womanrsquos saliva Theability to make shocdyersquo is in itself a gift from the gods to women In Riesterrsquoscollection of Tsimaneacute myths the god Dojitch teaches women how to masticate the

ArielaZycherman

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

59

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ampFoodCultureSociety

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

ArielaZycherman

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

61

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

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ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

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66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

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ampFoodCultureSociety

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and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

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Based on fourteen months of research primarily between 2010 and 2011 butalso between 2007 and 2008 this article uses data collected from one Tsimaneacutecommunity Maraca located along the Maniqui River within the Tsimaneacute-ChimaneTierra Comunitaria de Origen about a half-dayrsquos travel by canoe foot and roadfrom the towns of San Borja and Yucumo Maraca is representative of manycommunities located a moderate distance from town which continue to relyprimarily on the forest and subsistence activities for their livelihoods but areincreasingly and regularly engaging in cash-based labor cash cropping and othermarket activities Methods included participant observation related to theproduction and consumption of beer randomized direct observations (time-allotment scans) in all seventeen households in the community (126 people) 15124-hour dietary recalls in all seventeen households and a series of rankings of beerpreference The household is the primary unit of analysis for this project becauseTsimaneacute families live in clusters (often near the parents of the wife) and share akitchen eating out of a single pot The household therefore refers to the group offamilies living near each other and sharing a kitchen Although families retainownership over their own food stocks these are pooled together in the sharing ofmeals and cooked foods

Tsimaneacute Context and ldquoModernization withoutDevelopmentrdquoAlthough the Tsimaneacute have been exposed to outsiders since the arrival of Jesuitmissionaries in the seventeenth century they maintained a distance from themarket continuing to produce the majority of their food and household materialsthrough forest-based activities including agriculture in large fields (chacos) andgardens fishing hunting and gathering Historically the Tsimaneacute only engaged inthe market moderately to purchase medicines occasional new clothing householdgoods and some commodity foods like sugar and oil In the past Tsimaneacutehouseholds accumulated cash through the minimal sale of crops domesticatedanimals and forest products wage labor and salaried labor (Godoy et al 2007)During the last half-century however without any institutional programming orpolicies directed at the Tsimaneacute regional development has included the expansionof cattle ranching evangelical missionaries a large migration of highland settlersto the region and small and large-scale logging concessions In turn increasedinteractions with outsiders declines in forest resources the expansion of localmarket places and commodity goods have shifted Tsimaneacute livelihood practices andspecifically their food production and consumption

Major regional shifts began to take place in the San Borja area in 1953 after amajor land reform followed the 1952 National Revolution In the lowlands the 1953land reform favored ranchers who were able to own large tracts of land and expandtheir holdings (Eastwood and Pollard 1985 Jones 1980) Cattle ranching hadbecome the prominent industry of the region following the collapse of the rubberindustry in the early twentieth century and by the 1930s the region had becomethe primary meat supplier for the rest of the country (Byron 2003 Jones 1980)Land titling in the 1950s allowed the ranches to expand legally into forested areas

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much of which included traditional Tsimaneacute migration and hunting areas Todaythe Ballivian province in which San Borja and the majority of Tsimaneacute communitiesare located has the highest number of productive ranching units in the region(Aguilera Guzman 2005 9) The rise in cattle ranching not only shifted hunting andmigration patterns but also changed the availability of other animal products in theregion Cattle ranching brought with it the construction of local slaughterhousesthat made fresh beef widely available for purchase in town Additionally the lessexpensive option of charkey dried beef from the head and other less desirable cutsbecame a staple in many Tsimaneacute homes

The 1953 land reform also began the process of moving people from theoverpopulated highlands to the ldquouninhabitedrdquo lowland region through government-sponsored colonizing resettlement programs Initially the migration largely avoidedthe area due to poor roads In the 1970s and 1980s however new roads passingthrough San Borja and Tsimaneacute territory improved access to the region bringingwith them large amounts of migrants particularly of Aymara and Quechua descentto the area (Reyes-Garcia 2001) The arrival of migrants led to further deforestationaround the roads where the colonists were allotted land but it also facilitated theexpansion of market towns and more frequent interactions between Tsimaneacute andoutsiders The expansion of market towns and a growing population ensuredincreased commodity trading in the region making food commodities like sugarpasta flour and oil as well as other household goods like pots plastic tubs platesbowls knives and guns readily accessible

Although the Tsimaneacute avoided conversion by the Jesuits in the seventeenthcentury evangelical missionaries from the New Tribes Mission (NTM) arriving in the1960s were more successful (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) In addition totranslating the Bible into the Tsimaneacute language they set up healthcare centersestablished a radio station whose signal reaches most Tsimaneacute communities andcreated agricultural and livestock initiative programs The NTM created bilingualschools (Tsimaneacute and Spanish) and subsequently Tsimaneacute who were historicallysemi-nomadic settled nearby (Byron 2003) Transitions into stabilized communitiessignificantly impacted food production because permanent settlements resulted inthe over-hunting and fishing of areas surrounding the communities as well as anincrease in agricultural production This is particularly the case in areas closer tothe market where more intensive slash-and-burn agriculture takes place (ApazaVargas 2002) This shift not only affected access to food but also the centrality ofthe Cocojsi (the shaman) whose role as a leader and moderator between theanimal fish and forest spirits regulated access to food The NTM preached againstaspects of Tsimaneacute spiritual practices condemning the beliefs in spirits thatmoderate plants animals and fish equating them with demons (Huanca 2006)This combined with new hunting and fishing patterns led to a decline in thecocojsirsquos spiritual leadership

After the construction of new roads enabled easier access to the region asubsequent influx of logging concessions further altered the landscape causingheavy deforestation forest degradation and a loss of local biodiversity (Killeen etal 2007) By 1987 numerous logging concessions legally and illegally extracted

55

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timber throughout the region The entrance and continued presence of loggers andlogging companies significantly expanded the road network in the area Tsimaneacutewho until this point still lived in fairly isolated areas now had easier access to cashgoods markets and outsiders and some Tsimaneacute found work with the concessions(Vadez and Reyes-Garcia 2005) Many Tsimaneacute associate the entrance of loggingconcessions with a decline of birds fish and animals in the region implicating themin a reduction of hunted meats and fish in the diet

To counteract the presence of loggers in the lowland territories in 1996 a newland reform Ley 1715 del Servicio Nacional de Reforma Agraria was passedrecognizing indigenous lands and creating a legal status for indigenous territoriesknown as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs) The Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute theTsimaneacute governing body obtained TCO status for more than 401000 hectares ofTsimaneacute land (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) Also in 1996 a new forestry law LeyForestal 1700 created regulations to control deforestation the exploitation of non-timber forest resources and promote sustainable forest management by reducingthe overall number of forestry concessions working in Bolivia Although officiallycurbing the overall volume of national deforestation by reducing the number ofconcessions legal logging concessions were able to function unencumbered andwere known for clandestinely pushing the boundaries of their concessionalterritories and removing significantly more trees than their plans entitled them to(Pacheco et al 2010) Three large forestry concessions were able to maintainoperations until just recently on the frontiers of the newly protected TCO Tsimaneacute

Significant decreases in forest resources combined with an increase in accessto market commodities and cash-accruing activities have affected the frequency inwhich the Tsimaneacute engage with the market As a result the Tsimaneacute are workingmore frequently outside of traditional occupations and are acquiring more cash topurchase commodities including foods that have become commonplace necessitiesin the household

Shocdyersquo the Importance of Manioc and WomenThroughout Amazonia and the tropical forests of lowland South America fermentedbeverages or beer continue to be key elements of indigenous life The Tsimaneacutelike many other indigenous groups in the Amazon have historically four major andoften overlapping uses for beer informal drinking ritualized and formal drinkingthe creation and demonstration of social relations and the maintenance of genderrelations and responsibilities (see Balee 1994 Descola 1994 Goldman 1963Goulard 2009 Heckler 2004 Hugh-Jones 1979 Johnson 2003 Uzendoski 2004)Understanding the ingredients of the beer the manner of production how beerrelates to these four categories and how these characteristics change over time canoffer insight on social economic and environmental transformations

Among the Tsimaneacute people manioc and maize have been the historicallypredominant ingredients of beer The beers from these ingredients are brewedseparately and then are mixed together According to Daillant (2004) thisdistinguishes the Tsimaneacute from other neighboring groups in the region particularlythe Moseten who while they use the same ingredients never mix them Although

ArielaZycherman

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Tsimaneacute make beer with many ingredients including plantain pineapple and peachpalm it is the combination of manioc and maize that makes a ldquocomplete beerrdquo orshocdyersquo that maintains the most potential for successful spiritual use (Daillant2004) As such shocdyersquo slated for ritual purposes is always made frommanioc andoften mixed with maize Although maize is important in shocdyersquo manioc isfundamental to its production For example while beer made from manioc andmaize mixed together is called shocdyersquo when manioc beer is drunk alone it is alsoreferred to as shocdyersquo By contrast when maize beer is drunk alone it is referredto as corsquoracdye which translates as ldquomaize beerrdquo or ldquoboiled maizerdquo (Daillant 2004)

From its primary material base sweet manioc the Tsimaneacute derive significancefor shocdyersquo Manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a highly starchy root tuber that growsnatively in tropical South America Manioc is a fairly drought-resistant crop that canbe left unharvested for up to two years after reaching maturity Nutritionally it isa significant source of energy due to its high levels of carbohydrates (USDA 2014)While bitter manioc contains poisonous cyanide components and needs to be highlyprocessed before consumption sweet manioc used by the Tsimaneacute has a very lowconcentration of the toxin and does not need to be processed prior to consumption(Sarkiyayi and Agar 2010)

In the oral myths collected and compiled by the Tsimaneacute scholar Tomas Huancathe recurring story summarized below demonstrates the importance of manioc inshocdyersquo

There is thought to be a time on earth when animals were people and there wasno manioc Jaumlbaumls the mother of the shatij (agouti) made shocdyersquo out of ap (atype of tuber) She invited the curuj celestial people to come and share theshocdyersquo but they found it unsatisfying The next time they were invited to drinkher shocdyersquo they brought along manioc to satisfy their hunger Shatij saw themeating their manioc tasted it and liked it so much he asked them to come plantit for him The curuj agreed Shatij cleared the chaco agricultural field and whenit was burning the curuj came back to earth with bundles of the manioc root toplant They told shatij not to watch them plant because he would scare themanioc The curuj planted the manioc and it grew big quickly Shatij disobeyedthe curuj and watched them plant When the manioc was thrown near him it gotscared and there were thunderstorms The curuj were angry that shatijdisobeyed them and said from now on manioc will be difficult to grow and willtake a long time But then they showed him how to plant it and how to weed thefield but shatij ate manioc instead (Huanca 2006 55ndash8)

The themes that emerge from this myth highlight ideals enmeshed in both maniocand shocdyersquo First there is the celestial importance of manioc (Huanca 2006)Manioc is a cultivar given to the earth as a gift The knowledge of how to plant andmaintain it is both privileged and supernatural This gives the plant a particularstatus not inherent in most other cultivated plants which earns manioc a highersocial value and generates respect in its production and consumption Secondmanioc is associated with the drinking of shocdyersquo This story suggests that shocdyersquo

57

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might act as a vehicle for the consumption of manioc The implication of the storyis that manioc is a replacement for ap (a tuber) and subtly demonstrates a betterway of preparing the drink elevating it to a more satisfying product Third theshocdyersquo is produced by the female homemaker and is shared by her Thisdemonstrates the important role of women in facilitating shocdyersquo rituals Finallyshocdyersquo is consumed with friends family and neighbors shared between menwomen and children It is meant to facilitate the creation and maintenance of socialrelationships These relationships are between human and human but also betweenhuman and the supernatural Taken together these stories symbolize a relationshipbetween production and consumption that span human to supernatural relations aswell as human to human social and gender relations

Among the Tsimaneacute there is a special relationship between females andshocdyersquo The ability to make shocdyersquo is an important criterion for women to beconsidered good potential wives indeed society at large judges women who do notmake shocdyersquo to be lazy The production of shocdyersquo therefore serves to positionwomen at the center of interhousehold relationships and hierarchies Training startsearly and mothers encourage their young girls to take the initiative to make theirown pot of shocdyersquo As girls enter their early teens they learn how to see theshocdyersquo production through from start to finishmdashfrom planting and harvesting themanioc crop to preparing the shocdyersquo themselves

Shocdyersquo is prepared by peeling the manioc and cutting it into small roughlytwo-inch pieces The manioc is then boiled over a hot flame until it is soft Originallythis was prepared in large ceramic jugs but more recently large aluminum potsare used to boil the manioc After it is cooled the manioc is mashed with a largestick until it is mixed together into a thick pulp Once it is slightly cooled the womenbegin to masticate the manioc by taking spoonfuls of the pulp and swishing itaround their mouths they spit the liquefied manioc back into the pot and takeanother spoonful repeating the process Shocdyersquo is usually produced by a singlewoman However women from other households occasionally help by watching theboiling foodstuffs or masticating the manioc About one-quarter of the pot ismasticated before the process is finished When the women have finishedmasticating the pot is covered with banana leaves and left in the kitchen to cool inthe shade Before the shocdyersquo is ready to be served it is mixed with water andfiltered through a pasi The pasi is a woven sieve made from palm leaves thatseparates the fibrous strings of the manioc from the creamy liquid If maize is tobe included in the shocdyersquo the boiled and ground maize is added at this pointOnce it is filtered and mixed the shocdyersquo is consumed immediately as a sweetdrink or left to ferment a few days until it is slightly alcoholic and slightlycarbonated

It is not only important for women to make shocdyersquo it is also important for itto be sweet Sweetness is what is most valued in a good shocdyersquo and womenrsquosshocdyersquo production skills are a common topic of conversation and are largelymeasured by the sweetness of the drink and the quality of the womanrsquos saliva Theability to make shocdyersquo is in itself a gift from the gods to women In Riesterrsquoscollection of Tsimaneacute myths the god Dojitch teaches women how to masticate the

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

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sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

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Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

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and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

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much of which included traditional Tsimaneacute migration and hunting areas Todaythe Ballivian province in which San Borja and the majority of Tsimaneacute communitiesare located has the highest number of productive ranching units in the region(Aguilera Guzman 2005 9) The rise in cattle ranching not only shifted hunting andmigration patterns but also changed the availability of other animal products in theregion Cattle ranching brought with it the construction of local slaughterhousesthat made fresh beef widely available for purchase in town Additionally the lessexpensive option of charkey dried beef from the head and other less desirable cutsbecame a staple in many Tsimaneacute homes

The 1953 land reform also began the process of moving people from theoverpopulated highlands to the ldquouninhabitedrdquo lowland region through government-sponsored colonizing resettlement programs Initially the migration largely avoidedthe area due to poor roads In the 1970s and 1980s however new roads passingthrough San Borja and Tsimaneacute territory improved access to the region bringingwith them large amounts of migrants particularly of Aymara and Quechua descentto the area (Reyes-Garcia 2001) The arrival of migrants led to further deforestationaround the roads where the colonists were allotted land but it also facilitated theexpansion of market towns and more frequent interactions between Tsimaneacute andoutsiders The expansion of market towns and a growing population ensuredincreased commodity trading in the region making food commodities like sugarpasta flour and oil as well as other household goods like pots plastic tubs platesbowls knives and guns readily accessible

Although the Tsimaneacute avoided conversion by the Jesuits in the seventeenthcentury evangelical missionaries from the New Tribes Mission (NTM) arriving in the1960s were more successful (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) In addition totranslating the Bible into the Tsimaneacute language they set up healthcare centersestablished a radio station whose signal reaches most Tsimaneacute communities andcreated agricultural and livestock initiative programs The NTM created bilingualschools (Tsimaneacute and Spanish) and subsequently Tsimaneacute who were historicallysemi-nomadic settled nearby (Byron 2003) Transitions into stabilized communitiessignificantly impacted food production because permanent settlements resulted inthe over-hunting and fishing of areas surrounding the communities as well as anincrease in agricultural production This is particularly the case in areas closer tothe market where more intensive slash-and-burn agriculture takes place (ApazaVargas 2002) This shift not only affected access to food but also the centrality ofthe Cocojsi (the shaman) whose role as a leader and moderator between theanimal fish and forest spirits regulated access to food The NTM preached againstaspects of Tsimaneacute spiritual practices condemning the beliefs in spirits thatmoderate plants animals and fish equating them with demons (Huanca 2006)This combined with new hunting and fishing patterns led to a decline in thecocojsirsquos spiritual leadership

After the construction of new roads enabled easier access to the region asubsequent influx of logging concessions further altered the landscape causingheavy deforestation forest degradation and a loss of local biodiversity (Killeen etal 2007) By 1987 numerous logging concessions legally and illegally extracted

55

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timber throughout the region The entrance and continued presence of loggers andlogging companies significantly expanded the road network in the area Tsimaneacutewho until this point still lived in fairly isolated areas now had easier access to cashgoods markets and outsiders and some Tsimaneacute found work with the concessions(Vadez and Reyes-Garcia 2005) Many Tsimaneacute associate the entrance of loggingconcessions with a decline of birds fish and animals in the region implicating themin a reduction of hunted meats and fish in the diet

To counteract the presence of loggers in the lowland territories in 1996 a newland reform Ley 1715 del Servicio Nacional de Reforma Agraria was passedrecognizing indigenous lands and creating a legal status for indigenous territoriesknown as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs) The Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute theTsimaneacute governing body obtained TCO status for more than 401000 hectares ofTsimaneacute land (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) Also in 1996 a new forestry law LeyForestal 1700 created regulations to control deforestation the exploitation of non-timber forest resources and promote sustainable forest management by reducingthe overall number of forestry concessions working in Bolivia Although officiallycurbing the overall volume of national deforestation by reducing the number ofconcessions legal logging concessions were able to function unencumbered andwere known for clandestinely pushing the boundaries of their concessionalterritories and removing significantly more trees than their plans entitled them to(Pacheco et al 2010) Three large forestry concessions were able to maintainoperations until just recently on the frontiers of the newly protected TCO Tsimaneacute

Significant decreases in forest resources combined with an increase in accessto market commodities and cash-accruing activities have affected the frequency inwhich the Tsimaneacute engage with the market As a result the Tsimaneacute are workingmore frequently outside of traditional occupations and are acquiring more cash topurchase commodities including foods that have become commonplace necessitiesin the household

Shocdyersquo the Importance of Manioc and WomenThroughout Amazonia and the tropical forests of lowland South America fermentedbeverages or beer continue to be key elements of indigenous life The Tsimaneacutelike many other indigenous groups in the Amazon have historically four major andoften overlapping uses for beer informal drinking ritualized and formal drinkingthe creation and demonstration of social relations and the maintenance of genderrelations and responsibilities (see Balee 1994 Descola 1994 Goldman 1963Goulard 2009 Heckler 2004 Hugh-Jones 1979 Johnson 2003 Uzendoski 2004)Understanding the ingredients of the beer the manner of production how beerrelates to these four categories and how these characteristics change over time canoffer insight on social economic and environmental transformations

Among the Tsimaneacute people manioc and maize have been the historicallypredominant ingredients of beer The beers from these ingredients are brewedseparately and then are mixed together According to Daillant (2004) thisdistinguishes the Tsimaneacute from other neighboring groups in the region particularlythe Moseten who while they use the same ingredients never mix them Although

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Tsimaneacute make beer with many ingredients including plantain pineapple and peachpalm it is the combination of manioc and maize that makes a ldquocomplete beerrdquo orshocdyersquo that maintains the most potential for successful spiritual use (Daillant2004) As such shocdyersquo slated for ritual purposes is always made frommanioc andoften mixed with maize Although maize is important in shocdyersquo manioc isfundamental to its production For example while beer made from manioc andmaize mixed together is called shocdyersquo when manioc beer is drunk alone it is alsoreferred to as shocdyersquo By contrast when maize beer is drunk alone it is referredto as corsquoracdye which translates as ldquomaize beerrdquo or ldquoboiled maizerdquo (Daillant 2004)

From its primary material base sweet manioc the Tsimaneacute derive significancefor shocdyersquo Manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a highly starchy root tuber that growsnatively in tropical South America Manioc is a fairly drought-resistant crop that canbe left unharvested for up to two years after reaching maturity Nutritionally it isa significant source of energy due to its high levels of carbohydrates (USDA 2014)While bitter manioc contains poisonous cyanide components and needs to be highlyprocessed before consumption sweet manioc used by the Tsimaneacute has a very lowconcentration of the toxin and does not need to be processed prior to consumption(Sarkiyayi and Agar 2010)

In the oral myths collected and compiled by the Tsimaneacute scholar Tomas Huancathe recurring story summarized below demonstrates the importance of manioc inshocdyersquo

There is thought to be a time on earth when animals were people and there wasno manioc Jaumlbaumls the mother of the shatij (agouti) made shocdyersquo out of ap (atype of tuber) She invited the curuj celestial people to come and share theshocdyersquo but they found it unsatisfying The next time they were invited to drinkher shocdyersquo they brought along manioc to satisfy their hunger Shatij saw themeating their manioc tasted it and liked it so much he asked them to come plantit for him The curuj agreed Shatij cleared the chaco agricultural field and whenit was burning the curuj came back to earth with bundles of the manioc root toplant They told shatij not to watch them plant because he would scare themanioc The curuj planted the manioc and it grew big quickly Shatij disobeyedthe curuj and watched them plant When the manioc was thrown near him it gotscared and there were thunderstorms The curuj were angry that shatijdisobeyed them and said from now on manioc will be difficult to grow and willtake a long time But then they showed him how to plant it and how to weed thefield but shatij ate manioc instead (Huanca 2006 55ndash8)

The themes that emerge from this myth highlight ideals enmeshed in both maniocand shocdyersquo First there is the celestial importance of manioc (Huanca 2006)Manioc is a cultivar given to the earth as a gift The knowledge of how to plant andmaintain it is both privileged and supernatural This gives the plant a particularstatus not inherent in most other cultivated plants which earns manioc a highersocial value and generates respect in its production and consumption Secondmanioc is associated with the drinking of shocdyersquo This story suggests that shocdyersquo

57

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might act as a vehicle for the consumption of manioc The implication of the storyis that manioc is a replacement for ap (a tuber) and subtly demonstrates a betterway of preparing the drink elevating it to a more satisfying product Third theshocdyersquo is produced by the female homemaker and is shared by her Thisdemonstrates the important role of women in facilitating shocdyersquo rituals Finallyshocdyersquo is consumed with friends family and neighbors shared between menwomen and children It is meant to facilitate the creation and maintenance of socialrelationships These relationships are between human and human but also betweenhuman and the supernatural Taken together these stories symbolize a relationshipbetween production and consumption that span human to supernatural relations aswell as human to human social and gender relations

Among the Tsimaneacute there is a special relationship between females andshocdyersquo The ability to make shocdyersquo is an important criterion for women to beconsidered good potential wives indeed society at large judges women who do notmake shocdyersquo to be lazy The production of shocdyersquo therefore serves to positionwomen at the center of interhousehold relationships and hierarchies Training startsearly and mothers encourage their young girls to take the initiative to make theirown pot of shocdyersquo As girls enter their early teens they learn how to see theshocdyersquo production through from start to finishmdashfrom planting and harvesting themanioc crop to preparing the shocdyersquo themselves

Shocdyersquo is prepared by peeling the manioc and cutting it into small roughlytwo-inch pieces The manioc is then boiled over a hot flame until it is soft Originallythis was prepared in large ceramic jugs but more recently large aluminum potsare used to boil the manioc After it is cooled the manioc is mashed with a largestick until it is mixed together into a thick pulp Once it is slightly cooled the womenbegin to masticate the manioc by taking spoonfuls of the pulp and swishing itaround their mouths they spit the liquefied manioc back into the pot and takeanother spoonful repeating the process Shocdyersquo is usually produced by a singlewoman However women from other households occasionally help by watching theboiling foodstuffs or masticating the manioc About one-quarter of the pot ismasticated before the process is finished When the women have finishedmasticating the pot is covered with banana leaves and left in the kitchen to cool inthe shade Before the shocdyersquo is ready to be served it is mixed with water andfiltered through a pasi The pasi is a woven sieve made from palm leaves thatseparates the fibrous strings of the manioc from the creamy liquid If maize is tobe included in the shocdyersquo the boiled and ground maize is added at this pointOnce it is filtered and mixed the shocdyersquo is consumed immediately as a sweetdrink or left to ferment a few days until it is slightly alcoholic and slightlycarbonated

It is not only important for women to make shocdyersquo it is also important for itto be sweet Sweetness is what is most valued in a good shocdyersquo and womenrsquosshocdyersquo production skills are a common topic of conversation and are largelymeasured by the sweetness of the drink and the quality of the womanrsquos saliva Theability to make shocdyersquo is in itself a gift from the gods to women In Riesterrsquoscollection of Tsimaneacute myths the god Dojitch teaches women how to masticate the

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

59

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

61

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

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Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

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march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

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and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

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timber throughout the region The entrance and continued presence of loggers andlogging companies significantly expanded the road network in the area Tsimaneacutewho until this point still lived in fairly isolated areas now had easier access to cashgoods markets and outsiders and some Tsimaneacute found work with the concessions(Vadez and Reyes-Garcia 2005) Many Tsimaneacute associate the entrance of loggingconcessions with a decline of birds fish and animals in the region implicating themin a reduction of hunted meats and fish in the diet

To counteract the presence of loggers in the lowland territories in 1996 a newland reform Ley 1715 del Servicio Nacional de Reforma Agraria was passedrecognizing indigenous lands and creating a legal status for indigenous territoriesknown as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs) The Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute theTsimaneacute governing body obtained TCO status for more than 401000 hectares ofTsimaneacute land (Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010) Also in 1996 a new forestry law LeyForestal 1700 created regulations to control deforestation the exploitation of non-timber forest resources and promote sustainable forest management by reducingthe overall number of forestry concessions working in Bolivia Although officiallycurbing the overall volume of national deforestation by reducing the number ofconcessions legal logging concessions were able to function unencumbered andwere known for clandestinely pushing the boundaries of their concessionalterritories and removing significantly more trees than their plans entitled them to(Pacheco et al 2010) Three large forestry concessions were able to maintainoperations until just recently on the frontiers of the newly protected TCO Tsimaneacute

Significant decreases in forest resources combined with an increase in accessto market commodities and cash-accruing activities have affected the frequency inwhich the Tsimaneacute engage with the market As a result the Tsimaneacute are workingmore frequently outside of traditional occupations and are acquiring more cash topurchase commodities including foods that have become commonplace necessitiesin the household

Shocdyersquo the Importance of Manioc and WomenThroughout Amazonia and the tropical forests of lowland South America fermentedbeverages or beer continue to be key elements of indigenous life The Tsimaneacutelike many other indigenous groups in the Amazon have historically four major andoften overlapping uses for beer informal drinking ritualized and formal drinkingthe creation and demonstration of social relations and the maintenance of genderrelations and responsibilities (see Balee 1994 Descola 1994 Goldman 1963Goulard 2009 Heckler 2004 Hugh-Jones 1979 Johnson 2003 Uzendoski 2004)Understanding the ingredients of the beer the manner of production how beerrelates to these four categories and how these characteristics change over time canoffer insight on social economic and environmental transformations

Among the Tsimaneacute people manioc and maize have been the historicallypredominant ingredients of beer The beers from these ingredients are brewedseparately and then are mixed together According to Daillant (2004) thisdistinguishes the Tsimaneacute from other neighboring groups in the region particularlythe Moseten who while they use the same ingredients never mix them Although

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Tsimaneacute make beer with many ingredients including plantain pineapple and peachpalm it is the combination of manioc and maize that makes a ldquocomplete beerrdquo orshocdyersquo that maintains the most potential for successful spiritual use (Daillant2004) As such shocdyersquo slated for ritual purposes is always made frommanioc andoften mixed with maize Although maize is important in shocdyersquo manioc isfundamental to its production For example while beer made from manioc andmaize mixed together is called shocdyersquo when manioc beer is drunk alone it is alsoreferred to as shocdyersquo By contrast when maize beer is drunk alone it is referredto as corsquoracdye which translates as ldquomaize beerrdquo or ldquoboiled maizerdquo (Daillant 2004)

From its primary material base sweet manioc the Tsimaneacute derive significancefor shocdyersquo Manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a highly starchy root tuber that growsnatively in tropical South America Manioc is a fairly drought-resistant crop that canbe left unharvested for up to two years after reaching maturity Nutritionally it isa significant source of energy due to its high levels of carbohydrates (USDA 2014)While bitter manioc contains poisonous cyanide components and needs to be highlyprocessed before consumption sweet manioc used by the Tsimaneacute has a very lowconcentration of the toxin and does not need to be processed prior to consumption(Sarkiyayi and Agar 2010)

In the oral myths collected and compiled by the Tsimaneacute scholar Tomas Huancathe recurring story summarized below demonstrates the importance of manioc inshocdyersquo

There is thought to be a time on earth when animals were people and there wasno manioc Jaumlbaumls the mother of the shatij (agouti) made shocdyersquo out of ap (atype of tuber) She invited the curuj celestial people to come and share theshocdyersquo but they found it unsatisfying The next time they were invited to drinkher shocdyersquo they brought along manioc to satisfy their hunger Shatij saw themeating their manioc tasted it and liked it so much he asked them to come plantit for him The curuj agreed Shatij cleared the chaco agricultural field and whenit was burning the curuj came back to earth with bundles of the manioc root toplant They told shatij not to watch them plant because he would scare themanioc The curuj planted the manioc and it grew big quickly Shatij disobeyedthe curuj and watched them plant When the manioc was thrown near him it gotscared and there were thunderstorms The curuj were angry that shatijdisobeyed them and said from now on manioc will be difficult to grow and willtake a long time But then they showed him how to plant it and how to weed thefield but shatij ate manioc instead (Huanca 2006 55ndash8)

The themes that emerge from this myth highlight ideals enmeshed in both maniocand shocdyersquo First there is the celestial importance of manioc (Huanca 2006)Manioc is a cultivar given to the earth as a gift The knowledge of how to plant andmaintain it is both privileged and supernatural This gives the plant a particularstatus not inherent in most other cultivated plants which earns manioc a highersocial value and generates respect in its production and consumption Secondmanioc is associated with the drinking of shocdyersquo This story suggests that shocdyersquo

57

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might act as a vehicle for the consumption of manioc The implication of the storyis that manioc is a replacement for ap (a tuber) and subtly demonstrates a betterway of preparing the drink elevating it to a more satisfying product Third theshocdyersquo is produced by the female homemaker and is shared by her Thisdemonstrates the important role of women in facilitating shocdyersquo rituals Finallyshocdyersquo is consumed with friends family and neighbors shared between menwomen and children It is meant to facilitate the creation and maintenance of socialrelationships These relationships are between human and human but also betweenhuman and the supernatural Taken together these stories symbolize a relationshipbetween production and consumption that span human to supernatural relations aswell as human to human social and gender relations

Among the Tsimaneacute there is a special relationship between females andshocdyersquo The ability to make shocdyersquo is an important criterion for women to beconsidered good potential wives indeed society at large judges women who do notmake shocdyersquo to be lazy The production of shocdyersquo therefore serves to positionwomen at the center of interhousehold relationships and hierarchies Training startsearly and mothers encourage their young girls to take the initiative to make theirown pot of shocdyersquo As girls enter their early teens they learn how to see theshocdyersquo production through from start to finishmdashfrom planting and harvesting themanioc crop to preparing the shocdyersquo themselves

Shocdyersquo is prepared by peeling the manioc and cutting it into small roughlytwo-inch pieces The manioc is then boiled over a hot flame until it is soft Originallythis was prepared in large ceramic jugs but more recently large aluminum potsare used to boil the manioc After it is cooled the manioc is mashed with a largestick until it is mixed together into a thick pulp Once it is slightly cooled the womenbegin to masticate the manioc by taking spoonfuls of the pulp and swishing itaround their mouths they spit the liquefied manioc back into the pot and takeanother spoonful repeating the process Shocdyersquo is usually produced by a singlewoman However women from other households occasionally help by watching theboiling foodstuffs or masticating the manioc About one-quarter of the pot ismasticated before the process is finished When the women have finishedmasticating the pot is covered with banana leaves and left in the kitchen to cool inthe shade Before the shocdyersquo is ready to be served it is mixed with water andfiltered through a pasi The pasi is a woven sieve made from palm leaves thatseparates the fibrous strings of the manioc from the creamy liquid If maize is tobe included in the shocdyersquo the boiled and ground maize is added at this pointOnce it is filtered and mixed the shocdyersquo is consumed immediately as a sweetdrink or left to ferment a few days until it is slightly alcoholic and slightlycarbonated

It is not only important for women to make shocdyersquo it is also important for itto be sweet Sweetness is what is most valued in a good shocdyersquo and womenrsquosshocdyersquo production skills are a common topic of conversation and are largelymeasured by the sweetness of the drink and the quality of the womanrsquos saliva Theability to make shocdyersquo is in itself a gift from the gods to women In Riesterrsquoscollection of Tsimaneacute myths the god Dojitch teaches women how to masticate the

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

59

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

61

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

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66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

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and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

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Tsimaneacute make beer with many ingredients including plantain pineapple and peachpalm it is the combination of manioc and maize that makes a ldquocomplete beerrdquo orshocdyersquo that maintains the most potential for successful spiritual use (Daillant2004) As such shocdyersquo slated for ritual purposes is always made frommanioc andoften mixed with maize Although maize is important in shocdyersquo manioc isfundamental to its production For example while beer made from manioc andmaize mixed together is called shocdyersquo when manioc beer is drunk alone it is alsoreferred to as shocdyersquo By contrast when maize beer is drunk alone it is referredto as corsquoracdye which translates as ldquomaize beerrdquo or ldquoboiled maizerdquo (Daillant 2004)

From its primary material base sweet manioc the Tsimaneacute derive significancefor shocdyersquo Manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a highly starchy root tuber that growsnatively in tropical South America Manioc is a fairly drought-resistant crop that canbe left unharvested for up to two years after reaching maturity Nutritionally it isa significant source of energy due to its high levels of carbohydrates (USDA 2014)While bitter manioc contains poisonous cyanide components and needs to be highlyprocessed before consumption sweet manioc used by the Tsimaneacute has a very lowconcentration of the toxin and does not need to be processed prior to consumption(Sarkiyayi and Agar 2010)

In the oral myths collected and compiled by the Tsimaneacute scholar Tomas Huancathe recurring story summarized below demonstrates the importance of manioc inshocdyersquo

There is thought to be a time on earth when animals were people and there wasno manioc Jaumlbaumls the mother of the shatij (agouti) made shocdyersquo out of ap (atype of tuber) She invited the curuj celestial people to come and share theshocdyersquo but they found it unsatisfying The next time they were invited to drinkher shocdyersquo they brought along manioc to satisfy their hunger Shatij saw themeating their manioc tasted it and liked it so much he asked them to come plantit for him The curuj agreed Shatij cleared the chaco agricultural field and whenit was burning the curuj came back to earth with bundles of the manioc root toplant They told shatij not to watch them plant because he would scare themanioc The curuj planted the manioc and it grew big quickly Shatij disobeyedthe curuj and watched them plant When the manioc was thrown near him it gotscared and there were thunderstorms The curuj were angry that shatijdisobeyed them and said from now on manioc will be difficult to grow and willtake a long time But then they showed him how to plant it and how to weed thefield but shatij ate manioc instead (Huanca 2006 55ndash8)

The themes that emerge from this myth highlight ideals enmeshed in both maniocand shocdyersquo First there is the celestial importance of manioc (Huanca 2006)Manioc is a cultivar given to the earth as a gift The knowledge of how to plant andmaintain it is both privileged and supernatural This gives the plant a particularstatus not inherent in most other cultivated plants which earns manioc a highersocial value and generates respect in its production and consumption Secondmanioc is associated with the drinking of shocdyersquo This story suggests that shocdyersquo

57

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might act as a vehicle for the consumption of manioc The implication of the storyis that manioc is a replacement for ap (a tuber) and subtly demonstrates a betterway of preparing the drink elevating it to a more satisfying product Third theshocdyersquo is produced by the female homemaker and is shared by her Thisdemonstrates the important role of women in facilitating shocdyersquo rituals Finallyshocdyersquo is consumed with friends family and neighbors shared between menwomen and children It is meant to facilitate the creation and maintenance of socialrelationships These relationships are between human and human but also betweenhuman and the supernatural Taken together these stories symbolize a relationshipbetween production and consumption that span human to supernatural relations aswell as human to human social and gender relations

Among the Tsimaneacute there is a special relationship between females andshocdyersquo The ability to make shocdyersquo is an important criterion for women to beconsidered good potential wives indeed society at large judges women who do notmake shocdyersquo to be lazy The production of shocdyersquo therefore serves to positionwomen at the center of interhousehold relationships and hierarchies Training startsearly and mothers encourage their young girls to take the initiative to make theirown pot of shocdyersquo As girls enter their early teens they learn how to see theshocdyersquo production through from start to finishmdashfrom planting and harvesting themanioc crop to preparing the shocdyersquo themselves

Shocdyersquo is prepared by peeling the manioc and cutting it into small roughlytwo-inch pieces The manioc is then boiled over a hot flame until it is soft Originallythis was prepared in large ceramic jugs but more recently large aluminum potsare used to boil the manioc After it is cooled the manioc is mashed with a largestick until it is mixed together into a thick pulp Once it is slightly cooled the womenbegin to masticate the manioc by taking spoonfuls of the pulp and swishing itaround their mouths they spit the liquefied manioc back into the pot and takeanother spoonful repeating the process Shocdyersquo is usually produced by a singlewoman However women from other households occasionally help by watching theboiling foodstuffs or masticating the manioc About one-quarter of the pot ismasticated before the process is finished When the women have finishedmasticating the pot is covered with banana leaves and left in the kitchen to cool inthe shade Before the shocdyersquo is ready to be served it is mixed with water andfiltered through a pasi The pasi is a woven sieve made from palm leaves thatseparates the fibrous strings of the manioc from the creamy liquid If maize is tobe included in the shocdyersquo the boiled and ground maize is added at this pointOnce it is filtered and mixed the shocdyersquo is consumed immediately as a sweetdrink or left to ferment a few days until it is slightly alcoholic and slightlycarbonated

It is not only important for women to make shocdyersquo it is also important for itto be sweet Sweetness is what is most valued in a good shocdyersquo and womenrsquosshocdyersquo production skills are a common topic of conversation and are largelymeasured by the sweetness of the drink and the quality of the womanrsquos saliva Theability to make shocdyersquo is in itself a gift from the gods to women In Riesterrsquoscollection of Tsimaneacute myths the god Dojitch teaches women how to masticate the

ArielaZycherman

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

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Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

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and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

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might act as a vehicle for the consumption of manioc The implication of the storyis that manioc is a replacement for ap (a tuber) and subtly demonstrates a betterway of preparing the drink elevating it to a more satisfying product Third theshocdyersquo is produced by the female homemaker and is shared by her Thisdemonstrates the important role of women in facilitating shocdyersquo rituals Finallyshocdyersquo is consumed with friends family and neighbors shared between menwomen and children It is meant to facilitate the creation and maintenance of socialrelationships These relationships are between human and human but also betweenhuman and the supernatural Taken together these stories symbolize a relationshipbetween production and consumption that span human to supernatural relations aswell as human to human social and gender relations

Among the Tsimaneacute there is a special relationship between females andshocdyersquo The ability to make shocdyersquo is an important criterion for women to beconsidered good potential wives indeed society at large judges women who do notmake shocdyersquo to be lazy The production of shocdyersquo therefore serves to positionwomen at the center of interhousehold relationships and hierarchies Training startsearly and mothers encourage their young girls to take the initiative to make theirown pot of shocdyersquo As girls enter their early teens they learn how to see theshocdyersquo production through from start to finishmdashfrom planting and harvesting themanioc crop to preparing the shocdyersquo themselves

Shocdyersquo is prepared by peeling the manioc and cutting it into small roughlytwo-inch pieces The manioc is then boiled over a hot flame until it is soft Originallythis was prepared in large ceramic jugs but more recently large aluminum potsare used to boil the manioc After it is cooled the manioc is mashed with a largestick until it is mixed together into a thick pulp Once it is slightly cooled the womenbegin to masticate the manioc by taking spoonfuls of the pulp and swishing itaround their mouths they spit the liquefied manioc back into the pot and takeanother spoonful repeating the process Shocdyersquo is usually produced by a singlewoman However women from other households occasionally help by watching theboiling foodstuffs or masticating the manioc About one-quarter of the pot ismasticated before the process is finished When the women have finishedmasticating the pot is covered with banana leaves and left in the kitchen to cool inthe shade Before the shocdyersquo is ready to be served it is mixed with water andfiltered through a pasi The pasi is a woven sieve made from palm leaves thatseparates the fibrous strings of the manioc from the creamy liquid If maize is tobe included in the shocdyersquo the boiled and ground maize is added at this pointOnce it is filtered and mixed the shocdyersquo is consumed immediately as a sweetdrink or left to ferment a few days until it is slightly alcoholic and slightlycarbonated

It is not only important for women to make shocdyersquo it is also important for itto be sweet Sweetness is what is most valued in a good shocdyersquo and womenrsquosshocdyersquo production skills are a common topic of conversation and are largelymeasured by the sweetness of the drink and the quality of the womanrsquos saliva Theability to make shocdyersquo is in itself a gift from the gods to women In Riesterrsquoscollection of Tsimaneacute myths the god Dojitch teaches women how to masticate the

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

61

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

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66

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Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

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ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

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manioc to make it sweet This knowledge is then used to hold shocdyersquo parties inhonor of Dojitch and thank the god of the animals Jaumljaumlba (Reister 1993 155) Inother myths females continue to be responsible for this powerful and supernaturalbeverage For example the moon god Dovorsquosersquos is female and is known by theother gods for producing storing and offering shocdyersquo in her house before theother gods descended to earth to create people animals birds fish and plants(Huanca 2006) Through myths like these the gendered responsibility of shocdyersquois intertwined with its heavenly position as a drink of the gods This creates animportant spiritual role for women who are believed to posses the divineknowledge to create a celestial product Moreover because the Tsimaneacute believethat shocdyersquo is required to communicate with the supernatural women shocdyersquoproducers are believed to hold the key to the continued spirituality of the TsimaneacuteRestrictions relating to producing and consuming shocdyersquo while menstruating andafter childbirth demonstrate the types of bewitching powers a woman is believedto possess in relation to shocdyersquo There is a fear that if a woman makes shocdyersquowhile in either state (menstruating or post childbirth) it will spoil and she will infectthe shocdyersquo with supernatural spirits that have the power to curse

Informally and on an individual level shocdyersquo is an important food sourceShocdyersquo provides useful calories from the dense carbohydrate value of itsingredients It also provides access to water which is drunk sparingly on its ownOther beers that serve as vehicles for maize and plantains provide similarnutritional values Tsimaneacute describe shocdyersquo as something that fills up theirstomachs gives them strength and helps them work in the fields As my inofromantOctavio put it most profoundly ldquoShocdyersquo is important because it gives you thestrength to work in your chaco [agricultural field] Shocdyersquo quenches your thirst andgives you the power to work after you eat You eat you drink shocdyersquo and youworkrdquo Both men and women working in the fields take shocdyersquo with them toprovide refreshment and energy while they work long days in the hot sun enjoyinga small break from work to drink shocdyersquo and chat Young children gain neededcalories from the unfermented beverage which they are fed before they begin to eatsolid foods Meanwhile older children continue to benefit from the pre-fermenteddrink and enjoy sticking their fingers and spoons in the cooling pots and servingthemselves the boiled solids

Although such practices are uncommon today shocdyersquo has historically playeda key role in Tsimaneacute shamanistic practices and religious rituals The cocojsi(shaman) shares the drink with the people involved in the ritual and the relevantsupernatural beings in a special house known as the shipa The shocdyersquo is used asan offering to the guardian spirits of fish and animals as well as the animalbreeders In these practices Tsimaneacute not only ask for good hunting and fishingoutcomes but also ask for the animals to reproduce and thank the gods forproviding (Huanca 2006) Shocdyersquo used for ceremonial and spiritual purposes is theresponsibility of the cocojsirsquos wives In the past the cocojsi and his wives wouldmaintain a field with a large quantity of sweet manioc for the sole purpose of makingshocdyersquo (Huanca 2006) The cocojsirsquos first wife prepares four types of shocdyersquo tobe served in the shipa for ritual events these are differentiated by the various

59

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

61

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beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

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Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

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Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

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Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

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practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

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Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

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ampFoodCultureSociety

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and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

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methods of filtering the manioc and how it is mixed with pineapple andor maize(Huanca 2006) In a shamanistic ritual she offers each participant an erepaj (adried-out fruit fashioned into a bowl) of shocdyersquo and they must drink the wholething Shocdyersquo offerings to the gods depend on the active participation of thecommunity in the ritual People who are invited to the ritual are obligated to attendOffering and drinking shocdyersquo demonstrates a commitment by the people thecocojsi and the supernatural beings to maintain a healthy environment (Huanca2006)

Shocdyersquo is continues to be important in intrahousehold and interhouseholdrelations and women play an important role in strengthening or undermining suchrelations Within the Tsimaneacute household a gendered division of labor and arelationship between labor and food define male and female roles Every person hasa particular role in the home but each job is intricately connected While huntingand fishing are primarily the responsibility of men women are responsible fordistributing game preparing and cooking food and serving the shocdyersquo When ahunter comes home with game it is expected that he will be met with shocdyersquoprepared by his wife In this way while a man provides one service it is notcompleted without the participation of a woman food production and shocdyersquoconsumption are intricately tied to each other

Between households it is a Tsimaneacute wifersquos responsibility to maintainconnections with others by distributing food and drink After a hunter returns homeand his wife has prepared shocdyersquo neighbors come to share the drink and tellhunting stories while the meat is distributed to immediate kin Wild meat andcooked meals are shared only with immediate kin but shocdyersquo is shared witheveryone visitors and family alike Shocdyersquo is shared after a hunt but it is alsoprepared and shared regularly without special occasion Shocdyersquo plays a centralrole in Tsimaneacute social life maintaining the ritual of sobaqui or visiting in whichpeople go to othersrsquo homes to have shocdyersquo Shocdyersquo is central to sobaqui asTsimaneacute are unlikely to visit for long periods of time without the drink Shocdyersquo isdrunk communally by passing around an erepaj filled with beer Visitors take a sipof the beer before passing the erepaj on to the person sitting next to them Thispractice of visiting is how Tsimaneacute know other people but also social worlds andenvironments (Ellis 1996) It is only through the practice of sobaqui and the sharingof shocdyersquo that that Tsimaneacute expand their social worlds and relations to createnetworks of safety by learning how to know others and by actually knowing others

Localizing Modernity with ShocdyersquoWhile shocdyersquo is considered the backbone of Tsimaneacute culture the ability tomaintain shocdyersquo production distribution and consumption has been affected bymodernization via major regional changes In the last half-century large-scalemigration and changes to land and forest tenure have tied the Tsimaneacute in indirectways to national political activities and global and regional capitalistic systemsIndirectly these changes have affected how and in what capacities the Tsimaneacutehave survived on their traditional lands and how often they have engaged withoutsiders and the market economy More specifically these changes have altered

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60

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 60

the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

61

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 61

beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

62

Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 63

Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

64

Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

volume 18

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march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 65

practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

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issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

the ways the Tsimaneacute work to produce their livelihood how they access food andhow they conceive of food Increased interaction with the market economy hasfacilitated more frequent exposure to the goods and services of market towns andhas augmented the desire for and reliance on purchased foodstuffs and othercommodities Rosinger et al (2013) argue that food stuffs are common marketpurchases and demonstrate that of 563 Tsimaneacute households surveyed in 2008 and2009 61 percent purchased market foods in the week prior to the survey Tsimaneacuteare increasingly looking for ways to generate cash most often by relying on cashcropping and supplemented wage labor such as logging

Regionally the sale of plantain and rice has risen steadily due to the large localmarket demand and high selling price Tsimaneacute are expanding their agriculturalfields so that they can plant sufficient plantain to sell every two or three weeks andenough rice to sell after harvest As my informant Eduardo explained ldquoIf you haveplantains you can always get money There are so many buyers you only have towait a short while to get a good pricerdquo With the increase in rice and plantainproduction there has been a significant reduction in the volume of other traditionalcrops (Vadez et al 2004) Now agricultural plots primarily cultivate rice andplantain with limited amounts of maize and manioc interspersed on the fringesMany young families do not cultivate manioc at all This is particularly profoundamong families that are heavily involved in logging initiatives and in communitiescloser to the marketrdquoplace (Vadez et al 2004) I asked another informant Javierand his son-in-law Gustavo why they no longer plant manioc Javier who is about80 years old said ldquoI donrsquot plant manioc anymore because I am old and sick Weleave it to the young peoplerdquo We both turned to Gustavo who is in his early fortiesand waited for him to justify his own limited manioc and the lack of maize in hisplot Gustavo threw up his hands as if to say ldquoWhy merdquo and said ldquoI donrsquot have timeto plant things like manioc and maize I am busy with other work like woodrdquo In2010 the majority of families in Maraca selling plantain and slightly less than halfselling rice did so in order to purchase other foods primarily dried beef pastasalt flour sugar and oil With changes to a livelihood so embedded in foodproduction transformations in the preparation and consumption of culturallysignificant practices and foods are inevitable

Although the ceremonial uses of shocdyersquo have faded along with the prominenceof the cocojsi shocdyersquo continues to be served socially after long workdays in thefield following a hunt and at the conclusion of meals Women of a single householdcontinue to make shocdyersquo an average of three times per month meaning thatalmost every day of the week shocdyersquo in some form is available somewhere in thecommunity However with a decrease in manioc production and an increase inplantain production the ingredients are changing Based on randomized directobservations and dietary recalls collected in Maraca households in 2010 and 2011I recorded ninety-seven instances of shocdyersquo being cooked or consumed Figure 1shows that plantain shocdyersquo was available significantly more often than manioc ormaize shocdyersquo Year-round plantains are clearly the most commonly usedingredient for shocdyersquo being used in 46 percent of all beer produced during thestudy period however manioc was still commonly used found in 34 percent of the

61

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 61

beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

62

Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 63

Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

64

Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 65

practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

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ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

beers produced Also significant was that beers with a mix of manioc and maizeor manioc and anything else which Daillant (2004) describes as a definingcharacteristic of Tsimaneacute beer were consumed the least often of all types

Plantain has replaced manioc as the key ingredient of shocdyersquo This beer isreferred to as canagdyersquopere which translates as ldquocooked plantainsrdquo As itbecomes more common it is assuming the social importance of manioc shocdyersquoand is now commonly referred to as shocdyersquo pere (plantain beer) Referring tocanagdyersquo as shocdyersquo elevates its social importance and places it in the samerole as beer Spiritually however it remains peripheralmdashthe technique for makingshocdyersquo pere is almost identical to manioc shocdyersquo except for one key factor itis not masticated It is significant that plantains are not masticatedmdashit was themasticating that was taught to women by the god Dojitch and it is the masticatingthat is thought to make the shocdyersquo sweet On its own the over-ripe boiled andmashed plantains produce a sweet beer but the individual success of the womanas a shocdyersquo producer cannot be evaluated without her saliva as a key ingredientin the beer However with men spending more time participating in logging andagriculture combined with a decline in local animal populations hunting hasbecome a less frequent activity While men continue to bring home meat it is mostcommonly dried beef purchased in town Dried beef has less social capital thanwild meat and in many ways parallels and complements the transition away frommasticated beer After purchasing domestic meat there are no hunting stories totell no gods to thank and nothing to be distributed Shocdyersquo pere made from asellable commodity is a much more appropriate response to the purchased driedbeef

Shocdyersquo continues to retain its social importance and it continues todemonstrate create and maintain social relationships between households despitechanging ingredients The acceptance of shocdyersquo pere as an equal to maniocshocdyersquo is slow but steady process While the overwhelming majority of maniocproduced is earmarked for shocdyersquo there is a profound sense of remorse over theloss of manioc as its primary ingredientmdashlike my informant Octavio oncecommented ldquoThere is no more shocdyersquo there is no more maniocrdquo Similarly

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

62

Fig 1 Availability of Shocdyersquo by Type (n = 97)

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 62

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 63

Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

64

Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 65

practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

another informant Marco would often say to me regretfully ldquoThere is no shocdyersquowe have no maniocrdquo before then inviting me to his home for sobaqui with shocdyersquopere underlining the derivative nature of the substitute beer

While manioc and maize ingredients vital to the spiritual use of shocdyersquoremain conceptually important and continue to be used in shocdyersquo only 5 percentof the shocdyersquo recorded in the dietary recalls and time allotment scans wasalcoholic The reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo can be attributed to three majorshifts First with the decline of shamanism there is no spiritual reason to produceit Reduced demand for rituals equates to a reduced need to produce the materialsfor them Second given the dwindling variety of food supplies people aredisinclined to wait until shocdyersquo is fermented before they drink itmdashhaving createda source of nutrition they want to consume it at the earliest opportunity Thirdpeople are starting to purchase liquor for getting inebriated The issue of newalcohols penetrates other forms of Tsimaneacute life particularly parties gatheringsand sharing practices While already partially eliminated through the decline ofshamanism men are replacing highly-fermented shocdyersquo with potable alcoholprimarily ceibo a distilled sugar-cane drink with a 96 percent alcohol content Theconsumption of this beverage has led to alcohol abuse in town and frequently incommunities closer to towns (Byron 2003) These changes in alcohol use arepartially related to changing opportunities for celebrations including birthdaysand other community-wide festivities such the day of the communityrsquosestablishment Such events while still infrequent are happening with increasingregularity At these events not only are prepared foods shared widely and beyondimmediate kinsman but also industrially produced beer ceibo and shocdyersquo arefound in abundance

As the Tsimaneacute become increasingly immersed in the market they have alsobegun to incorporate commodity items purchased in town in the production andconsumption of shocdyersquo Traditionally maize is used to sweeten shocdyersquo and isoften boiled crushed with a stone and then mixed with the boiled manioc Incontemporary shocdyersquo production it is no longer uncommon to use sugar as asweetener in the beer In addition to ingredients storage and production materialsare also changing Plastic bathing tubs and large aluminum pots have replaced theceramics historically used to store shocdyersquo Metal grinders have replaced the largestone platforms and rounded rocks previously used to pulverize dried maize Thisis particularly profound because these rocks are one of the only inherited items theTsimaneacute pass along the matrilineal line from mother to daughter As plastic andmetal goods are durable for a shorter time period it is yet to be seen how thismatrilineal inheritance pattern will be maintained While less common butbecoming more frequent is the use of metal grates instead of the traditional wovenpasi Although these new store-bought commodities last longer and make shocdyersquoproduction more efficient the cultural knowledge associated with the production ofthese items is eroding However the ability to avoid reproducing them frees up asignificant amount of both womenrsquos and menrsquos time which can be used to do otheractivities namely cash-producing work

63

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 63

Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

64

Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 65

practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

Shocdyersquo PreferenceIn 2011 twenty-three informants were asked to rank the types of shocdyersquo theypreferred to drink Informants were deliberately chosen to cover a spectrum ofages between adult men and women over the age of sixteen The Shocdyersquo optionsthat were ranked were chosen with the aid of key informants who were asked to listall the shocdyersquo types they knew Shocdyersquo options included manioc plantain maizemanioc and maize mixed alcoholic manioc and alcoholic manioc and maize mixedAlthough the two alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks are made from the same ingredientsand are referred to by the same name as their non-alcoholic versions their alcoholcontent can require people to treat them differently in practice The rankings wereweighted on a six-point scale

Figure 2 demonstrates that manioc remains the most popular type of shocdyersquofollowed closely by maize The importance of manioc as a crop is embedded in howTsimaneacute think about shocdyersquo religiously mythological and socially and it is a keyaspect in how they desire it Maize is also an important component in shocdyersquoproduction as it is often used in conjunction with manioc to create a beer used forboth shamanistic rituals and informal consumption In this case we see that peoplecovet the foods that they once could access freely and that they continue to be keymaterials in their culinary traditions On the other hand plantain is a less popularingredient in shocdyersquo but only marginally Plantain is becoming increasinglyembedded in how Tsimaneacute think about and accept shocdyersquo to be Preference forplantain shocdyersquo might on the one hand be attributed to the flavor but it mightalso be because of availability or changing expectations of what shocdyersquo should be

Interestingly there are also emerging conceptions of what shocdyersquo is not Forexample numerous informants refused to rank the alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks at allexplaining that they no longer exist This distinction between home brewing andshamanistic brewing speaks to the reduction in alcoholic shocdyersquo drinks Becausealcoholic shocdyersquo drinks were always used in shamanistic practices the end ofshamanism has seen their production fall However because alcoholic beers are

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

64

Fig 2 Shocdyersquo Preference by Type

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 64

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 65

practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

sometimes present in the home due to social rituals and rituals to thank the huntingand fishing gods their presence has not been fully eradicated just significantlyreduced

ConclusionShifting shocdyersquo practices reflect how Tsimaneacute livelihood strategies are changingAn altered landscape stemming from continued deforestation by ranchers loggersand settlers followed by their own entrance into permanent settlements hasresulted in shifts in Tsimaneacute agricultural production consumption and labor For theTsimaneacute modernity involves dynamic and subtle decision-making in whichculturally significant practices are negotiated within the context of local regionaland national ideas and practices Although in many senses they are forced to lookto cash as a way of contributing to their livelihoods the terms of marketparticipation and the associated cultural changes involve resistance and debate byallowing culturally significant materials like shocdyersquo to be reevaluated thoughnot abandoned As Miller has explained in his concept of ldquoobjectificationrdquo peoplecreate objects or in this case materials which in turn create people through culture(Miller 1987) Yet culture is dynamic and is formulated by our changing and evolvingrelationships with materials and objects In this sense the Tsimaneacute createdshocdyersquo but processes of modernization including the expansion of capitalisticactivities and changes to a variety of livelihood activities have altered daily lifeincluding the practices of shocdyersquo Nevertheless shocdyersquo as a material continuesto play an important role in how Tsimaneacute engage and embody these changes It isthrough this understanding of shocdyersquo that the localization of modernity amongthe Tsimaneacute becomes apparent The modern Tsimaneacute practices emerge from pre-existing cultural practices ideas values and materials but also from larger flowsof economic political and environmental forces Within these contemporarycircumstances continuous processes of change reformulate materials andpractices to serve new purposes

Shifts in shocdyersquo production and consumption from manioc to plantain fromalcoholic to sweet and from ceramic to plastic demonstrate the role of capitalismin the cultural production of shocdyersquo But unlike in Counihanrsquos (1984) discussion ofbread in Sardinia modernization does not hinder shocdyersquorsquos ability to maintainsocial relationships within the household and between households Indeed shocdyersquocontinues to be a defining activity for Tsimaneacute women because it aids in the creationand maintenance of community and household relations despite changingdemographics in the community with men spending increased amounts of timeaway from their homes engaged in market activities Additionally while no longerused for formal shamanistic rituals shocdyersquo production continues to enable womento maintain some of the spiritual relationship that traditionally has connected theTsimaneacute to their environment Together these practices put women in a powerfulposition of strengthening social relationships between households and withinhouseholds as well as with non-human entities despite clear shifts in materialshistorically central to these relationships The continued production of shocdyersquoexemplifies how the Tsimaneacute are not abandoning their symbolic materials or

65

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 65

practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

practices Rather in the wake of modernization the Tsimaneacute are physically andsocially modifying their traditions to fit contemporary realities Thus despite largerregional systematic changes the Tsimaneacute localize modernity by practicing ashocdyersquo tradition that builds directly on ontological values but is manifestedthrough newly incorporated ingredients and materials that are more representativeof their current position in the region

Similarly as my informant Eduardo exemplified in his words at the beginningof this paper the continued consumption of shocdyersquo even in its altered formscontinues to mark Tsimaneacute as separate from othersmdashespecially in a widerenvironment where capitalist relations have exposed the Tsimaneacute to outsidersbut have also brought the outside world into community life Through a materiallike shocdyersquo Tsimaneacute are able to appropriate changing livelihood activities andcommodities and contrive them in such a way that they continue to define whatit means to be Tsimaneacute Continuities in shocdyersquo production and consumptionreflect larger patterns in contemporary Tsimaneacute life a continued relationshipwith the forest dependence on a gendered division of labor and the maintenanceof strong social webs Simultaneously changes to shocdyersquo also point to broaderchanges in Tsimaneacute life increased value on market commodities cash croppingand other forms of economic self-determinism The clear interconnectivitybetween new and old processes and values reflects the transition fromsubsistence practices to greater integration into the market In the example ofshocdyersquo many of these processes revolve around a decline in manioc productionand its connection to new agricultural ventures and labor initiatives outside of thecommunity But the decline in manioc production also became appropriate aswild sources of meat became scarce and the relationship between manioc thedeities and meat became less significant However manioc has been replacedwith plantain and new connections between women and men gods andsubsistence are being formed Plantain now teeters on the line betweencommodity non-commodity and spiritual material as it flows between marketrelationships household consumption and shocdyersquo production While thecontinued production distribution and consumption of shocdyersquo epitomizes theTsimaneacute cultural flexibilitymdasha characteristic which has allowed the people tosurvive despite the constant encroachment of outsiders in their lands since theseventeenth centurymdashmodern shocdyersquo practices embody the realities that theTsimaneacute are encountering as they are increasingly included in the growth of theBolivian nation

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the members of my writing group in the Department ofAnthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the two anonymousreviewers for their helpful comments I would also like to thank ASFS for awardingthe Alex McIntosh award to an earlier version of this paper Finally I thank Tsimaneacuteparticipants and the Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute Grand Council for participation andassistance with research

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

66

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 66

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

Ariela Zycherman is the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Studies at the Institute for theHumanities University of Illinois Chicago She holds a PhD from Columbia University inApplied Anthropology and her research interests focus on food systems in shiftingenvironmental and economic contexts The Institute for the Humanities University ofIllinois Chicago 701 South Morgan St Chicago IL 60607 USA (azychermangmailcom)

Notes

1 Arce and Long define modernization in relation to institutionalized development programsand policies explaining that they are ldquoa comprehensive package of technical andinstitutional measures aimed at widespread societal transformations and underpinned byneo-evolutionary theoretical narrativesrdquo (Arce and Long 2000 2)

2 Some exceptions include Egan et al (2006) Perrault (2005) and Soleri et al (2008)

References

Aguilera Guzman R 2005 La Ganaderia Beniana en CIFRA In Norte Vol 1 No 1 TrinidadBolivia Federacioacuten de Ganaderos del Beni y Pando

Apaza Vargas L 2002 Estudio comparativo de la caza y uso de mamiacuteferos en doscomunidades Tsimaneacute Unpublished BS thesis Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Andreacutes

Appadurai A 1988 Introduction In A Appadurai (ed) The Social Life of Things Commoditiesin Cultural Perspective Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 3ndash63

Arce A and Long N 2000 Reconfiguring Modernity and Development from anAnthropological Perspective In A Arce and N Long (eds) Anthropology Development andModernities London Routledge pp 1ndash30

Balee W 1994 Footprints of the Forest Karsquoapor Ethnobotanymdashthe Historical Ecology of PlantUtilization by an Amazonian People New York Columbia University Press

Barndt D 2008 Tangled Routes Women Work and Globalization on the Tomato TrailLanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers

Bauman Z 1990 Modernity and Ambivalence Theory Culture Society 7(2) 143ndash69Byron E 2003 Market Integration and Health the Impact of Market and Acculturation on

the Self-Perceived Morbidity Diet and Nutritional Status of the Tsimaneacute Amerindians ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation University of Florida

Comaroff J and Comaroff J (eds) 1993 Modernity and its Malcontents Ritual and Powerin Postcolonial Africa Chicago IL University of Chicago Press

Counihan C1984 Bread as World Food Habits and Social Relations in Modernizing SardiniaAnthropological Quarterly 57(2) 47ndash59

Daillant I 2004 La biegravere complegravete des Chimane manioc maiumls et bananes In P Erikson (ed)La Pirogue Ivre Biegraveres traditionnelles en Amazonie Saint-Nicholas-de-Port Museacuteefranccedilais de la brasserie pp 71ndash80

Descola P 1994 In the Society of Nature Cambridge Cambridge University PressEastwood DA and Pollard HJ 1985 The Development of Colonization in Lowland Bolivia

Objectives and Evaluation Boletiacuten de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 38 61ndash82Egan JA Burton ML and Nero KL 2006 Building Lives with Food Production Circulation

67

volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 67

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

and Consumption In R Wilk (ed) Fast Food Slow Food The Cultural Economy of the GlobalFood System Lanham MD Altamira Press pp 31ndash48

Ellis R 1996 A Taste for Movement An Exploration of the Social Ethics of the Tsimaneacute ofLowland Bolivia Unpublished PhD dissertation St Andrews University

Escobar A 2008 Territories of Difference Place Movements Life Redes Durham NC DukeUniversity Press

Fine Ben 2002 The World of Consumption The Material and Cultural Revisited LondonRoutledge

Gewertz D and Errington F 2010 Cheap Meat Flap Food Nations in the Pacific IslandsBerkeley CA University of California Press

Giddens A 1990 The Consequences of Modernity Stanford CA Stanford University PressGodoy R Reyes-Garcia V Huanca T Leonard W McDade T Tanner S and Seyfried C

2007 On the Measure of Income and the Economic Unimportance of Social CapitalEvidence from a Native Amazonian Society of Farmers and Foragers Journal ofAnthropological Research 63 239ndash60

Goldman I 1963 The Cubeo Indians of the Northwest Amazon Urbana IL The University ofIllinois Press

Goulard J 2009 Entre Mortals e Inmortales el Ser Segun los Ticuna de la Amazonia Limacentro amazonico de antropologia y apicacion practica

Gran Consejo Tsimaneacute 2010 Chidyersquo Yicdyersquo Jirsquochayitidyes Tsimaneacute Tsun Saberes yAprendizajes del Pueblo Tsimaneacute La Paz UNICEF Proyecto EIBAMAZ

Harvey D 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity Malden MA Blackwell PublishersHeckler SL 2004 Tedium and Creativity The Valorization of Manioc Cultivation and Piaroa

Women Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10(2) 241ndash59Houben VJH and Schremf M 2008 Figurations of Modernity Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspective Frankfurt Campus VerlagHuanca T 2006 Tsimaneacute Oral Tradition Landscape and Identity in Tropical Forest La Paz

South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS)Hugh-Jones C 1979 From the Milk River Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest

Amazonia Cambridge Cambridge University PressJohnson A 2003 Families of the Forest the Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon

Berkeley CA University of California PressJones J 1980 Conflict between Whites and Indians in the Llanos de Moxos Beni Department

A Case Study in Development from the Cattle Regions of the Bolivian Oriente UnpublishedPhD dissertation University of Florida

Killeen TJ V Calderon L Soria B Quezada MK Steininger G Harper LA Soloacuterzano andCJ Tucker 2007 Thirty Years of Land- Cover Change in Bolivia Ambio 36(7) 600ndash6

Knauft B 2002 Critically Modern An Introduction In B Knauft (ed) Critically ModernAlternatives Alterities Anthropologies Bloomington IN Indiana University Press pp 1ndash56

Miller D 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption Oxford Basil BlackwellPacheco P de Jong W and Johnson J 2010 The Evolution of the Timber Sector in Lowland

Bolivia Examining the Influence of Three Separate Policy Approaches Forest Policy andEconomics 12(4) 271ndash6

Perreault T 2005 Why Chacras (Swidden Gardens) Persist Agrobiodiversity Food Securityand Cultural Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Human Organization 64(4) 327ndash39

Phillips L 1998 The Third Wave of Modernization in Latin America Cultural Perspectives on

ArielaZycherman

lozLocaliz

ingModernitythroughBeerin

theBoliv

ianAmazon

68

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 68

Neoliberalism Wilmington DE Scholarly Resources IncReister J 1993 Universo Mitico de Los Chimane Santa Cruz APCOBReyes-Garcia V 2001 Indigenous People Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Market Economy

A Case Study of the Tsimaneacutersquo Amerindians in lowland Bolivia Unpublished PhDdissertation University of Florida

Rosinger A Tanner S Leonard W and the TAPS Bolivia Research Team 2013 Precursorsto Overnutrition The effects of Household Market Food Expenditures on Measures of BodyComposition among Tsimanersquo Adults in Lowland Bolivia Social Science amp Medicine 9253ndash60

Sarkiyayi S and Agar TM 2010 Comparative Analysis on the Nutritional and Anti-Nutritional Contents of the Sweet and Bitter Cassava Varieties Advanced Journal of FoodScience and Technology 2(6) 328ndash34

Soleri D Cleveland DA and Aragon Cuevas F 2008 Food Globalization and Local DiversityThe Case of Tejate Current Anthropology 49(2) 281ndash90

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2014 Cassava Raw Nutrient Data LibraryBasic Report 11134 Available from httpndbnalusdagovndbfoodsshow2943(accessed September 4 2014)

Uzendoski MA 2004 Manioc Beer and Meat Value Reproduction and Cosmic Substanceamong the Napo Runa of the Ecuadorian Amazon Journal of the Royal AnthropologicalInstitute 10(4) 883ndash902

Vadez V and Reyes-Garcia V 2005 Almost Ten Years since Decentralization Laws in BoliviaStatus Quo or Improvement for the Indigenous People Evidences from the TsimaneacuteAmazonian Panel Study Working Paper 16 Available from httphellerbrandeisedusidtsimaneworkingpapershtml (accessed September 4 2014)

Vadez V Reyes-Garciacutea V Godoy R Apaza L Byron E Huanca T Leonard W Peacuterez Eand Wilkie D 2004 Does Integration to the Market Threaten Agricultural Diversity Paneland Cross-Sectional Data from a Horticultural-Foraging Society in the Bolivian AmazonHuman Ecology 32(5) 635ndash46

Weiner A 1992 Inalienable Possessions The Paradox of Keeping-While Giving Berkeley CAUniversity of California Press

West P 2012 From Modern Production to Imagined Primitive The Social World of Coffee fromPapua New Guinea Durham NC Duke University Press

Wolf E 2001 Pathways of Power Building an Anthropology of the Modern World Berkeley CAUniversity of California Press

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volume 18

issue 1

march 2015

ampFoodCultureSociety

03 Zycherman FCS 181Layout 1 71114 1209 Page 69