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The Amazonian Social Relation to Nature

An Open Access Environmental Humanities Project

The “social relation to nature” refers to an Amazonian way of engaging the nonhuman world as though it had the full range of human emotions.  Plants, animals, or even earth are believed to feel lonely and to desire company across species lines; but also to be shy, desire privacy, to sometimes be resentful or to withdraw from human company.   Empathy for human needs sometimes causes them to be generous, offering themselves for food or medicine.  On the other hand, they can be ambivalent, resentful,  take revenge for the death of their relatives.  The presernt project links short videos of testimonies, stories, and songs that engage various the forest world to the kichwa and scientific species names of the  various plants and animals present in the narratives.   It also links species and nature to the stages of the human life cycle through which nature is experienced socially..    Kichwa traditions on particular plants or animals can be searched by species.

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Explore the 'Social Relation to Nature" Through a selected species

Click the following icons to search plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, invertebrates groups. 

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Explore the 'Social Relation to Nature" Through the human life-cycle

Cycles of a Body Shared with Nature

     Childhood

     Adolescence     

     Women

     Men

     Aging, Death, and Ancestors 

The Chakra And Agoutis

Ahuani Nihua

Burning dry sticks for a chakra

Eulodia Cadena

Harvesting Palm Heart

Eulodia Cadena

Chikin Pischku In The Chakra

Eulodia Cadena

Chuchu Ala: The Breast Milk Mushroom

Eulodia Cadena

The smell of a human woman makes a water spirit woman jealous

Eulodia Dagua

It Is the Trees That Cause Rain

Eulodia Dagua

Tayag Woman Sends Off Her Children

Eulodia Dagua

A face painted with water animals to resist sickness

Eulodia Dagua

The Path to Chiriboga

Eulodia Dagua

The Loving Dead and Harmful Ghosts

Eulodia Dagua

The Story of Iluku and the Moon

Eulodia Dagua

Pashpanzhu

Eulodia Dagua

Empathy for the Solitude of the Kukuli Bird

Eulodia Dagua

On harvesting Collybia aurea

Eulodia Dagua

Weather and the Emotions of Birds, Fish, and Humans

Eulodia Dagua

Kichwa Woman Sings to Bird Russet-backed Oropendola

Eulodia Dagua

Wild Birds I Have Raised

Eulodia Dagua

Jiluku Kingu and the Moon Part 2

Eulodia Dagua

On the Origin of the Flute

Eulodia Dagua

Why I Wake Up the Tree to Harvest Its Medicine

Eulodia Dagua

Calling The Wind

Eulodia Dagua

Wamak Kuru

Eulodia Dagua

Napo Yaku Tandishku

Eulodia Dagua

Allpa kumishin

Eulodia Dagua

To escape fiery rain people become chamburu grubs

Eulodia Dagua

It is the trees that call the rain

Eulodia Dagua

Jiluku, Kingu, and the Moon, Part 4.

Eulodia Dagua

The Sound of the Cicada

Eulodia Dagua

Talking About Wanduk Kuru

Eulodia Dagua

Talking About Of Chikin Pishku Story

Eulodia Dagua

Chuchu Ala The Breast Milk Mushroom

Eulodia Dagua

I Paint My Face Like a Harpy Eagle

Eulodia Dagua

Lumucha misha A medicine to make dogs make dogs hunt pacas

Eulodia Dagua

The Solitude of the Chuchukian Bird

Eulodia Dagua

Our Babies Cry Like the Animals We Eat

Eulodia Dagua

Avoid Angry People Like Chonta Thorns

Eulodia Dagua

On preparing a maitu of wild mushrooms

Eulodia Dagua

Ushpa Oritu The Sound of a Parakeet without its Flock

Eulodia Dagua

Ideophone tuuu

Eulodia Dagua

Kamungui Warmi

Eulodia Dagua

A Bird that Cries When People Die the Chestnut Eared Aracari

Eulodia Dagua

A wild cacao tree kills a man

Eulodia Dagua

Susu Wituk Woman On the waning appeal of an aging body

Eulodia Dagua

Sleep Little Baby A Hawk is coming A Kichwa Lullaby

Eulodia Dagua

No name

Eulodia Dagua

Toucans Quichua

Eulodia Dagua

Wild Cacao Tree Kills a Greedy Man

Eulodia Dagua

When people get angry Cicada Woman just keeps on weaving her pottery coils

Eulodia Dagua

A memory painted on a Runa woman's face

Eulodia Dagua

How the birds get their voices

Eulodia Dagua

Chikin Pishku Song

Eulodia Dagua

Wawan kuru

Eulodia Dagua

Jiluku, Kingu, and the Moon, Part 3

Eulodia Dagua

How I feel when I see my interviews on the internet

Eulodia Dagua

The Moon's Sister Becomes the Kingu Constellation

Eulodia Dagua

I am a parrot who drinks from the bromeliads

Eulodia Dagua

The Nalpi River Bowl

Eulodia Dagua

A girl receives the ceramic skill of the cicadas

Eulodia Dagua

A cure for jealousy anger and bad drunks

Eulodia Dagua

Black-fronted Nunbird

Eulodia Dagua

On Speaking Nicely to a Medicine Tree Kichwa Harvest of Cespedesia Spathulata

Eulodia Dagua

The Sound of the Banded Owl

Eulodia Dagua

Killu Mandi Sisa Yura

Eulodia Dagua

You Married a Red Pepper Woman

Eulodia Dagua

Do babies love their mothers

Eulodia Dagua

Value of Kichwa Program

Eulodia Dagua

The Garden of Another Will Drink Your Blood

Eulodia Dagua

The Mother of Clay

Eulodia Dagua

Newborn Child Dies Like the Snake His Father Killed

Eulodia Dagua

Dance Like a Deer

Eulodia Dagua

The Solitude of the Chuchukian Bird

Eulodia Dagua

Best woods for firing ceramics

Eulodia Dagua

A Generous Host Becomes the Chuku Tree

Eulodia Dagua

Music Sadness and Memory

Eulodia Dagua

Turning of the Earth

Eulodia Dagua

Napu Yaku Akangaw

Eulodia Dagua

Achuar Kuru Warmi

Eulodia Dagua

How My Grandfather Became a Jaguar

Eulodia Dagua

Toucan Song for a Girl No One Wants

Eulodia Dagua

On eating deer

Eulodia Dagua

The Mother of Clay Survives the Flood

Eulodia Dagua

Shiona panga shina

Eulodia Dagua

Tayras Feed on Chamburu Fruit

Eulodia Dagua

Widowed Toucans Sing Love Songs

Eulodia Dagua

Jiluku, Kingu, and the Moon, Part 5.

Eulodia Dagua

On the Varieties of Manioc

Eulodia Dagua

Wind Fire and Chakra

Eulodia Dagua

I will disappear in thorny palms: A song for leaving

Eulodia Dagua

Mice teach women how to give birth

Eulodia Dagua

To give birth like a shirkillu tree

Eulodia Dagua

Calling The Wind (Rundu Wayra)

Eulodia Dagua

Origin of the Cunawaro

Eulodia Dagua

A Yachak's Dolphin Wife

Eulodia Dagua

A man's human peccary body

Eulodia Dagua

Talking About Fire And Chakra

Eulodia Dagua

Red Mushroom Woman Give a Rash

Eulodia Dagua

Talking About Of Rundu Wayra (Strong Wind)

Eulodia Dagua

A Ceramic Representation of the Kuaentza River

Eulodia Dagua

The turning of the earth

Eulodia Dagua

Sweeping Away the Breath of Trees

Eulodia Dagua

Some Beginning Time People Become Chamburu Grubs

Eulodia Dagua

Our children now value our culture

Eulodia Dagua

Jiluku Kingu and the Moon Part 1

Eulodia Dagua

Spirit Masters of the Game Slam the Door and Animals Disappear

Eulodia Dagua

Puca Cambiaj Muyu J 2010

Eulodia Dagua

Chuku Kuru

Eulodia Dagua

Wituk and manduru gestures

Luisa Cadena

Wituk and Manduru

Luis Vargas

Why strangler figs don't attack kapok trees

Pedro Andi

Why Young People Should Not Kill Geckos

Bélgica Dagua

Why Deer Don't Have Masters

Bélgica Dagua

What happens when the forest gets angry

Pedro Andi

We are to talk to him nicely Amazonian Quichua women harvest bark from a medicinal tree

Eulodia Dagua

We Killed Your Parents

Wayusa Woman, Her Husband Capuchin Monkey And Sister Little Tinamou

Bélgica Dagua

Wawa Tukuk Tsuan The Woodpecker That Predicts The Birth Of A Crying Baby

Bélgica Dagua

Waraga Sisa Warmi Song

Clara Santi

Valued Like An Acacia Flower

Bélgica Dagua

Ukumbi (rainbow boa) a song to make manioc grow thick

Delicia Dagua

Ucayali Sani Garza Warmi

Bélgica Dagua

Tupuli Kuru

Bélgica Dagua

Tucan Egg Vine

David Dagua

Tubimanda Cantana

Bélgica Dagua

Tsumi Warmi Narrative and Song

Delicia Dagua

Trees wake up at night

David Dagua

Tilumbu amu Master of the fireflies 1

Pedro Andi

Tilumbu amu Master of the fireflies

Pedro Andi

Thoughts on the Life of an Unknown Sloth

Luisa Cadena

They Drink This Plant to Become Jaguars

Clara Santi

Their flowers are their clothes on the dress of plant men

Luisa Cadena

The story of a man who was a bat

Luisa Cadena

The sound of a dove evokes memories

Luisa Cadena

The origin of the mianka

Bélgica Dagua

The one we placed inside the chest of a tapir emerged two days later as a parrot

The leaf that was the jaguar's soap

Delicia Dagua

The deer's favorite plant

Ahuani Nihua

The death of Nampa

The agoutis dance when the flute birds sing

Pedro Andi

The Use of Cruz Kaspi to Terminate Fertility

Luisa Cadena

The Two Chonta Seasons

Pedro Andi

The Tsuntsu Anga Owl

Pedro Andi

The Strangler Fig Loved a Girl

Bélgica Dagua

The Story of Santu Urku

Pedro Andi

The Smallpox Chief

Luisa Cadena

The Sloth is Still in Her Garden

Luisa Cadena

The Perfume of the Wanduk Flower

Pedro Andi

The Paspanzhu's Cry Reminds Them of Their Love

Bélgica Dagua

The Pashin Fish as Humorous Simily for a Sleepy Person

Luisa Cadena

The Origin of Thunder

Luisa Cadena

The Moon and his Sisters

Luisa Cadena

The Missionaries Show Dayuma's Picture to Her Family

The Hummingbird Sound of the Anger

Luisa Cadena

The Garden of Hummingbird Man

Delicia Dagua

The Frog Sister Of Snakes

Bélgica Dagua

The Eel Influences Personality

Remigio Andi

Teeth Can Fall Out In The First Menstruation

Ahuani Nihua

Tasa Kuru Story

Bélgica Dagua

Tamia Yura Song For Rejecting A Lover

Delicia Dagua

Talking about of Mianka Chini Kuru

Bélgica Dagua

Talking About Maitu Kuru

Bélgica Dagua

Talking About Lamar Kuru

Talking About Dzaydzi Panga

Bélgica Dagua

Talking About Caterpillars

Swallows Call the Rain

Pedro Andi

Suk

Luisa Cadena

Story of Sun-Hides-in Branches' encounters with various women

Star Women And The Origin Of Fireflies

Bélgica Dagua

Squirrel Cuckoo Woman

Delicia Dagua

Squirrel Cuckoo A Bird That Lies and Sometimes Tells the Truth

Pedro Andi

Spirit Owners of the Kapok Tree

Pedro Andi

Sound of an Armadillo Snoring

Luisa Cadena

Sound of Armadillo Breathing

Luisa Cadena

Song remembering her relatives.

Song of the Taromenane

Song of Atun Sikuanga and Gau Sikuanga

Clara Santi

Smallpox chief follows paths

Luisa Cadena

Sloth marries a girl

Sleeping leaf cure for insomnia and heartbreak

Bélgica Dagua

Singing with the Toucan's Orphans

Delicia Dagua

Simayuka Love Medicine

Clara Santi

Shiringa kuru

Bélgica Dagua

Shibu muyu

Eulodia Dagua

Seeing iluku in daylight portends death

Bélgica Dagua

Satalana

Bélgica Dagua

Salt Licks

Pedro Andi

Sacha Runa unguchin

Luisa Cadena

Reflections on the Life of an Unknown Sloth

Luisa Cadena

Punpun Anga Kuru Story

Bélgica Dagua

Piper Plant And Caterpillars Interactions

Piper Flower

Ahuani Nihua

People Who Eat Eels Have Issues In Hunting

Remigio Andi

Peke

Paw ideophone for hit with simayuka

Luisa Cadena

Paushi Warmi Song

Clara Santi

Pasu Spirit Woman Gardening Song

Bélgica Dagua

Pastaza Women Play with Simayuka

Papanku flower reveals the gender of a baby in the womb

Bélgica Dagua

Papanku Sisa Warmiguna

Bélgica Dagua

Paju Kaspi

Luisa Cadena

All Videos

All Videos

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480.276.5913

ANDES AND AMAZON FIELD SCHOOL

Sponsored by Title VI National Resource Centers at University of Wisconsin Madison, the University of Florida, Florida International University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Brigham Young University.

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