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Ernst Halbmayer*
Amerindian mereology: Animism, analogy, and the multiverse
Resumen: En este trabajo se desarrolla la hipótesis que diferentes ontologías van de la mano de diferentes relaciones mereológicas entre partes y totalidades así como entre la multiplicidad y la singularidad. Se indaga estas relaciones entre los amerindios caribe-hablantes, identificándose una ontología que va más allá de la inversión anímica de la división naturaleza/cultura y una diferencia irreducible de perspectivas. Muestra la importancia de las analogías entre las órdenes micro y macro-cosmológicas que, sin embargo, no forman totalidades integrales o un universo integrado. Mucho más se identifica una lógica de abarcamiento parcial, que con frecuencia va de la mano de múltiples seres y un multiverso de mundos coexistentes entre los amerindios caribe-hablantes.
Palabras clave: Amerindios caribe-hablantes, mereología, multiverso, inclusión parcial, animismo, analogismo.
Abstract: This paper develops the assumption that different ontologies go hand in hand with different mereological relations between parts and wholes and between multiplicity and singularity. It explores these relations among Carib-speaking Amerindians. In the process, an ontology that goes beyond the animic inversion of the nature/culture divide and an irreducible difference of perspectives is identified. It shows the importance of analogies between micro- and macro-cosmological orders, which, however, do not form encompassing totalities or an integrated universe. Further, a logic of partial encompassment is identified, commonly going hand in hand with multiple beings and a multiverse of co-existent worlds among Carib-speaking Amerindians.
Keywords: Carib-speaking Amerindians, mereology, multiverse, partial encompassment, animism, analogism.
*Ernst Halbmayer is professor for cultural and social anthropology at the Department for Comparative Cultural Research at the University of Marburg. He received his Ph.D and his habilitation at Vienna University. His ethnographic work is focusing on the Yukpa in Venezuela and Colombia, the Caribspeaking Amerindians and most recently on the ethnography of the “intermediate zone” between the Andes, Amazonia and Mesoamerica.