The friend, the enemy, and the anthropologist: hostility and hospitality among the Parakanã (Amazonia, Brazil)

Abstract

Here I investigate a special relationship existing among the Tupi‐speaking Parakanã of Amazonia, usually translated as ‘friendship’, and implying expectations of hospitality. Its field of application spans from the closest other (the cross‐cousin) to the most distant (the enemy). I show that this kind of relationship is internally structured around an unstable prey‐predator polarity, meaning that the most intimate other is also the prey closest to hand. This ambivalence in the friendship relation counteracts the possibility of a space of sovereignty at the levels of the person and of collectivities, but it does not imply a ‘hospitality of visitation’ as envisaged by Derrida. Résumé L'auteur étudie ici une relation particulière entre les Parakanã, un peuple amazonien locuteur du tupi, que l'on traduit habituellement par « amitié » et qui implique des attentes d'hospitalité. Le domaine d'application de cette notion va de l'autre le plus proche (le cousin croisé) au plus éloigné (l'ennemi). L'article montre que ce type de relation est intrinsèquement structuré autour d'une polarité proie‐prédateur instable, dans laquelle l'autre le plus intime est aussi la proie la plus à portée de main. Cette ambivalence de la relation d'amitié s'oppose à la possibilité d'un espace de souveraineté au niveau de la personne et des collectivités, mais elle n'implique pas une « hospitalité de visitation » telle que l'envisageait Derrida.

Brothers, friends, and enemies: averting intimacy on Facebook in western India

“…I am like his girlfriend!’ Revealing that enmity and friendship are two sides of the same coin, that intimacy is central to both, Rohit responded: ‘I am his dushman [enemy]’. Resonant of how Parakanã friendship in the Amazonia demands constant bodily proximity between men, from sleeping to urinating together, enabling not only protection but also the ability to kill each other at close range (Fausto 2012: 203), the figure of the intimate friend emerges here as simultaneously friend and enemy, the person capable of causing the most harm. The threat of the enemy is especially potent on Facebook, for to befriend someone whose intentions are unknown and whose nature cannot be properly judged involves opening oneself up to deception.…”

Jubilee, Discipleship and Social Rest

“…In Hospitality Studies much attention has been given to the importance of attentiveness (Fausto, 2012; Selwyn, 2001). Good hospitality requires clear discernment of the needs, and even the desires, of those to whom it is being provided (Derrida and Dufourmantelle, 2000; Swancutt, 2012).…”

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“…Responses to Viveiros de Castro's characterization, from the perspective of moral economy, can be found in McCallum () and Overing and Passes (2000 a ). Some more recent discussions have sought to push the debate forward by exploring friendship as a kind of ‘middle ground’ between consanguinity and affinity, or between conviviality and predation (see Fausto ; Killick ; Santos‐Granero )…”