Abstratc
This article concerns “panema”, a notion that characterizes failure in hunting. Among the Zo'é, an Indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon, “panema” is part of a logic of sensible qualities, since the body of a “panema” man is described as fetid, justifying his exclusion from the hunt. The first part of the article shows how the olfactory aspects of hunting connect it to different areas, such as culinary activity, the couvade and the seclusion of the killer. The importance of moderation for success in the kill is stressed. In the second part of the article, I analyze the proposition that failure in the hunt leads “panema” men to be compared to women. When it comes to not killing game, it is argued that the “panema” body is exclusive to men to the detriment of women. In turn, I propose that a focus on gender alongside an attention to different examples of “panema” men allows us to relativize a potential negativity of their existence, and to argue that their life is not reduced to their condition. I thus intend to contribute to an understanding of the notion of ‘relation’ in ethnology, and, more specifically, of “panema” as a concept with a wide circulation in the Amazon and beyond.
Keywords:
logic of sensible qualities; gender; relationship; panema; Zo'é