The paper reexamines distinct approaches to the constitution of sociality in indigenous Amazonian contexts that differ with respect to the heuristic value attributed to "trust" and "intimacy", in the light of Huni Kuin (Cashinahua) ethnography of the body, personhood, trust and thought. For Huni Kuin people thinking and trusting are embodied processes that are constitutive of sociality among living persons. Grounded in a critical appreciation of the uses of the analytical frameworks emerging from discussions of "Amazonian perspectivism" and "fractality" for revealing the indigenous ontologies at work, the paper argues that it is necessary to go beyond an ontological emphasis and also take into consideration its interface with indigenous epistemology and phenomenology. It argues that Huni Kuin perspectivist understanding of the engagement of virtual sociality and lived sociality in a multinatural universe depends upon this interface.
Personhood; Ontology; Indigenous phenomenology; Trust; Intimacy; Sociality; Amazonian peoples; Cashinahua
