The Sounds of Spirits – Analysis

            My topic is based upon the Canelos Quichua people and their ceramic performers. I found these figures in the Spurlock Museum, and they have a great amount of significance when it comes to the Sarayacu Kinship Festival. The figures are only about 4-5 inches tall, and they are painted so that they can present the style of what they used to wear in the past. The women are dressed in long pants, short sleeve shirt, sandals, and have long black hair. The men were dressed in long pants, short sleeve shirts, feather hats, and sandals. Both genders have patterns on their arms and legs, so it could have been a symbol for their culture; additionally, they all had drums to play together. The painting of the faces looks quite scary since they were not familiar with how to draw faces, and this was back when nobody had experience with drawing. The men were dressed differently from the women, and there had to be a valid reasoning for this. The museum also had a lot of different instruments that were commonly played at the festival, and the drum looked like the drums the miniature figurines were holding. The festival is supposed to “celebrate the mythical descent from the union of the male moon and his sister; therefore, it shows why they hold these annual kinship festivals” (Spurlock Museum). Based on the information on the Sarayacu Kinship Festival, it shows a strong representation of how different men are compared to the women. The ceramic performers, created by the women, are strong representations of much more dominant men are compared to women since it is supposed to be an exact replica to reality. My thesis wants to argue the fact that these tiny ceramic performers are more realistic than they are and have a deeper meaning behind them.

The Sarayacu Kinship festivals is associated with the women creating ceramic performers; the figurines have a “man with a bandolier-like adornment plays a drum” while the other figure has “a ceramic cornet”. Furthermore, they hold “bowls of manioc brew” while they dance with two women called “festival mothers” (Spurlock Museum). In addition to the figurine-like performers, the festival host has an actual “cornet and a bowl of special wine-like manioc drink” (Spurlock Museum). The wife is supposed to serve the meat and drinks to the festival participants while the “men wear feather headdresses, authentic representations in miniature of those worn in festivals” (Spurlock Museum). The evidence helps support my claim that the men are more significantly valued compared to the women since they have more higher up jobs and show more respect to. My warrant would be that there are gender norms and gender stereotypes in the society. For example, women are supposed to do all the pottery and creativity while the men are supposed to dress up and be the life of the festival. It is clear that the women handle the food while the men are dressed in feather headdresses and represent significant replicas of the miniature performers. The women probably do not get enough credit for their hard work, and many participants find the men more essential than the women.

An example of a warrant would be to question whether or not women are supposed to create these miniature performers. A women named Marta Vargas Dagua grew up in an urban setting and has never attended a kinship festival; however, her husband has experience with the culture and environment, so he taught her everything he knew. Additionally, she gained the knowledge from her husband’s relatives and many visitors; therefore, she got the necessary information to learn the pottery and miniature figures. She carefully “studied festival performance, dress, and musical instruments in order to present them accurately to museum audiences” (Spurlock Museum). I believe that it is required for Canelos Quichua women to create the pottery and miniature figurines; however, why are the women not allowed to be a part of the dressing up and be a lead role in the festivals. The women were the ones that made all the essential pieces for the festival, so why can they not be more involved with the celebratory part of the festival? The backing of the support would be that there could be a hierarchy and that men are supposed to be more significant than women; men were supposed to do one kind of activity while the women did another. Maybe the hierarchy was established year ago, and they were forced to make sure that the men and women do their required roles.

In relation to a qualifier, unless there is evidence to the contrary, women are most likely to do the labor while the men are more significantly viewed higher up. The man is more dominant than the women in the culture since it is like a representation of how women stay home while the men go out and work. It is an unfair representation since they should let the women participate more in the festival instead of the just making stuff and serving the participants. There is no rebuttal to the argument since the museum does not disagree with the fact that there might have been a hierarchy between the genders. There is no objection to my argument since I noticed the difference between men and women and maybe the culture was supposed to be like this.

There is enough support, warrants, qualifiers, and backings to help claim my argument essential. The men and women are considered different in society; however, they are treated quite differently in the Canelos Quichua culture and have certain requirements for their gender roles. It is hard to believe that we still have these issues today, but it was less argued and noticed back in those days. I believe that there was a hierarchy back in the times of the Canelos Quichua, and I can prove it through the evidence provided from the museum and the website. We can never be too sure as to what the Canelos Quichua people were thinking, but it can be clearly argued.

Sources

Spurlock Museum. ”Sarayacu Kinship Festival.” Sounds of Spirits. 5 Feb. 2016.         Whitten     Norman. “Canelos Quichua.” Encyclopedia of World Cultures.          1996. Encyclopedia.com. 5 Feb. 2016 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.