Natures, territories and the Breath of Life.

The maintenance of Jagɨyɨ or Jafaikɨ among the Murui people in the present, Colombian Amazon

Abstract

The Murui people’s concept of Jagɨyɨ or Jafaikɨ signifies Breath of Life. This concept represents the genesis and the end of the Murui existence, as it was exhaled by Moó and the material world was created. Furthermore, it is the sole means through which human life is possible, as we breathe. This study presents Jagɨyɨ or Jafaikɨ as a native aesthetics or philosophy of life. It demonstrates how this concept is perpetuated through the contextualisation of social practices according to events lived in and out of the territory of origin. I conducted interviews with several elders and participated in community events in Leticia in the context of academic projects and cultural rituals. Furthermore, I conducted a review of the relevant literature. I present four examples illustrative of the maintenance of Jagɨyɨ or Jafaikɨ has occurred in recent times: 1. The foundation of Nɨmaɨrafiya or the Indigenous School ‘House of Knowledge’; 2. The cooling of the presence of illegal armies and the internal war in territories; 3. The cooling of daily life in foreign lands; 4. The contribution to the Commission of Truth’s Final Report. I conclude that the symbolic and physical violence expressed through extractivist economies, internal armed conflict and displacement from the place of origin are the events recognised as decisive for the hybridization of social practices, and the maintenance of Jagɨyɨ or Jafaikɨ represents a strategy for the defence of the cultures, natures and territories of the Murui people, which may be regarded as contemporaneous native aesthetics.