Supplementary Dossier: Voices to Remember
Note on transliteration, data collection and publication
The terms of ‘Cuna’ (in Italian) and ‘Kuna’ (local language and Spanish) have been used interchangeably for years as ethnonyms (referring to the people) and as glossonyms (referring to the language), while local authorities have officialised the term Guna in 2010 (although the pronunciation remains ‘Kuna’ and the spelling ‘Cuna’ or ‘Kuna’ can still be found in written works that have been published before 2010). In this work, we use the word ‘Guna Yala’ for the place (the word Guna Yala means ‘the land of Guna people, or there where the Guna live’), and ‘Guna language’ and ‘Guna people’. The language is also known locally as dule gaya [tùle gàia], literally 'language of the people' (where 'people' applies to people of the Cuna ethnic group) or gunagaya [kùnagàia]. Regarding the translation of the word ‘canto’ (which means song in Spanish and Italian), we have chosen to use ‘chant’ instead of ‘song’, to stress the presence of the singing voice alongside the music and the ‘initiated’ nature of these performances, that are more than simply entertaining. The term is locally understood as ‘treaty’ or ‘path’(igala [igàla]).
The material discussed in this work was collected in the second half of the 90s on the island of Dubbir [tùpir] or Dubbile [tupìle] (in Spanish: San Ignacio de Tupile), a Guna village (and island) in the Comarca of Guna Yala [kuna iàla] of Panama by the local researcher Antonio Réuter Orán [antònio réuter oràn] from the voice of the local wise/experienced woman (iedule) Teresa Pérez [terésa pères] and translated by Luciano Giannelli with the support of Antonio Réuter Orán, Beatrice Pacini, Aiban Wagua [àiban uàgua] and José Angel Colman [hosè ànhel colman]. The texts have then been translated into English by Paola Tine and Josh Smiech. The relevant ethnographic research on which the analysis of these songs is based was carried out in 1981 and in 2004 in the village of Ogobsuggun [ogopsùkkun] by Massimo Squillacciotti. At the end of January 2021, the Guna musician Marden Paniza, author of the songs in this podcast, passed away. We dedicate this podcast to him and to Tereza Perez.
The material discussed here can be found in the CISAI/ Etnolinguistica Archive at the CISAP website (Interdepartmental Center for Studies on Pluriversal America of the University of Cagliari). It can also be found at an autonomous space or domain on Academia’s international platform.
The publication with the songs of the Cuna resistance (Squillacciotti 1995) can be found in the CISAI Archive on the Academia platform.
Images from the Field
Mola 1
1991, cm. 31 x 43
From Michel Perrin, Tableaux Kuna, Paris, Arthaud, 1998, p. 166.
Mola 2
1991, cm. 31 x 43
From Michel Perrin, Tableaux Kuna, Paris, Arthaud, 1998, p. 166.
Surba (fence)
From Michel Perrin, Tableaux Kuna, Paris, Arthaud, 1998, p. 166
Inside the hut of the night (negdummad [neidùmmat]), the men of the family build a small fence of reeds as a screen (surba [sùrba]). Here the girl remains seated on a bench, dressed in a single tunic and bathed several times a day with the presence of only women. She can eat only in the evening and, during the day, drink a drink made up of shredded cocoa, corn, cane sugar: these limitations and this first ritual underline "the change in status and the new responsibilities of a woman that await her", as Edilia Stanley explains, who accompanies me to the visit and acts as an interpreter (1981). This drink is also offered by the family to male visitors who, left outside the hut, go to visit and congratulate the girl's family for the occasion.
Inna nega - Communal House, House of Congress, Parties, Ceremonies
Photo by M. Squillacciotti (February 1981) in the village of Usdubbu in Guna Yala
In addition to the family house formed by the two huts of the day sonega [sonèga] and of the night negdummad [neidùmmat], in each village there are also some "public" huts in which moments of life of social and collective interest take place:
the onmagged nega [onmàked nèga] or house of Congress, is for the meetings and assemblies of the people;
the inna nega [ìnna nèga], or party house, for festive celebrations such as New Year's, the feast of the ring of the newborn, female puberty;
the mu ibya gwagwen [mu ìbia guàguen] or birthing house, literally the "one-eyed grandmother".
Map of Cuna Yala
Watercolor by Henny Boccianti (2000).
Ernesto with his wife, Luz, and daughter, Catalina
Photo by M. Squillacciotti (February 1981) in the village of Usdubbu in Guna Yala
The sagla [sàila], Manuel Smith with his wife
Photo by M. Squillacciotti (February 1981) in the village of Usdubbu in Guna Yala
References
Calvo Buezas, T. 1990. Indios Cunas: la lucha por la tierra y la identidad. Libertarias; Madrid.
Reverte Coma, JM. 1962. La Fiesta de la Oubertad entre los Cunas. Impresora de la Nación / Instituto Nacional de Cultura de Panamá: Panamá City, Panamá.
Restrepo, V. 1888. Viajes de Lionel Wafer al Istmo del Darién (cuatro meses entre los indios). Imprenta De Silvestre y Compañía: Bogotà, Colombia.
Soto, RM. 1973. La Estructura de la Familia en la Tribu Cuna, disertación de licencia. Pontificia Università Urbaniana: Rome, Italy.
Squillaccioti, M, ed. 1995. “The Invasion of the Abia Yala: Kuna Ethnostory Documents with the presentation of Aiban Wagua.” Quaderno 2: Interdisciplinary Seminar of the Faculty of the Humanities, University of Siena. University of Siena: Italy and Congreso General De Kuna De la Cultura: Panamá. https://www.academia.edu/42668965/Massimo_Squillacciotti_a_cura_Linvasione_di_Abya_Yala_Documenti_di_etnostoria_kuna
Torres de Arauz [de Ianello], R. 1975,. La Mujer Cuna de Panamá. Instituto Indigenista Interaméricano: Mexico City, Mexico.
Wafer, Lionel. 1609. A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, J. Knapton: London.
Author Bios
Massimo Squillacciotti is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and the founder of the first Italian course of Cognitive Anthropology at the University of Siena (2000). He has conducted fieldwork research in Panama and Somalia with a research focus on intercultural communication and visual anthropology.
Luciano Giannelli is Professor of Glottology and South American Indigenous Languages at the University of Siena (since 1987). His research interests encompass Latin American indigenous languages, such as Iroquois, and Italian linguistics with a focus on regional dialects. He is one of the founders of Centro Interdipartimentale di Studi sull'America Indigena.
Paola Tine is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Adelaide (South Australia). Her research interests include multimedia anthropology, social change and the transformation of the rites of passage in Nepal.