The book "Comai. Ethnobiography Ayorea (1942-2022)", published in August 2023, by the Ethnographic Museum, Zürich and the FCBC, Bolivia, is the story of the Ayoreo group roaming in the vast region of wild forest in the South-East Bolivia and of the Chaco in Nord Paraguay, through the life story of Comai Chiqueno, whose life events coincided with the most important events with the Ayoreo history.
Comai was not just a passive participant in the events but an active agent in regional history. Living with the missionaries since he was a child, he was part of the group that contacted and settled most of the local groups in Bolivia in the 1950s and attempted to contact the Paraguayan groups in the 1960s as well. He was founder of the Poza Verde community, participated in regional politics in the chaotic era of the 1980s, founding member of CIDOB and CANOB, indigenous political organizations that over time grew to represent all the groups of the Bolivian Lowlands, in the actual political life.
Comai tells important details of Ayoreo and regional history, unknown from official history, enriching it by indigenous oral storytelling. In addition, he reflects on the path traveled from nomadic life to settling, trying to find a balance based on experiences and comparisons of the last 80 years, and above all, he exercises self-criticism about his own role in events.
TITLE: "Comai. Ethnobiography Ayorea (1942-2022)"
Published in August 2023, by the Ethnographic Museum, Zürich and the FCBC, Bolivia.
ISBN: 978-99905-949-6-6
Zoom:
"Comai – EtnoBiografía Ayorea 1942–2022"
1.Okt. 2023 11:00 AM Zürich
https://uzh.zoom.us/j/61588382461?pwd=eG9CY2JCZnpLM00yVGl4S3FrZzMyUT09
Meeting-ID: 615 8838 2461
Código identificativo: 925445