ABSTRACT
For the Piaroa, a jungle people who dwell along tributaries of the Orinoco in the Guiana Highlands of Venezuela, growing up is a magical process of learning wizardry. It is the Piaroa understanding that the capabilities which allow one to exist within society are forces that come from the crystal boxes of gods who dwell beyond 'the sky of the domesticated' beneath which exists society. All intelligence is said to come from this celestial source. Thus, to achieve the maturity to accomplish any social deed, that is, to act morally, to be fertile, to garden, to hunt, to fish, to play music, or to do shamanic deeds, the individual must take various and continuous 'lessons in wizardry' (maripa 'feau ). These lessons are the means through which one incorporates the forces from celestial space into oneself. Because such forces for culture are both wild and dangerous, one may take them only gradually into the self and acquire no more than one is personally able to master, or to domesticate. To a large extent the individual may decide upon and choose the number and kind of forces that he/she wishes to incorporate as an inner clothing. Since maturity is always relative to the particular capability in question, the Piaroa do not differentiate sharply between developmental stages, and thus do not judge maturity as an absolute value that one has or has not achieved. They do, however, place extreme value upon personal autonomy, moderation in behaviour, and high intelligence (a rich 'life of thoughts'). It is the association of such values of maturity with the Piaroa theory of social personhood and the acquisition of the social that I wish to examine in this chapter.'
