ABSTRACT
Pierre Clastres' Evocative Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians (1998) stands as an enduring testament to a bygone era of anthropological sensibilities and imperial exploration among putatively ‘pristine’ peoples in remote corners of the globe (see for instance Masterman 1870; Grubb (1911). Aside from early Jesuit accounts (e.g. Pedro Lozano's historiography, circa 1750s), the Aché Guayaki of Paraguay remained poorly documented until well into the latter half of the twentieth century: a time when the Stroessner dictatorship's brutal pacification campaign drove many groups of Guayaki to settle permanently in government-sponsored encampments. Written in lucid and direct prose, Clastres' Chronicle recounts the subtle intricacies of Guayaki culture, paying special attention to life-stage ordeals, cosmology and the group's daily struggles for survival.
