Du fond des Andes au grand Aval. L'espace des mythes et l'espace des morts chez les Chimane d'Amazonie bolivienne

摘要

From the Heart of the Andes to the Great Downstream Realm. Mythical space and mortuary space amongst the Chimane of the Bolivian Amazon. On the basis of representations about the world rooted in myth and of eschatological beliefs, this article considers particular aspects of the Chimane cosmology. While presenting a certain unity and a number of invariants — such as the orientation of the world along a West-East axis — this cosmology does not constitute one comprehensive, homogeneous and coherent system. It rather consists of relatively autonomous sets of representations. Two of these are being explored in this article — each integrating elements from both spheres considered here (myths and after-death beliefs) — in an attempt to gain some understanding of their internal organization as well as of their mutual relations. This also provides an opportunity to illustrate some of the transformations which the Andean theme of the turning upside-down of the world has undergone in the eastern foothills area.