Being clay, building world: cubeo-ceramics practice and multispecies correspondences with the living soil

Abstract

This article sediments in the interaction between the collective Cubay Jëjënava, formed by cubeo indigenous people from the Vaupés region, and the Amazonian clay soil, particularly the blue clay, considered the excrement of the güío progenitor. This material transcends its utilitarian character to become a living sediment, charged with the memories of Earth. Through traditional techniques, like kneading and burning, blue clay transforms into objects that not only fulfill practical functions but also preserve stories that interweave the human and the not-human, the living and the not-living. I review the geological history of the Amazonian soil, formed millions of years ago, highlighting that, far from being infertile, these soils act as active agents in the co-creation of life and in the interaction with human communities. Blue and gray clays, often consideredlimiting from the perspective of scientific and colonial narratives, are resignified by indigenous practices as partners in the generation of live forms and creative possibilities. Earth’s color (white, yellow, blue and red) are essential in this dynamics, exemplified by the carayurú, a red pigment used as a protection, healing and communication substance, which is also used to create protective traces on the faces of the people who work with the blue clay, and whose forms are replicated in the ceramics and reverberate in paintings in ancient rocks. This link reinforces the connection between the bodies and the territory, underlining the interdependence between the soil and those who inhabit it, demonstrating, as well, that the soil, far from being an inert entity, is a vibrant organism in constant transformation, capable of generating life and meaning through indigenous material practices.