The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 14: March 2002
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Sawfishes in the indigenous art of Panama
Matthew T. McDavitt
Sawfishes have long appeared in the native art of Panama. 1,400 years
ago, bold geometric sawfishes adorned the pottery of the Coclé people
of Central Panama. Highly stylized, these sawfishes often merge in
complex, swirling patterns with other marine and riverine denizens
such as crocodiles and sharks. The descendants of the Coclé were
annihilated when the Spanish conquered the New World, so we do not
know what significance sawfishes held for this culture. Several modern
studies of Coclé iconography have put forth two possibilities. Linares
suggests that sawfishes, along with other dangerous creatures,
symbolized "aggression and hostility", qualities valued by a warrior
society (Linares 1977). In contrast, Labbe interprets these sawfishes as
shape-shifting manifestations of shamans or their spirit-animal assistants
(Labbe 1995). Certainly, modern Native American societies in Panama
view sawfishes as spiritually powerful beings sought out by shamans.
Darién Rainforest
The Emberá and Wounaan peoples, sometimes referred to collectively
as the Chocó, inhabit the lush Darién rainforest near the Colombian
border in south-eastern Panama. Their villages are grouped along the
Chucunaque and Sambú river systems, both emptying into the Pacific
Ocean. Sawfishes are common in these rivers (Breder 1928, Bleher
1994), but the exact species of this freshwater pristid has not yet been
determined. The Emberá/Wounaan call sawfishes mona and small
individuals are exploited for food (Breder 1928). These toothy rays are
also said to harbour powerful spirits, and Emberá/Wounaan shamans
elicit the assistance of sawfish spirits during healing ceremonies. They
carve batons from dense cocobolo wood to house these powerful
animal spirits, assuring their continued cooperation in fighting
supernatural enemies.
Freshwater sawfish carved from a tagua nut by Gereniño Negria (Wounaan people, Darién, Panama). Tagua carving is a new art form developed to generate cash income for marginalized Wounaans. [Length: 9.6 cm.] Collection of the author.
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Often unable to sustain themselves through traditional subsistence
methods due to growing competition for productive forest, many
Emberá/Wounaan are finding ways to participate in the cash economy
of modern Panama. Skilled artists now sell their carvings and handicrafts
to an ever growing tourist and tribal art market; one art form was created
purely for sale outside the village. When construction of the Pan American
Highway displaced many Darién villages from their lands, artists began
carving miniature rainforest animals out of ivory nuts (or tagua) for income.
These charming figurines have been warmly received in world
markets, often likened to the highly collected netsuke carvings of
Japan. Both the Emberá/Wounaan and the sawfishes face an uncertain
future due to intensified logging and ranching in the Darién, both
contributing to river-choking erosion.
Kuna Molas
Perhaps the most celebrated indigenous art of Panama is the Kuna
mola. The Kuna occupy the San Blas archipelago and the adjacent
mainland along the Caribbean coast. Molas are complex appliqué
cloth panels which Kuna women use to decorate their blouses. This art
form developed a century ago, a merging of native body painting and
forced European standards of dress, compelling Kuna women to wear
Western style clothing. The decorative molas soon became a symbol of
Kuna ethnic identity, and they are now regarded as fine indigenous art.
Molas are made by stitching several layers of coloured cloth
together. The top layers have intricate geometric designs cut into them,
allowing the brilliant coloured layers below to show through. Kuna
women use cotton cloth of many vibrant shades, creating works of
remarkable beauty and power. Themes are largely drawn from the
natural and mythological landscape. The Kuna believe that sawfishes
(suku) are special protectors of the Kuna people, and will come to their
aid to fight off malevolent denizens of the sea, or rescue them from
drowning (Nordenskiold 1938). Here too, sawfishes are utilized as
spirit guides by indigenous shamans.
Cloth appliqué mola (Kuna people, San Blas Archipelago, Panama). A sawfish battles a shark and crocodile while a Kuna spear-fisherman watches from shore. Called 'suku', sawfishes are considered guardians of the Kuna and are never killed by them. Collection of the author.
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References
Bleher, H. 1994. Chocó. Aqua Geographia 8:24-42.
Breder, C.M., Jr. 1928. The Fishes of Rio Chucunaque Drainage, Eastern
Panama. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 57:91-176.
Labbe, A.J. 1995. Guardians of the Life Stream: Shamans, Art and Power
in Prehispanic Central Panama. Santa Ana: Bowers Museum of
Cultural Art.
Linares, O.F. 1977. Ecology and the Arts in Ancient Panama: On the
Development of Social Rank and Symbolism in the Central Provinces,
p.70. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks.
Nordenskiold, E. 1938. An Historical and Ethnological Survey of the
Cuna Indians, p382. Goteborg: Goteborgs Museum.
Perrin, M. 1999. Magnificent Molas: The Art of the Kuna Indians.
France: Flammarion.
Matthew McDavitt
6342 Hawthorne Terrace, Norcross, GA 30092, USA
Email: nokogiri@aol.co
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