Spoiled by COVID-19

Geontology, Pathogenesis, and Resistance among the Akawaio

Abstract

This article examines notions of disease and geontology among the Akawaio people of Guyana within the context of COVID-19. It begins with an ethnographic encounter that one of the authors experienced at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines its ramifications through an in-depth analysis of Akawaio concepts concerning pathogenesis in contexts of malevolent human and other-than-human agency, as well as Akawaio histories of resisting encroachments and predations by Europeans and other outsiders in the broader region. Centred around local notions of ‘spoiling’ through sorcery-related interventions or infractions against certain ethical norms, the article considers ontologies that framed and contextualised the COVID-19 pandemic for many Akawaio people in the Upper Mazaruni River basin of Guyana.