| Journey to a Shabono Published in Anthropology Newsletter. (American Anthropological Association) December 1983, pp 2,7. Shabono has been described by one reviewer (Kendall 1982) as an “anthro-romance”, by another (Vesper 1982) as a “modern-day version of the British colonial novel”, and in the pages of the American Anthropologist Picchi (1983:674) as well-written but with a narcissistic focus. Adding to the evaluations of this book is not the purpose of our commentary. As the former committee of a previously registered graduate student, now turned author, it is incumbent on us to provide some information to the serious implications raised by Holmes (AA 1983:664), who strongly suggests affinities of this book with a previously published account of life with the Yanoáma by Helena Valero (1971). When Shabono was first published, this committee did express our concern privately to a prominent Yanomama scholar. Since that time three issues now force us to make a public statement. The first is the commentary by Holmes; the second is the fact that the author of Shabono, Florinda Donner, has been reported by the press as currently pursing her studies at UCLA (Japenga 1983), and the third is the reported chronology of the Yanomama peregrination which appears to show that it was done while Donner was a student under our supervision. Legal and confidential factors constrain what her committee can report. We are not able, for example, to reveal Donner’s name under which she was registered at UCLA. For convenience we will refer to her as Donner. It should be immediately pointed out that the publication of Shabono was four years after Donner had allowed her graduate studies at UCLA to lapse, and that there had been no formal connection between this student and her committee since the fall of 1977. Indeed, on publication of this book in 1982, this committee was not even aware that its author was our ex-student. It was only after one reviewer, learning from the publishers that Donner had been at UCLA and eventually tracking down her chairman, that the connection was made (reported in Vesperi 1982). On learning that her student identity had now been discovered, Donner telephoned the chairman and acknowledged that she had changed her name and written this book. Briefly, all that we are advised to report on Donner’s graduate career is the historical record. She entered the anthropology department as a graduate in 1972. She was advanced to doctoral candidacy in April, 1976. She applied successfully for leave of absence for 1977-78, after which time she never re-registered. It is true to state that Ms. Donner was in good scholastic standing when she left. Donner’s graduate committee approved her dissertation proposal, which was for the study of curing practices at Curiepe, on the coastal region of Venezuela, which she subsequently reported. It may be pertinent to state that the graduate record indicated that another research proposal was earlier made in the spring of 1973 for a study of curanderos in Tucipata, described as an urban center on the Orinoco river in Venezuela. This proposal stated that she had already made a visit to this town. All the time that Donner was under our supervision she never informed this committee of any extended visit, research or contact with the Yanomama. We find it perplexing that she failed to tell us of this undoubtedly exciting trip and of her traumatic experiences with the people there. Thus this committee regrets that we are unable to provide any information on this reported field experience. It would be helpful if Donner had been precise as to exactly when this trip was made. In Shabono there are no dates whatsoever. It was only subsequent to publication of the book that some dates have been reported to reporters for local presses. These dates have left this committee further puzzled. From Vesperi (1982) the chronology was given out as 1976-77. From Japenga (1983) the dating was extended to “about 10 years ago”. This implies that the period was 1974-75, or perhaps 1975-76, which would mean that it was before her research visit to the coast. It is possible that will never know for sure, as from the helpful interview with Japenga (1983) we learn that “Donner said she gave up keeping track of the years when she lived with Ritimi, Tutemi and Texoma, her Yanomama friends, who never saw a need to count higher than three”. Holmes makes the point that by “coincidence” Carlos Castaneda graced the jacket cover with his comments. By further coincidence, and as an aficionado of the Don Juan series could scarcely miss, an entire chapter in Castaneda’s sixth book (1981) was devoted to a certain sorceress by name of Florinda. This lady taught Castaneda the art of “stalking” (original italics). Alluding to stalkers she said: “If they’re not afraid of being a fool, they can fool anyone” (Castaneda 1981:293). Perhaps there is some truth in this. D.R. Price-Williams R.B. Edgerton L.L. Langness University of California, Los Angeles. REFERENCES CITED Castaneda, Carlos. 1981. The Eagle’s Gift. New York: Simon and Schuster Holmes, Rebecca. 1983 “Shabono: Scandal or superb social science?” American Anthropologist, 85: 664-667. Japenga, Ann. 1983. “The saga of a cultural cross-over”. Los Angeles Times, September 11 Kendall, Elaine. 1982. “Review of Shabono by Florinda Donner.” Los Angeles Times, May 9 Picchi, Debra. 1983. “Review of Shabono by Florinda Donner. American Anthropologist 86: 674-675 Valero, Helena: as told to Ettore Biocca. 1971 Yanoáma: the narrative of a white girl kidnapped by Amazonian Indians. New York: E.P. Dutton Vesperi, Maria D. 1982. “Mystery clouds the air in tale of Indian life”. St. Petersburg Times (Florida), April 25. |
