The principal assumption put forward in this paper will be that for the Waiwai the privileging of lateral visibility brings ideas about a fractal individual into association with recursive power, while for coastal Guyanese and U.S. societies, respectively, the privileging of axial visibility brings concepts about an autonomous individual into association with contrapuntal and cellular relations of power. It will be argued that, contrary to the Waiwai situation, in its agenda to achieve a greater efficiency for the workings of its political relations with its citizens, the desire of the modern state, expressed through its privileged use of axial visibility, de-emphasizes lateral relations and brings about categorically isolated and solitary forms of individuals.
fractality; visibility; individuality; knowledge; truth; power