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In Darkness and Secrecy: The Anthropology of Assault Sorcery and Witchcraft in Amazonia

In Darkness and Secrecy

The Anthropology of Assault Sorcery and Witchcraft in Amazonia
 
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
Date of Publication:
Number of Volumes: Trade Paperback
 
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Product details:
ISBN13:9780822333456
ISBN10:0822333457
Binding:Paperback
No. of pages:256 pages
Size:235x152 mm
Weight:522 g
Language:English
Illustrations: 8 illustrations
700
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Long description:
In Darkness and Secrecy brings together ethnographic examinations of Amazonian assault sorcery, witchcraft, and injurious magic, or “dark shamanism.” Anthropological reflections on South American shamanism have tended to emphasize shamans’ healing powers and positive influence. This collection challenges that assumption by showing that dark shamans are, in many Amazonian cultures, quite different from shamanic healers and prophets. Assault sorcery, in particular, involves violence resulting in physical harm or even death. While highlighting the distinctiveness of such practices, In Darkness and Secrecy reveals them as no less relevant to the continuation of culture and society than curing and prophecy. The contributors suggest that the persistence of dark shamanism can be understood as a form of engagement with modernity.

These essays, by leading anthropologists of South American shamanism, consider assault sorcery as it is practiced in parts of Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, and Peru. They analyze the social and political dynamics of witchcraft and sorcery and their relation to cosmology, mythology, ritual, and other forms of symbolic violence and aggression in each society studied. They also discuss the relations of witchcraft and sorcery to interethnic contact and the ways that shamanic power may be co-opted by the state. In Darkness and Secrecy includes reflections on the ethical and practical implications of ethnographic investigation of violent cultural practices.

Contributors. Dominique Buchillet, Carlos Fausto, Michael Heckenberger, Elsje Lagrou, E. Jean Langdon, George Mentore, Donald Pollock, Fernando Santos-Granero, Pamela J. Stewart, Andrew Strathern, Márnio Teixeira-Pinto, Silvia Vidal, Neil L. Whitehead, Johannes Wilbert, Robin Wright



“The great merit of this volume is that it amply documents the wide variety of ideas and practices that can be classified as shamanistic in Amazonia and, in so doing, establishes that dark shamanism is an essential element of the worldviews and moral philosophies of peoples of this region.”—David Maybury-Lewis, Harvard University
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Dark Shamanism / Neil L. Whitehead and Robin Wright 1

The Order of Dark Shamans among the Warao / Johannes Wilbert 21

Dark Shamans and the Shamanic State: Sorcery and Witchcraft as Political Process in Guyana and the Venezuelan Amazon / Silvia Vidal and Neil L. Whitehead 51

The Wicked and the Wise Men: Witches and Prophets in the History of the Northwest Amazon / Robin Wright 82

Sorcery Beliefs, Transmissions of Shamanic Knowledge, and Therapeutic Practice among the Desana of the Upper Rio Negro Region, Brazil / Dominique Buchillet 109

The Glorious Tyranny of Silence and the Resonance of Shamanic Breath / George Mentore 132

A Blend of Blood and Tobacco: Shamans and Jaguars among the Parakana of Eastern Amazonia / Carlos Fausto 157

The Wars Within: Xinguano Witchcraft and Balance of Power / Michael Heckenberger 179

Siblings and Sorcerers: The Paradox of Kinship among the Kulina / Donald Pollock 202

Being Alone amid Others: Sorcery and Morality among the Arara, Carib, Brazil / Marnio Teixeira-Pinto 215

Sorcery and Shamanism in Cashinahua Discourse and Praxis, Purus River, Brazil / Elsje Lagrou 244

The Enemy Within: Child Sorcery, Revolution, and the Evils of Modernization in Eastern Peru / Fernando Santos-Granero 272

Commentary / E. Jean Langdon 306

Afterword: Substances, Powers, Cosmos, and History / Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart 314

Contributors 321

Index 324