Amerindian Sociocosmologies of Northwestern South America: Some Reflections on the Dead, Metamorphosis, and Religious Specialists1

Abstract

Resumen Este artículo analiza las relaciones con los muertos, las formas de la metamorfosis y el papel de los especialistas religiosos entre diferentes grupos Chibcha (Kogi, Barí), Carib (Yukpa) y Arawak (Wayuu). Estos grupos desvían de las nociones convencionales del animismo amazonico. A pesar de su heterogeneidad comparten la creencia en una interacción continua con los muertos y al mismo tiempo la practica de la metamorfosis voluntaria esta ausente. Las relaciones con los espíritus y los muertos son de mayor importancia que las relaciones inmediatas con los animales de caza, que generalmente no tienen la misma interioridad que los seres humanos. Esta diferencia coincide con formas del chamanismo y el sacerdocio basado en la adivinación, los sueños y el dominio de espíritus auxilares. La area Istmo‐Colombiana está entonces marcada por formas de animismo jerárquico en lo cual relaciones con la collectividad de los muertos, ‘pagamentos’, ofrendas y en el caso de los wayuu sacrificios juegan un papel importante.

History of the indigenous peoples of the sixteenth-century province of Caracas, Venezuela

“…This research may contribute to extending comparative analyses of potentially diverse forms of indigenous hierarchy, sociocultural complexity and animism east, south to Amazonia, and west to the northwestern shoulder of South America as recently suggested by Ernst Halbmayer (2018). It may also stimulate the study of sociopolitical linkages between several Carib islands of the Lesser Antilles and the South American mainland coast.…”

Wounaan Storying as Intervention: Storywork in the Crafting of a Multimodal Illustrated Story Book on People and Birds

“…We recognize some of the copious and rich Native American and First Nations scholarship on lifeworlds and stories and the often difficult-to-access Latin American scholarship on the same (e.g., Archibald Q'um Q'um Xiiem et al 2008;Corntassel 2009;Justice 2018;Köhler et al 2010;Kopenawa and Albert 2013;Kovach 2018;Mecha and Escobar 1998;Olalde Ramos 1996;Peña 2009;Rocha Vivas 2013;Simpson 2017;Smith 2002;Uzendowski 2012;Windchief and Pedro 2019). The isthmo-Colombian area (lower Central and northwestern South America) increasingly is known as a distinct cultural region (e.g., Halbmayer 2019Halbmayer , 2020. Wounaan are a people of that region and share a language family with only one other Indigenous group (and its multiple dialects) (Constenla Umaña 1991; Peña 2009); we favor Wounaan ways of description.…”

Shamanic alliance in the touristic borderzone: Strategic hospitality at Surama Eco‐Lodge in Guyana

“…These shamanic “allies” are sought and engaged through strategic hospitality to build partnerships (Fausto, 2012b). Similar to how shamans obtain spirit allies elsewhere in Amazonia (Santos‐Granero, 2007, 12; Halbmayer, 2019), villagers in Surama manage partnerships with outsiders “by initial offers of gifts, and maintain their friendship through a subsequent stream of offerings” that situate them within mutualistic relations centered around hospitality. Although rarely examined in tourism contexts in Amazonia, Makushi relations with tourists resonate with regional patterns of extracting resources from outsiders (Conklin & Graham, 1995; High, 2020).…”