Dark Shamans ：Kanaimà and the Poetics of Violent Death ( e-Duke books scholarly collection. )

Publication subTitle ：Kanaimà and the Poetics of Violent Death

Publication series ：e-Duke books scholarly collection.

Author： Neil L. Whitehead  

Publisher： Duke University Press‎

Publication year： 2002

E-ISBN: 9780822384304

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780822329886

P-ISBN(Hardback):  9780822329527

Subject： C912.4 cultural anthropology, social anthropology

Keyword： Patamona Indians -- Rites and ceremonies., Patamona Indians -- Death., Macusi Indians -- Rites and ceremonies., Macusi Indians -- Death., Shamanism -- Guyana -- Paramakatoi Region., Witchcraft -- Guyana -- Paramakatoi Region., Ritual abuse -- Guyana -- Paramakatoi Region., Violent deaths -- Guyana -- Paramakatoi Region., Paramakatoi Region (Guyana) -- Rites and ceremonies.

Language： ENG

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Description

On the little-known and darker side of shamanism there exists an ancient form of sorcery called kanaimà, a practice still observed among the Amerindians of the highlands of Guyana, Venezuela, and Brazil that involves the ritual stalking, mutilation, lingering death, and consumption of human victims. At once a memoir of cultural encounter and an ethnographic and historical investigation, this book offers a sustained, intimate look at kanaimà, its practitioners, their victims, and the reasons they give for their actions.

Neil L. Whitehead tells of his own involvement with kanaimà—including an attempt to kill him with poison—and relates the personal testimonies of kanaimà shamans, their potential victims, and the victims’ families. He then goes on to discuss the historical emergence of kanaimà, describing how, in the face of successive modern colonizing forces—missionaries, rubber gatherers, miners, and development agencies—the practice has become an assertion of native autonomy. His analysis explores the ways in which kanaimà mediates both national and international impacts on native peoples in the region and considers the significance of kanaimà for current accounts of shamanism and religious belief and for theories of war and violence.

Kanaimà appears here as part of the wider lexicon of rebellious terror and exotic horror—alon

Chapter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Ethnographer's Tale

2. Tales of the Kanaima: Observers

3. Tales of the Kanaima: Participants

4. Shamanic Warfare

5. Modernity, Development, and Kanaima Violence

6. Ritual Violence and Magical Death

Conclusion: Anthropologies of Violence

Notes

Works Cited

Index

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