Soul Loss in the Forest of Symbols: Transformational Bodies, Avá-Guaraní Acoustemology, and Magical Mediating Methodological Instruments
Suomen Antropologi Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society April 1, 2026 Eric Michael Kelley
“Eric, you no longer have an Americano soul,” my Avá-Guaraní sister told me as my 2006-2007 fieldwork was ending. In 2005, her mother became my ritual sponsor in the naming/ensouling ritual, mitã karaí, identifying me as “Yvyrajú”, indicating the tree for which I was named/ensouled. That ritual enmeshed me in relations of familial reciprocity, positioning me in their cosmology, and identified...