THE LIFE, DEATH, AND REBIRTH OF A MAPUCHE SHAMAN: Remembering, Disremembering, and the Willful Transformation of Memory
Journal of Anthropological Research April 1, 2010 DOI: 10.3998/jar.0521004.0066.105 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnographic and archival study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Mapuche shaman Francisca Colipi and her community in southern Chile |
| Duration | 1991 to 2008 |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Keywords | Indigenous Collective memory Liminality Consciousness Narrative Ethnography Anthropology Biography Agency philosophy Repertoire Gender studies Ethnology Literature Social science Art history Epistemology Law Archaeology |
| Citations | 13 |
| Key findings | Mapuche shamanic historical consciousness, as seen through Francisca Colipi's biography, actively constructs the present and rewrites local history, revealing new relationships between indigenous agency and national memory. |
Abstract
I draw on ethnographic and archival material collected between 1991 and 2008 to explore the story of a Mapuche shaman in her community in southern Chile and illuminate the ways in which particular marginalized groups see themselves in time. Francisca Colipi's unique position as both an anomalous, liminal outsider and a powerful mediator between internal community factions and ethnicities makes her biography a productive place from which to view Millali's conflicted history. Through Francisca's experiences in her community I explore how Mapuche shamanic historical consciousness is produced and mobilized, how shamanic narratives of the past construct the present and rewrite local history, and how change and its agents are conceived of in shamanic practice. An analysis of Mapuche shamanic historical consciousness through Francisca's life, death, and rebirth offers a new understanding of the relationship between indigenous agency and national history, remembering and disremembering, and individual and collective memory.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Plantas con madre": plants that teach and guide in the shamanic initiation process in the East-Central Peruvian Amazon. Curanderos, apprentices, and herbalists in East-Central Peru, including Mestizo,... | 2011 | Qualitative study | n = 36 |
| Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca Healers and participants in shamanic tourism contexts of the Peruvian Amazon and... | 2019 | Ethnography with literature review | n = 227 |
| The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism Western tourists and indigenous peoples in Iquitos, Peru | 2016 | Ethnography | |
| Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America Historic hunter-gatherer cultures of California and the Great Basin | 1992 | Ethnographic review and analysis | |
| Working with “La Medicina”: Elements of Healing in Contemporary Ayahuasca Rituals Ayahuasqueros and Western participants in shamanic tourism in Iquitos, Peru | 2012 | Ethnography |