Аspects of Post-Structural Anthropology of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (Postmodernism as a Language of the Description of Amazonian Tribes’ Mythological Reality: the Trickster’s Simulacra in Shamanism)

The author traces the origins of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro's "poststructural anthropology" and assesses its applicability to Religious Studies in contemporary Russia. Using description, historical and comparative analysis, and modelling, the study creates a 3D model of "the shaman's universe" based on de Castro's work, tests its heuristic potential on werewolf beliefs, and examines whether postmodern language can describe Amazonian shamanic worldviews. The analysis concludes that de Castro's ideas derive primarily from Deleuze and Guattari, with background from British social anthropology and Lévi-Strauss's structuralism; postmodern concepts can adequately describe shamanic experience; and the shamanic model of the universe (Chaosmosis) has heuristic value for other religious, mytho-ritual, fantasy, fairy tale, and folklore phenomena.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to trace the origins of E. V. de Castro’s «poststructural anthropology», and the possibility of its application in Religious Studies in contemporary Russia. For the purpose of the study, the methods of description, historical and comparative analysis and modelling were chosen. The objectives of the study are: 1) to create an analogous 3D model of «the shaman’s universe», according to the factography of E. V. de Castro’s «poststructural anthropology»; 2) to verify its heuristic potential using the material of the belief in the existence of werewolves; 3) to verify whether the postmodern thesaurus, as a language of description, could be adequately applied to the worldview of Amazonian shamans. The author concludes that: a) the immediate origins of «poststructural anthropology» lie in the views of J. Deleuze and F. Guattari, and that the achievements of the British school of social anthropology and Cl. Levi- Strauss’s structuralism served as the general background for E. V. de Castro’s and E. Kohn’s work; b) the conceptual framework of postmodernism is able to serve as an appropriate language of description of the shamanic experience which was clearly demonstrated by Amazonists E. V. de Castro and E. Kohn; c) the shamanic model of the universe (the Chaosmosis) has sufficient heuristic potential to be applied to other phenomena of religion, mytho-ritual, virtual fantasy worlds, fairy tales, and folklore.