María Sabina, femme de savoir mazatèque ou chamane des étrangers ?

In highland Oaxaca, Mexico, Mazatec people have reappropriated elements of shamanism that Westerners first publicized after a major tourist event. The figure of the shaman Maria Sabina has become an emblem of Mazatec identity, serving as a symbolic boundary between groups. This emblem reveals how local actors perceive their relationships with outsiders, including tourists and the state. Behind performances staged for external audiences, the diverse Mazatec society holds varied conceptions of the late wise woman who became a shaman for foreigners.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In contemporary Mexico, the new relationships established between the Indian populations and the State encourage ethnic productions. Beyond the elaboration of ethnicity as «substance», its deconstruction opens up on a plural phenomenon which expresses itself, among others, through various emblems put forward by the actors. The Massatecs of the High lands of Sierra Madre oriental (Oaxaca) have re-taken over some elements of shamanism which were first given media coverage by westerners after an important tourist event. Among which, the «shaman» Maria Sabina has been displayed as an emblem of their identity by the Massatecs. This emblem, erected as a symbolical frontier between human beings, gives information about how the local actors sense the types of relationships initiated with other people. Behind the performances intended for external agents (tourism, the State), how does the Massatec society, in its diversity, conceive the late «wise woman» who has become the «shaman» of foreign people?