Performing Flights: Perspectivism and Shamanic Epistemology in the Amazon
Alessandro Gonçalves Campolina
Process Studies November 1, 2022 DOI: 10.5406/21543682.51.2.02 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key points | Argues that "shamanic flight," an ecstatic technique in Amerindian rituals, serves as a method for discovering and organizing nonhuman alterities, and that shamanism constitutes an experience of knowledge generation. The authors propose that Amazonian shamanic epistemology, read alongside Whitehead's imaginative rationalization and Amerindian perspectivism, belongs within a "multinaturalist" ontology. |
Abstract
Abstract Alfred North Whitehead famously compares the philosophical method of knowledge acquisition with the process of flying an airplane. Likewise, “shamanic flight” marks stages of cognitive processing in navigation through perceptible and imperceptible worlds. This article focuses on the cosmovision of the Amazon people Huni Kuin, the Whiteheadian method of imaginative rationalization, and the concept of Amerindian perspectivism. This study also investigates shamanism as an experience of knowledge generation. Furthermore, “shamanic flight,” as an ecstatic technique experienced in many diverse Amerindian rituals, will be explored as a method in the discovery and organization of nonhuman alterities. Finally, Amazonian-based shamanic epistemology will be discussed within a “multinaturalist” ontology.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Cognitive Neuroscience, Shamanism and the Rock Art of Native California | 1998 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From Culture to Experience: Shamanism in the Pages of the Soviet Anti-Religious Press | 2020 | Historical analysis | |
| Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate Ways of Knowing–Being in the World: One Anthropologist's Journey of Discovery and Transformation | 2010 | Reflective essay or personal narrative |
Citations in the library
Cites 3
- The Evolved Psychology of Psychedelic Set and Setting: Inferences Regarding the Roles of Shamanism and Entheogenic Ecopsychology Frontiers in Pharmacology February 23, 2021
- O uso ritual da Ayahuasca Temáticas April 1, 2003
- The Mind in the Cave — the Cave in the Mind: Altered Consciousness in the Upper Paleolithic Anthropology of Consciousness March 1, 1998