COSMOLOGÍA AMERINDIA, SHAMANISMO Y ETNOGRAFÍA: UNA CRÍTICA POSTCOLONIAL
P. Wright
June 28, 2012 DOI: 10.22456/1982-6524.29678 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Population | Qom (Toba) people of the Argentine Chaco, among whom the author conducted ethnographic fieldwork |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key points | Argues that a postcolonial approach to the ethnography of shamanism can improve epistemological and political awareness of knowledge construction, and reports that the author's own questions about shamanic power, illness, and therapy had unintended negative effects on interlocutors' well-being during fieldwork among the Argentine Chaco Qom (Toba). |
Abstract
This paper reviews some general assumptions about the anthropological research on shamanism from a postcolonial approach. The latter aims at decentering the eurocentric locus of enunciation of the Western suject of knowledge, questioning the ontological neutrality of language and the givenness of ethnographic spaces which permeates anthropology’s field methods. A personal account of my ethnographic research among the Argentine Chaco Qom (Toba)shamanism is presented, assessing some field scenarios in which my questions about shamanic power, illness and therapy turned out to have unintended but negative effects on my interlocutors’ well being. For this reason, applying this perspective on the ethnography of shamanism could improve the epistemological and political awareness of this intersubjective process of knowledge construction.
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 |