Forest Shamanism in the City: The Kaxinawá Example

Abstract

Setting out from interactions experienced throughout four years of field work studies, I focus on a therapeutic ritual involving ayahuasca consumption led by two young Kaxinawá shamans. The article undertakes the discussion of the equivocal compatibilities that make possible the interaction between Amerindians and non-Amerindians in this context. Citing a number of interactive contexts beyond the rite's space-time axis, the text explores the sense of mutual understanding that occurs thanks to a 'synonymous effect'. This effect places spirits and mythological beings, for example, on the same psychological and sentimental level, creating a metaphorical continuum between those involved in the communication. Ethnographic data suggests that urban Nixi Pae rites explore the equivocal compatibility between two terms that give rise to this communication context: Yube and the unconscious.

La sanación desde otro paradigma: neochamanismos y su emergencia global en el caso español

“…Una de ellas fue el chamanismo que, durante los años 60, tal como apunta von Stuckrad, en línea con los planteamientos de Eliade, Jung y Joseph Campbell, se convirtió en una nueva forma de comprensión de las relaciones humanas y la naturaleza, de las habilidades humanas para el acceso a niveles espirituales de la realidad y de llevar una vida respetuosa con el "alma sagrada de la creación" (von Stuckrad, 2014, p. 166). A partir de entonces, el chamanismo ya no fue un camino limitado a las culturas chamánicas clásicas, sino que se consideró al alcance de todos y se expandió, incluso, a los contextos urbanos alejados de la naturaleza en un proceso de recuperación de prácticas chamánicas que se insertan en itinerarios terapéuticos y en circuitos globales (Coutinho, 2016;Labate, 2004;Langdon, 2013;Magnani, 2000;Maluf, 2003). 5 Por ello, los procesos sociológicos, psicosociales, macroeconómicos y sociopolíticos que permean la aparición de un segmento poblacional de consumo para esta emergencia neochámanica han de entenderse desde unas nuevas coordenadas de lo religioso y de su conexión con la sanación.…”

“…"Con el neochamanismo se produce una gran atracción por las herramientas médicas fundamentales de estas otras formas de curar, las llamadas plantas de poder, sagradas o maestras" (Scuro, 2015, p. 173). La ayahuasca, por su parte, posee la capacidad de producir visiones en aquellos que la ingieren, proporcionando así un material psíquico extraordinario que necesita ser interpretado por la persona que busca la cura (Coutinho, 2016). Adolfo viaja constantemente por España y por el extranjero, impartiendo dichos talleres que son producto de su propio bagaje.…”

Anaconda-becoming: Huni Kuin image-songs, an Amerindian relational aesthetics

“…An analysis by Coutinho of the nixi pae rituals administered by the young Huni Kuin shaman Txana Bane and his carioca wife, a Jungian psychologist, during the fi rst decade of 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, pointed in the same direction. Ritual eff icacy depended on Bane singing the right songs in his native tongue to help clear the visions of his clients, while the talking was done by his wife, who translated the visionary experience in terms of an ontology of the collective unconscious and feelings of togetherness she shared with the public, composed mostly of students in psychology (Coutinho, 2016). Eff orts at translating the songs were undertaken, where the pragmatic context of their new setting was as important as the original meaning.…”

The Persistence of Primitivism: Equivocation in Ernesto Neto’s A Sacred Place and Critical Practice

“…9 This article, by doing an equivocal close reading of the work that recognizes both the indigenous practices and the contemporary art influences that have shaped it, questions the simple translatability of images into the conventional conceptual apparatus of art history. 7 Besides (de Castro 2004), see Tiago Coutinho's (2016) article about the urban use of ayahuasca, in which he explores the equivocation between the unconscious and Yube.…”

“…See, for example,(Von Habsburg et al 2016, p. 28).27 About urban nixi pae rites, see(Coutinho 2016).28 It is important to note that during the Tavola Aperta event, Neto explained that the idea for the partnership between him and the Huni Kuin came from the latter: that they invited themselves to join the artist in Spain and participate in his 2014 exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.…”