The Three Halves of Ino Moxo

The Three Halves of Ino Moxo PDF

Author: César Calvo

Publisher: Inner Traditions

Published: 1995-01-01

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780892815197

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Award-winning Peruvian author Cesar Calvo takes us on a quest through the mysterious, dreamlike world of powerful Amazonian sorcerers.

Singing to the Plants

Singing to the Plants PDF

Author: Stephan V, Beyer

Publisher: UNM Press

Published: 2010-01-15

Total Pages: 477

ISBN-13: 0826347312

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In the Upper Amazon, mestizos are the Spanish-speaking descendants of Hispanic colonizers and the indigenous peoples of the jungle. Some mestizos have migrated to Amazon towns and cities, such as Iquitos and Pucallpa; most remain in small villages. They have retained features of a folk Catholicism and traditional Hispanic medicine, and have incorporated much of the religious tradition of the Amazon, especially its healing, sorcery, shamanism, and the use of potent plant hallucinogens, including ayahuasca. The result is a uniquely eclectic shamanist culture that continues to fascinate outsiders with its brilliant visionary art. Ayahuasca shamanism is now part of global culture. Once the terrain of anthropologists, it is now the subject of novels and spiritual memoirs, while ayahuasca shamans perform their healing rituals in Ontario and Wisconsin. Singing to the Plants sets forth just what this shamanism is about--what happens at an ayahuasca healing ceremony, how the apprentice shaman forms a spiritual relationship with the healing plant spirits, how sorcerers inflict the harm that the shaman heals, and the ways that plants are used in healing, love magic, and sorcery.

Plant Theory in Amazonian Literature

Plant Theory in Amazonian Literature PDF

Author: Juan R. Duchesne Winter

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-07-09

Total Pages: 103

ISBN-13: 3030181073

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This book discusses new developments of plant studies and plant theory in the humanities and compares them to the exceptionally robust knowledge about plant life in indigenous traditions practiced to this day in the Amazonian region. Amazonian thinking, in dialogue with the thought of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Emanuele Coccia and others, can serve to bring plant theory in the humanities beyond its current focus on how the organic existence of plants is projected into culture. Contemporary Amazonian indigenous literature takes us beyond conventional theory and into the unsuspected reaches of vegetal networks. It shows that what matters about plants are not just their strictly biological and ecological projections, but the manner in which they interact with multiple species and cultural actors in continuously shifting bodies and points of view, by becoming-other, and fashioning a natural and social diplomacy in which humans participate along with non-humans.

Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man

Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man PDF

Author: Michael T. Taussig

Publisher:

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13:

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Working with the image of the Indian shaman as Wild Man, Taussig reveals not the magic of the shaman but that of the politicizing fictions creating the effect of the real. "This extraordinary book . . . will encourage ever more critical and creative explorations."--Fernando Coronil, [I]American Journal of Sociology[/I] "Taussig has brought a formidable collection of data from arcane literary, journalistic, and biographical sources to bear on . . . questions of evil, torture, and politically institutionalized hatred and terror. His intent is laudable, and much of the book is brilliant, both in its discovery of how particular people perpetrated evil and others interpreted it."--Stehen G. Bunker, Social Science Quarterly

Wizard of the Upper Amazon

Wizard of the Upper Amazon PDF

Author: Manuel Cordova-Rios

Publisher: Legare Street Press

Published: 2023-07-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781019370667

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Join anthropologist F. Bruce Lamb on a journey to the upper reaches of the Amazon River, where he encounters the enigmatic shaman Manuel Cordovarios and learns the secrets of the indigenous people's spiritual practices. With vivid descriptions of the region's ecology and Cordovarios' mesmerizing shamanic rituals, this book offers a fascinating glimpse into a little-known corner of the world. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Ayahuasca Experience

The Ayahuasca Experience PDF

Author: Ralph Metzner

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-03-02

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1620552639

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An exploration of the chemical, biological, psychological, and experiential dimensions of ayahuasca • Details the scientific discovery of ayahuasca’s sophisticated psychoactive delivery system in the brain and body and its potential applications in medicine and psychology • Includes contributions from Dennis J. McKenna, Ph.D., J. C. Callaway, Ph.D., and Charles S. Grob, M.D., on the ethnopharmacology, psychology, phytochemistry, and neuropharmacology of ayahuasca • Provides 24 firsthand accounts of ayahuasca experiences and resulting life changes Widely recognized by anthropologists as the most powerful and widespread shamanic hallucinogen, ayahuasca has been used by native Indian and mestizo shamans in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador for healing and divination for thousands of years. Made from the Amazonian vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the DMT-laden leaf of Psychotria viridis, ayahuasca is regarded as the embodiment of intelligent plant beings who can offer spiritual teachings and healing knowledge to those who respectfully engage with them. Many Western-trained physicians and psychologists now acknowledge that ayahuasca allows access to spiritual dimensions of consciousness, otherworldly realms and beings, and visionary experiences indistinguishable from classic religious mysticism. With contributions from leading psychoactive scholars Dennis J. McKenna, Ph.D., Charles S. Grob, M.D., and J. C. Calloway, Ph.D., on the ethnopharmacology, psychology, phytochemistry, and neuropharmacology of ayahuasca, Ralph Metzner provides a comprehensive exploration of the chemical, biological, psychological, and experiential dimensions of this Amazonian hallucinogen. He includes more than 20 firsthand accounts from people who have participated in ayahuasca rituals and experienced major life changes as a result. He details the scientific discovery of ayahuasca’s sophisticated psychoactive delivery system in the brain and body as well as the deep psychological impact of this potent entheogen. He concludes with his own findings on ayahuasca, including its applications in medicine and psychology, and compares the worldview revealed by ayahuasca visions to that of modern cultures.

Baure

Baure PDF

Author: Swintha Danielsen

Publisher: Phoenix Books, Inc.

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 510

ISBN-13: 9789057891557

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This book is first and foremost a grammatical description of Baure, a seriously endangered language from Bolivian Amazonia. Baure belongs to the Southern Arawak language family and it forms part of the Guapor -Mamor linguistic area. This book is the first detailed and comprehensive grammatical description of Baure, covering its phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse stucture. It is based on the author's extensive fieldwork in Bolivia in 2003, 2004, and 2006. The book furthermore addresses the historical, cultural, and sociolinguistic background of the speakers of Baure. Special attention is given to th e complex (morpho)phonological processes within a phonological phrase, the rich noun classification system, the distinction of verbal and non-verbal predicates with respect to the argument marking pattern, the three-level distinction of verbal morphology, and specific clause types based on different nominalization strategies, which also play an important role in clause subordination. The relation to the surrounding Southern Arawak languages Trinitario, Ignaciano, and Paunaca is investigated through comparison of the lexicon and the grammar. The appendices contain different text types, lists of grammatical morphemes, classifiers, and the Swadesh 200 word list. It is a highly valuable addition to our knowledge of South American languages and cultures in general and the Arawak languages in particular. This book is aimed at linguists from all backgrounds and is of special interest to typologists, historical linguists, Arawakanists, Americanists, and anthropologists. It is also an important record of a dying language for its speech community and their descendants.

Decolonial Approaches to Latin American Literatures and Cultures

Decolonial Approaches to Latin American Literatures and Cultures PDF

Author: Juan G. Ramos

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-09-21

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1349933589

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Decolonial Approaches to Latin American Literatures and Cultures engages and problematizes concepts such as “decolonial” and “coloniality” to question methodologies in literary and cultural scholarship. While the eleven contributions produce diverse approaches to literary and cultural texts ranging from Pre-Columbian to contemporary works, there is a collective questioning of the very idea of “Latin America,” what “Latin American” contains or leaves out, and the various practices and locations constituting Latinamericanism. This transdisciplinary study aims to open an evolving corpus of decolonial scholarship, providing a unique entry point into the literature and material culture produced from precolonial to contemporary times.