Shamanism and Armed Conflict – a Case Study of the Interface between Religion and War in Aboriginal South America
Keywords:
shamanism, armed conflict, Amerindians, Gran Chaco, shamanic leadership, divinationAbstract
The main task of the Amerindian shaman has always been the restoration of cosmological harmony, whether it has been on an individual level, like in healing, or on a collective level, like when a village has been affected by an epidemic or any other type of plague. This article wants to bring an aspect to the fore that often has been ignored, the performance of the shaman in cases of armed conflicts. The ethnographic case used here is from the ‗Weenhayek, a group of foragers in the Gran Chaco. Among these, a shaman played an important role in the setting up of a strategy and deciding time and space for the warriors to attack. To understand this combination of two phenomena, that have often been divided into two compartments by scholars, shamanism and war, we suggest a holistic view of Amerindian society, of shamanism, war and society in general.
References
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<li>Alvarsson, Jan-Åke, (1988), The Mataco of the Gran Chaco, An Ethnographic Account of Change and Continuity in Mataco Socio-Economic Organization. Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology, No. 1, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Uppsala/Stockholm. —, (1990), ―The Role of Mataco Mythology in Social Change. The Interdependence of Social Transformation and Indian Mythology in the Bolivian Gran Chaco‖, Scripta Ethnologica, Supplementa, T. VIII, Buenos Aires, pp. 17-22.
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<li>Mashnshnek, Celia Olga, (1973), ―Seres potentes y héroes míticos de los Mataco del Chaco central‖, Scripta Ethnologica, Vol. 1, pp. 105-154.
<li>Métraux, Alfred, (1939), ―Myths and tales of the Matako Indians‖, Etnologiska Studier, Vol. 9, Elanders Boktryckeri, Gothenburg. —, (1946), ―Ethnography of the Chaco‖. in: Julian H. Steward (ed.), Handbook of South American Indians, Vol. 1: 197-370. Washington D C: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology.
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<li>Nordenskiöld, Erland, (1910), Indianlif i El Gran Chaco (Sydamerika). Stockholm: Albert Bonniers (translated into French and German in 1912, reprinted in Swedish in 1926). —, (1926, 1910), Indianliv i El Gran Chaco, Sydamerika, Åhlén & Åkerlunds, Stockholm.
<li>Palavecino, Enrique, (1936/1941), ―Takjuaj, un personaje mitológico de los mataco‖, Revis-ta del Museo de la Plata, Antropología, Vol. 1, No. 7, pp. 245-270.
<li>—, (1964), ―Algunas notas sobre la transculturación del indio chaqueño‖, Runa, Vol. 9, Buenos Aires, pp. 379-389.
<li>Pérez Diez, Andrés A., (1976), ―Textos Míticos de los Mataco del Chaco central, Notas al ciclo de Ka‘o‘o (Ajwitsej ta jwaj), Scripta Ethnologica, Vol. 4, parte 1, pp. 159-189.
<li>Rydén, Stig, (1936), Chaco, Bland fornlämningar och indianer i argentinska och bolivianska Chacoområdet, Förlagsaktiebolaget Västra Sverige, Göteborg.
<li>Santos Granero, Fernando, (1986a), ―The Moral and Social Aspects of Equality amongst the Amuesha of Central Peru‖, Journal de la Société des Américanistes, No. 72, pp. 107-131. —, (1986b). The Power of Love: The Moral Use of Knowledge amongst the Amuesha of Central Peru, Ph.D. dissertation, London School of Economics.
<li>Schaefer, Stacy B., (1993), ―The Loom as a Sacred Power Object in Huichol Culture‖, in: Anderson & Field (ed.), Art in Small-Scale Societies. Contemporary Readings, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New York, pp. 118-130.
<li>Wilbert, Johannes, Simoneau, Karin (ed.), (1982), Folk Literature of the Mataco Indians, UCLA Latin American Studies, Los Angeles.
<li>Witherspoon, Gary, (1982, 1977), Language and Art in the Navajo Universe, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press. —, (1993), ―The Semiotical Geometry of Navajo Weaving‖, in: Anderson & Field (ed.), Art in Small-Scale Societies. Contemporary Readings, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New York, pp. 317-331.
</ul>
<li>Alaminos Guerrero, Luis et al., (1991), Los textiles de Chiapas, Artes de México, Edición Especial, Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas.
<li>Alvarsson, Jan-Åke, (1988), The Mataco of the Gran Chaco, An Ethnographic Account of Change and Continuity in Mataco Socio-Economic Organization. Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology, No. 1, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Uppsala/Stockholm. —, (1990), ―The Role of Mataco Mythology in Social Change. The Interdependence of Social Transformation and Indian Mythology in the Bolivian Gran Chaco‖, Scripta Ethnologica, Supplementa, T. VIII, Buenos Aires, pp. 17-22.
<li>—, (1992), ‖Till sjukhuset, schamanen eller själavårdaren? Diagnos hos matacos, ett samlarfolk i Sydamerika‖, Hälsa och Mission, Vol. 1, Stockholm/Oslo, pp. 13-14. —, (1994), Through the Web of a String-Bag: ‘Weenhayek Culture and Symbolism As Reflected in Caraguatá Artefacts, Precirculated edition of Etnologiska Studier, Vol. 42, Göteborgs Etnografiska Museum, Göteborg. —, (1995), ―Tobacco, Cebil and Shamanism among the ‗Weenhayek. A Few Notes on the Ritual Use of Nicotiana tabacum and Anadenanthera colubrina among the ‗Weenhayek Indians of the Gran Chaco‖, Acta Americana, Vol. 3, No. 2, Stockholm/Uppsala, pp. 117-136. —, (1999), ―Conflictos y guerras entre los ‗weenhayek (mataco-noctenes)‖. in: Mario Califano (red) Mito, guerra y venganza entre los Wichí, Buenos Aires, pp. 231-249. —, (2007), ―El proceso de etno[re]genesis entre los ‗weenhayek del Gran Chaco (1976-2006)‖, Anales, Vol. 9/10, 2006/2007, Special issue: ―Ethnicity in Latin America‖, Gothenburg, pp. 107-135.
<li>Anderson, Richard L. & Field, Karen L. (ed.), (1993), Art in Small-Scale Societies: Con-temporary Readings. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
<li>Arancibia, Ubén Gerardo, (1973), Vida y mitos del mundo mataco, Ediciones Depalma, Buenos Aires.
<li>Atkinson, Jane Monnig, (1992), ―Shamanisms Today‖, Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 21, 1992, pp. 307-330.
<li>Braunstein, José A., (1976), ―Los wichí, Conceptos y sentimientos de pertenencia grupal de los Mataco‖, Scripta Ethnologica, Vol. IV, parte I, pp. 131-144. —, (1978), ―Las bandas mataco‖. Gentilicios. Scripta Ethnologica, Vol. 5, parte I, pp. 82-90.
<li>—, (1983), Algunos rasgos de la organización social de los indígenas del Gran Cha-co. Trabajos de etnología, Publicación No. 2. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de filosofía y letras. Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas. —, (1993), ―Territorio e historia de los narradores matacos‖, in: Braunstein (ed.) Hacia una nueva carta étnica del Gran Chaco, Las Lomitas, Chaco, pp. 4-74.
<li>Califano, Mario, (1973), ―El ciclo de Thokwjwaj: análisis fenomenológico de una narración mítica de los mataco costaneros‖, Scripta Ethnologica, Vol. I, pp. 157-186. —, (1977), ―El chamanismo de los mataco‖, Cuadernos Franciscanos, No. 41, Itine-rario 5, pp. 157-167. —, (1999) (editor), Mito, guerra y venganza entre los Wichí, Buenos Aires.
<li>Califano, Mario & Dasso, Maria Cristina, (ed.), (1999), El chamán wichi, Buenos Aires.
<li>Fock, Niels, (1963), ―Mataco Marriage‖, Folk, Vol. 5, pp. 91-102. —, (1966), ―Mataco Law‖, XXXVI Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Vol. 3, Sevilla, pp. 349-353.
<li>—, (1966/1967), ―Mataco Indians in their Argentine setting‖, Folk, Vol. 8-9, pp. 89-104.
<li>—, (1982), ―History of Mataco Folk Literature and Research‖, in: Wilbert, Jo-hannes/Simoneau, Karin (ed.), Folk Literature of the Mataco Indians, UCLA Latin American Studies, Los Angeles, pp. 1-33.
<li>Hunt, Richard James, (1937), ―Mataco–English and English–Mataco Dictionary‖, Etnolo-giska studier, No. 5, The Ethnographic Museum of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, pp. 1-98.
<li>Illich, Ivan, (1982), Gender, Pantheon, New York.
<li>Isacsson, Sven-Erik, (1993), Transformations of Eternity: on Man and Cosmos in Emberá Thought, Göteborgs Universitet, Socialntropologiska Institutionen, Göteborg.
<li>Jespersson, Mauricio, (1943), ‖Indianliv‖, in: Curt Munthe (ed) Chacofarare berätta, Hugo Gebers Förlag, Stockholm, pp. 89-119.
<li>Karsten, Rafael, (1913), ―La religión de los indios mataco-noctenes de Bolivia‖, Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Buenos Aires, Tomo XXIV, pp. 199-218. —, (1930), ―Ceremonial Games of the South American Indians‖, Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum, Helsinki, Vol. 3, 2, pp. 1-38. —, (1932), ―Indian Tribes of the Argentine and Bolivian Chaco‖, Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum, Vol. 4, 1, Societas Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki/Helsingfors.
<li>Koschitzky, Monica von, (1992), Las telas de malla de los Wichi/Mataco. Su elaboración, su función y una posible interpretación de los motivos, Centro Argentino de Etnología America-na, Buenos Aires.
<li>Mashnshnek, Celia Olga, (1973), ―Seres potentes y héroes míticos de los Mataco del Chaco central‖, Scripta Ethnologica, Vol. 1, pp. 105-154.
<li>Métraux, Alfred, (1939), ―Myths and tales of the Matako Indians‖, Etnologiska Studier, Vol. 9, Elanders Boktryckeri, Gothenburg. —, (1946), ―Ethnography of the Chaco‖. in: Julian H. Steward (ed.), Handbook of South American Indians, Vol. 1: 197-370. Washington D C: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology.
<li>Miller, Elmer S. (ed.), (1999), Peoples of the Gran Chaco, Greenwood Press, Westport.
<li>Nordenskiöld, Erland, (1910), Indianlif i El Gran Chaco (Sydamerika). Stockholm: Albert Bonniers (translated into French and German in 1912, reprinted in Swedish in 1926). —, (1926, 1910), Indianliv i El Gran Chaco, Sydamerika, Åhlén & Åkerlunds, Stockholm.
<li>Palavecino, Enrique, (1936/1941), ―Takjuaj, un personaje mitológico de los mataco‖, Revis-ta del Museo de la Plata, Antropología, Vol. 1, No. 7, pp. 245-270.
<li>—, (1964), ―Algunas notas sobre la transculturación del indio chaqueño‖, Runa, Vol. 9, Buenos Aires, pp. 379-389.
<li>Pérez Diez, Andrés A., (1976), ―Textos Míticos de los Mataco del Chaco central, Notas al ciclo de Ka‘o‘o (Ajwitsej ta jwaj), Scripta Ethnologica, Vol. 4, parte 1, pp. 159-189.
<li>Rydén, Stig, (1936), Chaco, Bland fornlämningar och indianer i argentinska och bolivianska Chacoområdet, Förlagsaktiebolaget Västra Sverige, Göteborg.
<li>Santos Granero, Fernando, (1986a), ―The Moral and Social Aspects of Equality amongst the Amuesha of Central Peru‖, Journal de la Société des Américanistes, No. 72, pp. 107-131. —, (1986b). The Power of Love: The Moral Use of Knowledge amongst the Amuesha of Central Peru, Ph.D. dissertation, London School of Economics.
<li>Schaefer, Stacy B., (1993), ―The Loom as a Sacred Power Object in Huichol Culture‖, in: Anderson & Field (ed.), Art in Small-Scale Societies. Contemporary Readings, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New York, pp. 118-130.
<li>Wilbert, Johannes, Simoneau, Karin (ed.), (1982), Folk Literature of the Mataco Indians, UCLA Latin American Studies, Los Angeles.
<li>Witherspoon, Gary, (1982, 1977), Language and Art in the Navajo Universe, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press. —, (1993), ―The Semiotical Geometry of Navajo Weaving‖, in: Anderson & Field (ed.), Art in Small-Scale Societies. Contemporary Readings, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New York, pp. 317-331.
</ul>
