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Traces of poisoning in this story - Invisibility and ayahuasca over the centuries in the Matsigenka (Peruvian Amazon).


Pages: 349 - 378

Abstract

Based on ethnographic data from matsignka shamans and more specifically from Yoshiriaga, I will begin in this article by describing the intoxication ritual and the attached representations. I will then refer to the campa historiography, which retains traces of shamanic activity related to white people and their predation activities, and highlight architectural features of poisoning and transformation. Finally, I will focus on the analysis of the oldest testimony, dated 1702, of the use of kamarampi in the Matsignka, emphasizing the presence of cosmology-related figures, which remain very important today. In doing so, I will show that, as the regional vicissitudes, these hallucinations offer such a regularity of the extraordinary that they can support experimental learning of traditional knowledge.