The Role of Shamans in Shifting Constructions of Territory and Territorial Governance

• In Event: Titling Indigenous Territories: ambivalences, conflicts, legacies (Session 1)

Abstract

Among Kichwa in the Upper Napo region of the Amazon, most misfortune, illness, and death is blamed on shamans who have gone wrong. “Good” shamans, on the other hand, are actively and frequently consulted to resolve disputes and cure illness. Because of the power shamans continue to wield, indigenous territorial and political leaders often find themselves competing with them for people’s allegiances, yet simultaneously fear the harm they believe sorcery can cause. This paper uses Herzfeld’s (1997) concept of “cultural intimacy” to understand how belief in sorcery has long been treated by indigenous politicians as a disreputable feature of indigenous culture, even as they continue to hire shamans to protect them from enemies. I then examine how an international turn to multiculturalism and the work of indigenous activists has placed shamanism at the forefront of indigenous claims to cultural difference and to their demands for legally-delimited territories. By tracing the historical shifts in indigenous politicians’ treatment and portrayal of shamanistic practice, I reveal the tensions between the formal idealization of collective self-presentation and what Herzfeld terms the "affectionate embarrassment of collective self-recognition." I also reveal the complex tensions between international aspirations for a particular kind of multiculturalism (especially for indigenous territories), and the day-to-day complications of territorial governance.

Author

• Juliet S Erazo, Florida International University