Shamanism. A field of articulation of colonizers and colonized in the Colombian Amazon region

Abstract

This paper examines shamanism as a historically situated praxis. The study of shamanism is of great importance for the understanding of the way in which the local, indigenous population appropriate or articulate within their own traditions, new concepts introduced by the settlers. The various interpretative communities respond in different ways in accordance with their particular needs or interests, employing, contesting, manipulating or supporting shamanism in order to give meaning to their contact situation Particular reference is made to three such communities in the Sibundoy valley (on the eastern slopes of the Andes, in the department of Putumayo). These consist of the indigenous shamans, the catholic missionaries who first reached the area in the sixteenth century and the mestizos (the locally-born, non-indigenous population) who, with the white settlers, share the territory with the indigenous groups. Rather than attempting to establish which of these groups is the "authentic" bearer of shamanistic knowledge, it becomes clear that elements from the different cultures are merged and gradually become accepted as traditional.