spring /summer 2009

viennese ethnomedicine newsletter

I N S T I T U T E F O R T H E H I S T O RY O F M E D I C I N E , M E D I C A L U N I V E R S I T Y O F V I E N N Aq u o n d a m A C A D E M I A C A E S A R E O - R E G I A I O S E P H I N A 1 7 8 5

unit ethnomedicine and international health

volume XI number 2-3

Ch’uqila dancers

ISSN 1681-553X

Submissions, announcements, reports or names to be added to the mailing list, should be sent to:Editors, Viennese Ethnomedicine Newsletter, Centre for Public Health, Unit Ethnomedicine andInternational Health, Währinger Strasse 25, A-1090 Vienna, AustriaFAX: (++)43-1-42779634, e-mail: ruth.kutalek@meduniwien.ac.athomepage: http://www.univie.ac.at/ethnomedicine

Frontispiece The ch’uqilas originates from the Titicaca Lake region and is mainly danced in the dry season. Its namealready reveals a strong connection with tubers: ch’uqi means potato in Aymara. Two more revealingwords are found in its name: illa (amulet, talisman) or iluña (to sow). As a matter of fact not only thech’uqilas, but also the very similar qharwani (literally: the one who owns a llama) and mukululu/pusip’ía (the ants’ dance/four holes – referring itself to the quena flute) from the same region are mainlydanced in connection with the sowing and harvest of the tubers. The most striking part of the costumeused by Ch‘uqila dancers is the 1.20 meters high, eye-catching ch’uqilpanqara, a headdress made offeathers resembling the flowering of the tubers in the sprouting period. It is worn by the male dancerswho execute different choreographical figures playing their quena flutes and moving in serpentine lines.

(photo: Peter McFarren; see article Sigl this issue)

Viennese Ethnomedicine Newsletteris published three times a year by the Unit Ethnomedicine and International Health,

Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

Editors in chief

Ruth Kutalek, Unit Ethnomedicine and International Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Armin Prinz, Unit Ethnomedicine and International Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Co-editor of this issue

Yvonne Schaffler

Editorial board

John Janzen, University of Kansas; Wolfgang Jilek, University of British Columbia; Sjaak van der Geest, University of Amsterdam; Manfred Kremser, University of Vienna;

Wolfgang Kubelka, University of Vienna; Guy Mazars, University of Strasbourg; Rogasian Mahunnah, University of Dar es Salaam; Traude Pillai-Vetschera, University of Vienna;

Jun Takeda, University of Saga; Zohara Yaniv, Volcani Center, Israel

ContentEditorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Medicinal Plants Use in the Dominican Republic: A Delicate Topic (Yvonne Schaffler) . . . . . . 3Where Bulls and Tubers Dance. The Relation between Fertility, Dance and Garments in the Bolivian Central Andes (Eveline Sigl) . 10Shipibo-Konibo Art and Healing Concepts: A Critical View on the “Aesthetic Therapy” (Bernd Brabec de Mori, Laida Mori Silvano de Brabec) . . . . . . . 18Adapting and Including Western Treatment Methods in the Holistic Concept of Health Care of the Tarahumara in NW Mexico (Evelyne Puchegger-Ebner) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Project Report: Inviting an Indigenous Healer from the Peruvian Amazon to Austria (Bernd Brabec de Mori, Yvonne Schaffler) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Obituary Nina Etkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

ISSN 1681-553X

3

Introduction

Dominican physicians and botanists claim thatherbal remedies used by Creole1 healers wouldbe poisonous and lead to a constant intoxicationof those who frequently consume them (Roersch1999: 199ff.). Even though there is a generalresistance against Creole healers on the part ofthe representatives of biomedicine, the problemdoes not only lie in the rivalry between the twosystems. In fact, toxic plants are an importantcomponent of the Dominican Creole medicineand their purging effects are used in order toextract bad fluids and agents from the patients’ bodies. The present article discussesthe origin of the mentioned ideas aboutmedicinal plants and the Dominican Creole con-ception of the body, and it tries to explorewhether these plants represent a serious

threat to the health of Creole healers’ patientsor not.

At the same time the following contributionsummarizes some aspects of my doctoral thesisin Medical Anthropology, focussing in Creolemedicine, spirituality and identity, emphasizingthe socio-cultural aspects of healing. It wasfinished in the beginning of 2008 after spendinga total of eleven months doing qualitativefieldwork in the Southwest of the DominicanRepublic (Schaffler 2008). Since most of thehealers I worked with used medicinal plantseither one way or another, I decided to takeinto account botanical aspects as well. For thispurpose together with my informants – most ofwhom are Creole healers – I collected 130samples of plants and seeds which supposedlyhad medicinal effects.2

Editorial

The Viennese Ethnomedicine Newsletter’s present issue contains articles written by members of thescientific association EMLAAK (Ethnomedical working group emphasizing on Latin America). TheEMLAAK association defines itself as an affiliate organisation of the Austrian EthnomedicalSociety with a regional focus on Latin America and at this point would like to express its gratitudefor being invited to edit the present issue. The topics covered range from an ethno-nutritionalcontribution about the potato’s presence in the dances, rituals and textiles of the Bolivian high-lands to parallel medicine systems in Mexico, Peruvian textiles and paintings in the ethnomedicalcontext and the use of medicinal plants in the Dominican Republic.

The scientific association EMLAAK founded in 2006 and located in Vienna sees itself as an inter-face facilitating ethnomedical exchange and intercultural contact not only between scholars ofdiverse disciplines (medical anthropology, medicine, ethnomedicine, ethnobotany, psychologyetc.), but also between interested non professionals and representatives of different LatinAmerican medical systems. Regular meetings provide the basis for getting to know each other andare a means of technical exchange among scholars. However, the lectures organized by EMLAAKnot only foster the scientific exchange, but also try to address a broader non-scientific public. Atthe moment we focus on Latin America, but depending on the growth of our association and theaudience interested in our activities there will be possibilities of including other regional areas. Themajority of the lecturers has emerged from the cultural and social anthropology area, but there arelecturers with other scientific backgrounds including musicology, botany and psychology as well.EMLAAK is to be found in the World Wide Web under www.emlaak.org.

Yvonne Schaffler

Medicinal Plants Use in the Dominican Republic: A Delicate Topic

Yvonne Schaffler

4

The Dominican “Medico-Scape”

As in most Latin American countries, theDominican “medical landscape” is divided intotwo large sectors, a formal and an informal one.The first broadly fits into the concept ofbiomedicine and consists of the governmentalpublic healthcare system as well as of diverseprivate healthcare facility institutions. Itsservices are known as the medicina de lafarmacia (pharmaceutical medicine), medicinade los médicos (medicine of the doctors) ormedicina científica (scientific medicine). Theinformal sector is represented by the localhealers and subdivided into various sectorsitself, plant medicine and “witchcraft” being thepredominating ones. If medicinal plants areused, people talk about medicina de plantas dela tierra (medicine of the plants of the earth).On the other hand spiritual practices areusually summarized under the term brujería(witchcraft), which often, but not forcinglycarries a negative connotation (Roersch 1999:197). In addition to these two large categoriesthere are many smaller subcategories of healingactivities. Among the different types of practi-tioners one can find botellero/as (people whoare specialized in preparing healing elixirs),caballos de misterios (“spirit-horses” –believers who are “mounted” or possessed byspirits), cojemuertos (the ones that catch thesouls of the dead) and ensalmador/as (peoplewho heal with the help of prayers and spells).Furthermore most of the healers combine ritualtechniques with the use of plant medicine andsomebody who is “mounted” by the spiritsmight not only give advice, but also prescribeherbal infusions to his/her patients. However,focusing on the two main categories of themedicine using the plantas de la tierra andbrujería it can be said that the first is morebroadly accepted within society, since thetherapeutic use of plants may be understood inrather scientific terms than the spiritual prac-tices frequently associated with “superstition” –especially by members of the more privilegedsocial classes (Schaffler 2008: 25ff).

Medicinal Plants and their AdministrationWithin the Creole Herbal Medicine

As part of the Antilles Hispañola is the islandwith the second largest diversity of plants (ofwhich about 36% are endemic), only surpassed

by Cuba. However, although especially themountainous regions host different and veryrich natural habitats, the single endemic plantsoften only cover relatively small areas.Unfortunately, due to the exploitation anddestruction of their habitats, many species arealready severely endangered (Roersch 1994:14).

The use of medicinal plants goes back to thepre-Columbian era, where people cultivatedthose plants that were most important to them(Garcia, Roersch 1996: 154). Today, people onthe countryside still grow herbs, bushes andtrees that serve as remedies, or at least theyknow where to find them – either in theneighbour’s yard or in some place outside thecultivated areas. In the cities, medicinal plantsare available on the markets in so calledbotánicas. Since the plants are frequently usedas domestic remedies, their cultivation andstorage is not limited to Creole healers.

Plantas de la tierra mostly are ingested in acombined way and it is said, that the morecomplicated a disease is the more complex theremedy has to be. Thus, for the curing of onedisease up to ten different plants might berequired. The techniques applied for the prepa-ration of herbal medicine vary from squeezingout the juice of plants or the oil of seeds, brew-ing decoctions, preparing macerations, grindingparts of plants to powder, to the mixing ofointments (Brendbekken 1998: 101).

The most common form of administering herbalmedicine is called botella (bottle). The termrefers to the bottles where herbal decoctions or

Fig. 1: Seller of herbal supplies, mercado modelo,Santo Domingo (photo: Yvonne Schaffler)

5

rum pickled herbal material are stored. In thecase of the decoctions, different kinds of uncutherbages are combined with pieces of roots andbarks and cooked for at least half an hour. Ifthe herbal material is pickled in rum or redwine, pieces of roots or bark, spices and toastedseeds are the main ingredients. Non-herbalsubstances such as iron powder, minerals,vitamins; malt drinks, antacids, aspirin, andlaxatives (i.e. magnesium hydroxide) may alsobe part of a botella. For better storability, greatamounts of sugar or honey are added to theherbal infusions. Only in urban areas peopleoften store their botellas inside the refrigeratorand therefore do not use sugar any more.Botellas prepared with malt and vitalsubstances usually serve to cure malnutritionand anaemia, whereas those with herbalingredients and/or laxatives are used to boostfertility, to clean a mother’s uterus after givingbirth, to cure diseases such as pecho apretado(“tight chest”), rheumatism, padrejón or madre(a stomach-ache either affecting men or women)

or serve as agents for a general cleansing andstrengthening of the blood (Schaffler 2008: 194ff).

Creole Conceptions About the Human Body

Within the Creole conception of the humanbody it is thought that the blood, as the mostimportant life-maintaining substance of thehuman body, must be kept “clean”. It has to beof fresh and red colour, neither dark, nordiluted. Immoderate lifestyle including theconsumption of alcohol, cigarettes, hot spices,pork, eggs, wheat and certain kinds of fruitmay “spoil” the blood. In case the blood hasbecome “dirty” and therefore is “thick andheavy”, it cannot circulate properly and theresulting constipation of the blood vessels mightnot only lead to cansancio del corazón (tired-ness of the heart), paro de la circulación(stagnancy of cirulation) or trombosis, but alsoprovoke body odour, skin rush and ulcers. Thecondition of “dirty” blood is associated with“heat” and furthermore with anger, because“hot” blood tends to rise up into the head,where it causes frenesí (franticness). Moreoverthe circulation of the blood may be affected byexternal influences like injuries where theresulting haematomas or swellings are seen as“coagulated blood” that has lost its ability tocirculate (Schaffler 2008: 136ff).

Coldness that penetrates the human body isthought to be dangerous. It strikes especiallypeople who are in a state of “heat”, for exampleduring or directly after heavy physical work orafter having spent time in the sun. It leads tothe paralysis of parts of the body, a syndromecalled ’pa’mo (from espasmo; spasm) and itmay be caused for example by drinking a coldglass of water or jumping into cold water with-

Fig. 2: Herbalist preparing a botella on the base ofwine and the roasted seeds of guaymate (c.f. Mucunaadans.) for the purpose of “cleaning her patients’kidneys”, Ciudad de San Cristóbal (photo: YvonneSchaffler)

Fig. 3: Botellas sold at Santo Domingo’s mercadomodelo (photo: Yvonne Schaffler)

6

out cooling-down first. ’Pa’mo can be lethal, ifnothing is undertaken to remove it. In order toget rid of the cold, which is seen as intrudednoxa, the provocation of vomiting or diarrhoeamight be required. Blood spoiled by immode-rate consumption of drink and tobacco, as wellas other noxious liquids flowing inside the bodysuch as mucus or pus, may be removed thesame way. Rheumatism, skin problems orchronic diseases such as presión alta (highblood pressure) or azúcar are seen as directconsequences of “bad” blood and therefore alsotreated through purging (Schaffler 2008: 143f).

A further category of a humoral disease iscalled desasurdo. It is caused by the violationof a social taboo and basically affects the femalebody during puberty, menstruation and child-birth. As adolescent girls are deemed to have anunbalanced and “hot” body and the ingestion ofcertain kinds of food – mostly fruits and sometypes of meat and fish – would make theirbodies even hotter and cause “inadequatebehaviour” and skin problems its consumptionis forbidden. During the periods of menstrua-tion, pregnancy and the beginning of meno-pause women are said to suffer from a slightdisturbance of their blood circulation, whichresults in swollen legs, skin problems or attacksof heat. Especially during menstruation andafter giving birth these disorders make the body“leak” and “open”, something deemed to beespecially dangerous. Since they easily couldenter the body and spoil the blood, the handlingwith acrid and sour substances such as lemons,or chemicals as for example detergents or hairdye should be avoided. In the case of menstrua-tion, the handling of those substances couldeven lead to a stop of the bleeding and theblood remaining inside the body would thuscause a deathly poisoning. After giving birth,the uterus of a woman has to be cleaned bydrinking of a special sort of botella. Adolescentgirls who ate forbidden food have to drinkbotellas with purging ingredients in order to“cool-down” (Brendbekken 1998: 79ff.,Labourt 1982: 52ff, Schaffler 2008: 144ff.).

Generally speaking it can be said that a disequi-librium within the body, which in the majorityof the cases means a “too much of somethingthat should not be there”, in Dominican Creolemedicine is treated with purging. Even diseasescaused by the intrusion of bad spirits are often

attended the same way. Whether the sickeningagent is “cold”, a certain “hot and acridsubstance” (such as drink and tobacco) or anevil spirit (mostly spirits of the dead that hadbeen sent by evil sorcerers) does not makemuch difference – it entered the body, causedsickness and therefore must be expelled.Depending on the severity of the disease and the preference of the healer who makes theprescription, either mild or strong herbal, butalso chemical laxatives that lead to diarrhoea,vomiting, or both are applied.

Typical plants that are used for the removing ofsickening agents are javilla (Hura crepitansL.), lirio (Amaryllis sp.), peronilla (Abrusprecatorius L.), tabaco (Nicotiana tabacum L.)túatúa (Jatropha gossypifolia L.) and ruda(Ruta chalepensis L.) as well as the crude pulpof green fruits like mango (Mangifera indicaL.) or jigüero (Crescentia cujete L.). Furthercuring effects within Creole herbal medicine areachieved by the freezing of “hot” and thewarming of “cold” symptoms. A headache forexample in some cases is seen as a hot symptomand therefore must be cooled down by puttingfresh and chilly ayoama-leaves (Cucurbita pepoL.) on the forehead. Swellings e.g. caused byjoint distortions or pulled ligaments are treatedwith the fresh and gelatinous pulp of the plantssábila (Aloe vera [L.] Burm.f.) or tuna(Opuntia cochenillifera [L.] Mill.). Ailmentscaused by a lack of “heat”, as for exampleimpotence are treated via the ingestion of spicessuch as pepper, ginger, chili and cinnamon.Besides therapy applying a medication under a“doctrine” of similarity and the principle ofavoidance of the opposite, also the “doctrine ofsignature”3 plays an important role. “Weakblood” that leads to bodily weakness in generalis treated with red substances supposed tofortify the blood such as the red seeds of thebija (Bixa orellana L.), red wine and beef. A “weak brain” that cannot cope with the workwith spirits – a problem that mostly concernspeople who professionally deal with spirits inthe course of their activities as Creole healers –is fortified with the ingestion of a goat’s brain.In this way many plants and substances areused; thorny plants are applied to defend thebody against bad influences, plants with yellowflowers or wood like carga agua (Sennaangustisiliqua [Lam.] H.S.Irwin & Barneby),cadillo tres piés (Pavonia spinifex [L.] Cav.),

7

Sánchez Bain (2003) argue in a similar way andquestion a supposed European origin, becausethe Latin-American system would be reduced tomatters of heat and cold instead of consideringstates like wet and dry as well. Moreover it doesnot deal anymore with the four humours blood,phlegm, yellow bile and black bile, but merelyfocuses on the blood. However, Foster does notdiscard the possibility of a previous hot colddichotomy in some prehispanic cultures, but inhis view there would still be a superpositioncaused by the European system.

My argument against the Amerindian origintheory concerning humoral pathology in theDominican Republic first and foremost is thatthe Indigenous population was seriouslydecimated within the first 50 years afterColumbus’ arrival (Cassá 1987: 46ff.). A signifi-cant influence on the part of the indigenouspopulation on today’s Creole medicine thusseems to be rather unlikely. Second, there ismuch evidence for European derived modes ofthought, both in concepts of disease and intherapy. To give an example there is an illnesswhose denomination (padrejón or madre)depends on the gender of the patient and whichis vaguely described as a stomachache, as some-thing that “jumps up and down inside thestomach”. If the jumping rises up to the head,one could asphyxiate or become maniac. TheEuropean counterpart is what was calledhysteria. The adjective hysteric derives fromthe Greek word for uterus and describes ananxious state of women, whose uterus is notproperly fed with sperm. The uterus thus roamsaround the body, rises up to the head and“bites” the brain. Later, during the MiddleAges, people talked about a “uterus-toad”which would crawl around inside the stomach.Men could also be affected by similar symptoms(Atterer 1997: 51). Considering that theSpanish word madre is another word foruterus, it is obvious, that the disease calledmadre/padrejón is rather of European than ofIndigenous origin.

Concepts of disease and therapy as described inthe Dominican Republic are also to be found inde Esteyneffers (1978; original version in 1712)„Florilegio medicinal de todas enfermedades“.Esteyneffer5 was a Bohemian Jesuit priest wholived in the Mexican colony, where he wrotedown his European medical knowledge. Like

or behuco chino (Smilax coriacea Bello) areused to cure the liver, snake oil is supposed toenhance the flexibility of the body, etc.(Schaffler 2008: 195ff.).

Concepts of Ancient European HumoralPathology Within Dominican Creole Medicine

Concepts about the balance of bodily fluids anddichotomies between hot and cold are to befound all over Latin America. Whether they areof American indigenous or ancient Europeanorigin is part of an intensive academic debate.Following Foster (1987), the aim at maintaininga bodily equilibrium is a simplified version ofthe Spanish medicine during and after the con-quest. The Creole medicine’s roots would thuslie in the Hippocratic-Galenic medicine, whichis based on the Hippocratic-Galenic humoraltheory applying the concept of four elementsconstituting the World and brought to WesternEurope by Arabs and Persians during themiddle-ages. Each of them has a certaincharacteristic: Fire is hot, earth is dry, water ismoist and air is cold. These four constituentelements are analogous to the four humours,circulating within the human body: blood,phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. A healthybody requires that all four fluids are balancedin their proportion one to another (eucrasis);disequilibrium (dyscrasis) may trigger disease.Medical treatment in the Hippocratic-Galenicmedicine is typically administered “by means ofdiet, internal medicine, purging, vomiting,bleeding, cupping, the application of plasters,and the like” (Chevalier, Sánchez Bain 2003:8). During the Renaissance, the Hippocratic-Galenic medicine was revitalized all overEurope and taught as a medical science untilthe early 19th century. Spanish and Portugueseconquerors transferred the system to the socalled New World, where it was diffusedthrough religious delegates and the medicalpersonnel in hospitals and pharmacies as wellas through medical handbooks (recetarios) andthe teachings at universities.4 Foster’s point ofview claims that the Latin-American model ofthe maintenance of the bodily equilibrium is ofEuropean origin. His opinion is opposed to thetheory presented by Butt Colson and DeArmellada (1983), who attest the hot cold-system an Amerindian origin, due to their ownstudies in communities only marginally affectedby the Spanish influence. Chevalier and

8

others he described concepts of diseases like thefrenesí or ’pa’mo – exactly the way they aredescribed within the paradigm of DominicanCreole medicine. He also advised either blood-letting or the ingestion of a spoon full oftobacco, in order to deduce mucus from thebronchial tubes. In addition the root of lirio(Amaryllis sp.) combined with red wine wouldlead to vomiting and thus have the samecleansing effect. In present day DominicanRepublic bloodletting and cupping are notpracticed anymore – at least not by Creolehealers – but up to 30 years ago cupping was awide-spread healing method6.

Toxicity of Medicinal Plants

On the part of the patients, the ingestion ofpurging plants indeed leads to a vivid impres-sion of bad fluids leaving their body. It conveysthem a feeling of cleansing, a feeling of doingsomething effective. The purging effects in samecases may lead in fact to an improvement ofsymptoms – especially in women who are inchildbed and suffer from debilitated pelvicmuscles.7 However, natural scientists such asMarcano Fondeur (1977, 1992) or Robineau(1991, 1993) regard the use of purging plants assomething critical. According to them plantswith purging effects such as javilla (Huracrepitans L.), lirio (Amaryllis sp.), peronilla(Abrus precatorius L.), tabaco (Nicotianatabacum L.) túatúa (Jatropha gossypifolia L.)and ruda (Ruta chalepensis L.) as well as thecrude pulp of green fruits like mango(Mangifera indica L.) or jigüero (Crescentiacujete L.) contain toxic ingredients that affectthe liver, the central nervous system and otherorgans. Furthermore, they also consider thefollowing herbal parts that are according to myinformants frequently used within the Creolemedicine, to be toxic: the leaves of doña ana(Lantana camara L.), guandúl (Cajanus cajanMillsp.), jigüereta (Ricinus communis L),jojoban (Trichilia hirta L.), piñón (Jatrophacurcas L.), túa túa (Jatropha gossypifolia L.),apasote (Chenopodium ambrosioides L.), colade caballo (Equisetum giganteum L.), linocimarron (Leucaena leucocephala [Lam.] deWit), maguey (Agave antillarum Descout.) aswell as the seeds of sapote (Manilkara zapota[L.] P.Royen).

Conclusion

It is an interesting fact, that if the assumption is true that the modell of the balanced bodilyfluids in the Dominican Republic derives fromEurope, todays Dominican physicians argueagainst the ancestry of their own science andnot, as usual, against indigenous medical tradi-tions, which they consider to be useless ornoxious. Yet, the model of the maintenance ofthe bodily equilibrium is an integral part of thecontemporary Dominican Creole medicine, andso is the ingestion of substances with purgingeffects. For this very reason, some NGOsstarted to inform the (mostly rural) populationabout the “correct” use of medicinal plantsalready during the 80s.8 They also publishedbrochures in order to advise the people againstthe ingestion of toxic plants (Roersch 1994).Propably due to the resulting skeptisism, someof the Creole healers I interviewed alreadystarted to use synthetic purges such as magne-sium hydroxide, Epsom salts, or sanasan, anindustrially produced mixture.

Even though the toxicity of the above men-tioned plants cannot be denied from a pharma-cological perspective (Marcano Fondeur 1977,1992; Robineau 1991, 1993), the commonness ofintoxications hardly can be proven (Roersch1999: 199f). Research undertaken by Roerschin two Dominican information centres forintoxications (Centro de Informacion de Drogasy de Intoxicaciones and Centro de Informaciónde Medicamentos y Tóxicos) revealed that noteven one case of intoxication caused bymedicinal plants had ever appeared on therecords (1999: 199f). Besides, not all plantsclassified as toxic by Marcano Fondeur (1977,1992) and Robineau (1991, 1993) were actuallyused by my informants in a way that could haveharmed them. The piñon (Jatropha curcas L.)for example, which by Robineau (1991; 1993) isclassified toxic if orally ingested, by my infor-mants is used rather symbolically. Its wood isbelieved to have special magical powers and it isused to wipe patients with mental problems.The leaves of the guandúl (Cajanus cajanMillsp.), which according to Robineau (1991)should not be ingested because of the plant’scytotoxic activity, are actually used for magicalbathes in order to get rid of a bad spirit pos-sessing the patient’s body. Some of the Mucunaspecies (e.g. Mucuna pruriens DC. and Mucuna

9

urens [ L.] DC.), Marcano Fondeur (1977;1992) classified to be toxic, because their seedpouches cause skin irritations, by my infor-mants are handled with care: The seeds serve astalismans only after the seed pouches areremoved. Due to the fact that the seed pouchescause itching and thus frighten the victims theyare thrown on, they are also used to supportthe process of “bewitching” people (in the senseof “assault magic”). In this case their toxiceffect is consciously used; the plant does notserve as a medical drug. Moreover it has to bemade clear that only a part of the plantsapplied within the Dominican Creole medicinecontain toxic components, which is whyRobineau (1991: 11) divided them into threecategories: “A” (toxic), “B” (not investigatedyet) and “C” (recommendable).

One furthermore has to take into account thatCreole healers do not just prescribe the use ofplants, but listen to the needs of their patientsand answer not only medical questions but alsothe ones that concern private or business-related problems. Most of them have sufficientmedical knowledge to distinguish at leastbetween harmless and harmful diseases. Sincethey are not opposed to biomedicine, theyfrequently convey their patients to a hospital ifthey cannot help. Many patients also attendbiomedical advice and the advice of Creolehealers at the same time. The first helps themwith their symptoms; the second removes thehealth problem “from the root” – either via theadministering of purging plants or throughrituals that are supposed to remove the badspirits.

References

Atterer, M. (1997) Alltagserfahrungen und magischePraktiken in der Volksmedizin des 19. Jahrhunderts inSüddeutschland. Forschungsberichte, 2, UniversitätUlm/Universität Augsburg/Universität München/Universität Leipzig.

Brendbekken, M. (1998) Hablando con la mata.Estudio antropológico de la interdependencia entre “lavida social de las plantas” y la construcción de la iden-tidad campesina en el área fronteriza de la RepúblicaDominicana, Editora Búho: Santo Domingo.

Butt Colson, A.; De Armellada, C. (1983) AnAmerindian derivation for Latin American Creoleillnesses and their treatment. In: Social Science andMedicine, 17, 17, 1229–1248.

Cassá, R. (1987) Historia social y economica de laRepública Dominicana, Vol. 1. Editora Alfa y Omega:Santo Domingo.

Chevalier, J. M.; Sánchez Bain, A. (2003) The Hot andthe Cold: Ills of humans and maize in Native Mexico,University of Toronto Press: Toronto/Buffalo/London.

De Esteyneffer, J. (1978) [1712] Florilegio medicinal detodas las enfermedades, Vol. 1+2. Academia Nacionalde Medicina: México.

Fleischmann, U. (2005) Kreolisierung als sprach-wissenschaftliches und kulturtheoretisches Phänomen.In: Hausberger, B.; Pfeisinger, G.: Die Karibik.Geschichte und Gesellschaft 1492 – 2000. Promedia:Wien, 157–172.

Foster, George M. (1987) On the origin of humoralmedicine in Latin America. In: Medical AnthropologyQuaterly, 1,4, 355–399.

Foster, G. M. (1994) Hippocrates Latin Americanlegacy: Humoral medicine in the New World, Gordonand Breach: Langhorne.

Garcia, R.; Roersch, C. (1996) Politica de manejo yutilicación de los recursos floristicos en la RepúblicaDominicana. In: Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 51,147–160.

Hannerz, U. (1996) Transnational connections.Culture, people, places. Routledge: London.

Labourt, J. (1982) Sana, sana, culito de rana ...Edition Taller: Santo Domingo.

Marcano Fondeur, E. (1977) Plantas venenosas en laRepública Dominicana. Editora Alfa y Omega: SantoDomingo.

Marcano Fondeur, E. (1992) Naturaleza Dominicana.Las plantas venenosas en la medicina popular,http://marcano.freeservers.com/nature/conference/venen.html (28.6.2007).

Moscoso Puello, F.E. (1983) Apuntes para la historia dela medicina de la isla Santo Domingo, Vol. 3: España enel siglo XV, Ediciones de la Universidad Central delEste: San Pedro de Macorís.

Robineau, L. (Ed.) (1993) Hacia una farmacopeacaribeña, Seminario Tramil 5&6, Enda-Caribe/CONAPLAMED: Santo Domingo.

Robineau, L. (Ed.) (1991) Towards a Caribbeanpharmacopea: Scientific research and popular use ofmedicinal plants in the Caribbean, Tramil Workshop 4.Enda-Caribe/Universidad Nacional Autónoma deHonduras: Santo Domingo.

10

The present article is based on the analysis ofvideo films during the three indigenous dance-events Festival de Música y Danza CompiTauca, Festival de Música y Danza of theCDIMA and anata andina. The followingreflections and preliminary results are part ofmy dissertation project about the Bolivian high-land dances and its relations to questions ofgender, identity and power. After an introduc-tion about the importance of the potato andsome general data about the relationshipbetween the agricultural lifecycle, Andeancosmology and rural indigenous dances Iproceed to the description of three dancesbelonging to the rainy and the dry season andthus hope to give a more precise idea about theactual dance practice.

Tubers Matter

Like many other countries Bolivia is affected byurbanization and mass migration into the cities.

However, the economy of its highland depart-ments is still dominated by agriculture, wherethe potatoes play a vital role: they are not onlythe most important staple food, but also animportant part of the Bolivian (rural indigenousas well as urban) identity. Bolivians aregenerally proud of the fact that the potato’sorigins lie in the Titicaca Lake region and thatthere are hundreds of different types of tubersin their country. Ultimately people, NGOs andgovernmental institutions have become moreconscious about maintaining their country’sbio-diversity and thus many peasants are nowtrying to re-introduce or conserve the old localspecies endangered by the uniform seeds formass distribution promoted and sold by thetransnational companies (Proinpa 2009,GENRES 2009, Centro Internacional de laPapa 2009). Talking to white foreigners peoplefrequently mention with a certain irony that a long time ago their potatoes saved theEuropeans from starving. Just by looking at the

Where Bulls and Tubers Dance. The Relation between Fertility, Dance and Garments

in the Bolivian Central AndesEveline Sigl

Roersch, C. (1994) Uso de plantas medicinales en elSur Andino de Perú y la República Dominicana. SeriePlantas Medicinales No. 2. Cuadernos IMD: SantoDomingo.Roersch, C. (1999) The marketing of medicinal,aromatic plants and essential oils in the DominicanRepublic. In: Martino, V. et al. (Hg.) ActaHorticulturae (ISHS), 503, 197-219.Schaffler, Y. (2006) La diversidad de los curanderos enel Suroeste de la Repùblica Dominicana. Algunospensamientos despues de once meses de investigacióndel campo. In: Boletín del Museo del HombreDominicano, 40, 103-115.Schaffler, Y. (2008) Vodú? Das ist Sache der anderen!Kreolische Medizin, Spiritualität und Identität imSüdwesten der Dominikanischen Republik.Dissertation. Universität Wien: Wien.

Notes

1 By Creole I understand the fusion of Spanish (asimplemented during Colonization) and African (asbrought to the country by the slaves) cultural elementsthat have formed Creole culture over the past centuries(Hannerz 1996; Fleischmann 2005)2 The herbal material was identified with the help of

Bruno Wallnöfer, botanist of the Botanical Departmentof the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (The NaturalHistory Museum Vienna). Voucher specimens aredeposited at the museum. Thanks also to thepharmacologist Carles Roersch (founder of theInstituto de Medicina Dominicana) who helped me topreserve my herbal material as long as I stayed in theDominican Republic.3 The doctrine of signatures implies that higher forcesmarked objects with a sign, or “signature”, for theirpurpose. For instance, a plant bearing parts thatresembles human body parts, animals, or other objects,has useful relevance to those parts, animals or objects.The “signature” may also be identified in the environ-ments or specific sites in which plants grow.4 During colonial times the European humoral pathol-ogy was taught at the Dominican Universidad de SantoTomás de Aquino (Moscoso Puello 1983: 122).5 His original German name was Johannes Steinhöffer.6 Conversation with the medical doctor and historianSantiago Sobiesky, City of San Juan de la Maguana,Dominican Republic, 26.8.2005.7 Personal communication with Dr. med. R. Prauser,specialist for gastroenterology and proktology,6.12.2007.8 Among them COSALUP, Enda-Caribe and MUDHA.

11

daily meals of the highlanders one gets an ideaof the importance of the tubers – there is hardlyany food which is not accompanied by potatoesand chuño, the freeze-dried potatoes whichform an integral part of the Bolivian highlanddishes. The process of making chuño has a verylong tradition and was appropriated by the Incain order to prevent famines: as chuño may bekept for years they stored large amounts of the freeze-dried potatoes and in case of foodscarcity allocated them correspondinglythroughout their empire. The productionprocess is fairly simple, but highly dependanton the climate, more precisely on heavy sun-shine at daytime alternating with frosty nights,conditions pleaded for in the ritual dances andofferings of the dry season. At the beginning ofthe process the potatoes are spread out,covered and frozen. Then they are stepped onin order to open their skins and are exposed tothe heavy sunshine at daytime until the sundries them up (Organización de EstadosIberoamericanos 2009). The whole process isrepeated during a few weeks, until the potatoesconvert themselves in small freeze-dried andhard balls, which can only be made eatableafter a few hours’ soaking and boiling.According to the potatoes used there aredifferent types of greyish to nearly black chuñoand the white tunta. However, the importanceof the tubers is not only reflected in the eatinghabits, but also in language, music and dance.Aymara is a very agrocentric language contain-ing lots of different words concerning thepotatoes. There are several words denominatingthe sowing and harvesting of tubers and manynames for the different varieties; raw andcooked potatoes are referred to as ch’uqi andqhati. In some regions there are even specialrhythms and dancing styles corresponding tocertain types of potatoes: in the chaxis dancethere are different songs played for the sourand the sweet potatoes (CDIMA 2003: 16, 23).

The Function of Music and Dance in the Rural Area

Generally speaking music and dance of theBolivian indigenous highlands is inextricablylinked to agriculture and natural phenomena.No matter if it is sowing, the growing of the firstcrops, early and full harvest or the productionof chuño: every single activity is accompaniedby the corresponding rituals which again are

inseparably linked to music, dance, song andpoetry (Quispe 1996: 144, Cavour 2005: 64,Stobart 1994: 35f.). Of course dance also coversimportant societal and identitary dimensionswhich cannot be treated here. Notwithstandingcenturies of Catholic Mission and the worship ofSaints and Virgins the prehispanic gods andgoddesses have not ceased to exist: pachamama(mother earth), the achachilas (mountainspirits), uywiris (gods of the domesticatedanimals), illapa (god of thunder and lighting) orphaxsi (moon) are still worshipped (althoughpartly under Christian names) in order toachieve a maximum agricultural output.Following the Andean concept of reciprocitythere is a constant interchange between thepeople living in “this” world (akapacha) andthe gods inhabiting the upper (alaxpacha) andlower world (manqhapacha). The gods are“fed” with rituals, offerings, music and danceand in turn have to provide optimal conditionssuch as sufficient rain, sun and frost at theright time for the growing of the crops, thechuño production and the procreation of theanimals (Fernández Erquicia 1987: 101,CDIMA 2003: 90, López García 2007: 37f.,45ff., Baumann 1991: 4). Gutiérrez (1992: 121)even uses the term “magic” talking about thedances, which represent a liminal spacebetween mankind, and nature that facilitatesthe oscillating between the different pachas(worlds, temporal spaces or seasons). The lowerworld is seen as the fertile and creative spacewhere the souls of the dead live who similar tothe gods contribute to the positive outcome ofthe harvest and thus must be included in thefestivities and rituals. Unsurprisingly the fertileperiod ritually starts on November 1 and 2when the souls of the defunct are asked forcooperation in the agricultural production cycle(Romero Flores 1997, 2001a, 2001b, Baumann1991: 4).

The Meaning of the Seasons

Following the agricultural production cyclemusic and dance have to accommodate them-selves to the climatic conditions and theseasons. In general the year is split into a rainyseason (jallupacha), ritually marked by allsaint’s day (todos santos) and lasting until theanata/carnival, and a longer dry season(awtipacha), both associated with differentmusic instruments, rhythms and dances (López

12

García 2007: 46ff., Stobart 1994: 37f.).Jallupacha is the period of the pinkillos andtarqas which “call the rain” and which areheavily associated with fertility and femininity(CDIMA 2003: 12, 26, 28). Rituals taking placeduring this time emphasize on the growingprogress and have a strongly local, many timeseven familiar character (Baumann 1991: 5).The jubilant end of this season is the anata/carnival, a celebration of the pre-harvest,where the “young” potatoes are feastedexuberantly. Anata means “play” and at thetime of the Incaic Empire was the name of awhole month (February 16 until March 17),where the “new potatoes” were served during“banquets” (Lens Soria 1995). Meanwhile theanata has become superposed by the Christiancarnival so that the end of both ritually marksthe beginning of the dry seasons, associatedwith masculinity and accompanied by panpipesand single cane bamboo quena flutes (Baumann1982).

The dry season is the period of harvest andprocessing, but also the time when regionalfestivities take place. These festivities facilitatethe exchange of products and thus the streng-thening of old and the establishing of new socialties. It is the season of thanksgiving feasts,including the encounter called tinku. Duringthe tinku ritual fistfights among couples of menand women of equal strength are fought and theblood shed is supposed to be an offering formother earth. Nowadays these encounters areassociated nearly exclusively with the culturalarea of Norte Potosí, but formerly they seem to

have been widespread in Oruro and La Paz aswell (Valeriano Thola n.d.: 11f., Baumann1991: 6). Many of the important virgin’s andlocal saint’s celebrations take place from Juneto August, in the period between harvest andthe next sowing and date back to the big Incaicfestivities of the months willka (sun), khuchu(cut) and sata (sowing) (Lens Soria 1995).

The following description of the dancesch’uqilas and waka waka (belonging to the dryseason) and the tarqueada (representing therainy season) wants to show to which extentthese “dances” surpass the common “Western”understanding of the word “dance” and at thesame time wants to emphasize on the unity ofmusic, dance, dance costumes and agriculture.

Ch’uqilas: Tubers Dance

The ch’uqilas originates from the Titicaca Lakeregion and is mainly danced in the dry season.Its name already reveals a strong connectionwith tubers: ch’uqi means potato in Aymara. Afew members of the indigenous cultural centerTAYPI find two more revealing words in itsname: illa (amulet, talisman) or iluña (to sow).As a matter of fact not only the ch’uqilas, butalso the very similar qharwani (literally: theone who owns a llama) and mukululu/pusi p’ía(the ants’ dance/four holes – referring itself tothe quena flute) from the same region aremainly danced in connection with the sowingand harvest of the tubers. Moreover theirdancing outfit is strongly associated with thepotatoes (CDIMA 2003: 52, Chuma Mamani2000: 230, Paredes de Salazar 1976: 108). Themost striking part of the costume used in thethree mentioned dances is the 1.20 meters high,eye-catching ch’uqilpanqara, a headdress madeof feathers resembling the flowering of thetubers in the sprouting period.1

It is worn by the male dancers who executedifferent choreographical figures playing theirquena flutes and moving in serpentine lines (seetitle photo). As various authors discussed in thecontext of textile art and dances from NortePotosí (Gisbert 2006 et al. 277, Platt 1996) thiskind of zigzag-movements and textile designsare associated on the one hand with the serpentand the “underworld” and on the other handwith the lightening and thus with the prehis-

Fig. 1: Indigenous community leader (jilakata) duringthe anata andina (photo: Ulpian Ricardo LópezGarcía)

13

panic weather god illapa and the “upperworld”. Although there don’t seem to be anypublications describing similar images andmovement patterns for the Titicaca Lake regionI tend to see the witnessed dance figures asbased on similar understandings, all relating tofertility and the best possible agricultural out-put. In general, there is a lot of attention put onthe sprouting and flowering of the potatoesreflected not only in the corresponding dancesand dance outfits, but also in the offerings andritual proceedings accompanying the potatoes’lifecycle. As the farmers say, in order to make itsprout and flourish the potato seed is decoratedwith flowers and the peasants themselves haveto be adorned with flowers, so that “motherearth and the potatoes can feel joy and will

provide a good season” (Arnold et al. 1996: 302f.). In the ch’uqilas dance there isanother reference to the potatoes: the coloured,fist-sized „coloured balls full of sand“(samimuruq’us-challa), dangling down from thedancers’ bags in a few rows which are nearly asstriking as the feather-flowers.

They are decorated with varying motives(butterflies, Zs, ants) and symbolize the tubers.In a more metaphoric sense they stand for allthe material and immaterial riches accumulatedby its owner (Chuma Mamani 2000: 230). Butthere is another interesting aspect to the dance:if one looks up choquela (as usually written inSpanish) in Hoguín’s dictionary of Quechua,one finds the word chhoqqeylla, equal tolighting and thunder and its commander illapa(Proinpa 2009) who apart from mother earthheavily influences in the growing of the potatoes.

Waka Thuquri or: The Bull Dancers

There is a whole “family” of waka-dancesbelonging to the Titicaca Lake region, which

Fig. 2: The ch‘uqilpanqara, a headdress made offeathers resembling the flowering of the tubers in thesprouting period (photo: Collection Ethnomedicine)

Fig. 3: Sand-filled samimuruq’us-challas symbolizingthe tubers and the riches accumulated by its owner(photo: Peter McFarren)

14

have one principal actor, the waka, in common:waka thuquri, waka waka, waka tintis andothers. One might easily relate waka to theSpanish vaca (cow), but the word explicitlydenominates the bull put in front of anEgyptian plough transformed into a dancer(Aymara: thuquri). The dancing costumeconsists of a longish framework covered withcattle leather and horns. In the middle there isa hole for the dancer who heavily swings thecostume from one side to the other (sometimesalso up and downwards) while walking rhythmi-cally.

Depending on the region the dancers have theirfaces covered and wear caps with large nandufeathers or just wear a knitted cap adornedwith wig hair and a poncho. Especially olderbibliographical sources often refer to the wakadances as mock dances of the Spanish colonialrule, the Spanish bull fights and the cattle they brought to Bolivia (Paredes 1913: 19).However, drawing on my own observations Iwould say that nowadays this aspect is ratheremphasized on in urban dance processionsaccompanied by brass bands. In the ruralareas, though, two totally different elements areat the core of the representation: the sowingwith the plough and the libation (ch’alla)(CDIMA 2003: 55, 58f., 84, Cavour 2005: 86f.,Comisión de Cultura 2005: 23, 41). In order tomake more understandable the proceedings ofthe dance I first want to introduce the otheractors portrayed in the waka waka. Apartfrom the village leaders who dance with theirleadership staff and sometimes with a mug fullof alcohol there are dancers who carry around3 meters high staffs covered with dyed feathers

and use the bags decorated with the alreadydescribed woolen balls. The k’usillo, oftenforming part of different dances from theTiticaca region, is a main protagonist. Oftenerroneously described as some sort of punch oreven clown, for some he is a remnant fromIncaic times and may best be described as atrickster who establishes many connections tothe Andean cosmovision (Osuna Sotomayor1998: 68 ff). Even though the k’usillos createtheir dancing outfit quite freely there are someunalterable elements: the face part of thecompletely covering cloth mask is alwaysdivided into two parts of different colours andevery k’usillo has a long nose and flexible hornssprouting from his head. Very common, but notcompulsory are the greyish coat with colouredround parches, a white scarf put around thewaist and mummified wild animals, oftendangling from the k’usillo’s back. The dividedface could be a symbol of Andean duality, thelong nose is often referred to as a phallicsymbol of fertility and from my point of viewthe horns represent the sprouting of the sowedtubers.

In his article about the “enchanted tubers” andtheir relation to music in Norte Potosí HenryStobart (1994: 39) refers to the widespreadconcept of “horns” (astas or cuernos) andrelates them to the sprouting tubers, an analogythat also seems to be applicable to the dances inother Bolivian departments. In most of thecases there are various k’usillos who actseparately and dance with rural working toolssuch as the plough, yoke and the mattock. It isthem who pick out two wakas from thenumerous “waka herd” and who put the two

Fig. 4: Waka thuquri – a bull dancer (photo: Peter McFarren)

Fig. 5: Masked k’usillo and ch‘uqila dancers (photo: Peter McFarren)

15

playfully resisting dancers under the yoke.Then they simulate a sowing procedure: inmany case a k’usillo leads the yoke whileanother one takes care of the plough and theremaining k’usillos follow the group joyfully.The symbolic representation is supposed toanticipate a successful sowing and subsequentharvest. The second core element, the libation(ch’alla) carried out by the indigenous villageleader and his wife equally aims at maximizingthe agricultural output. A normal sizedcarrying cloth (aguyao) or a smaller textilecalled tari is laid out, coca leaves are scatteredover the hand-woven cloth and wetted withalcohol. Then the participants (sometimes thereare more village leaders) drink to each other,but pour down quite a big part of their glasses’content as an offering for pachamama (motherearth). Of course a more elaborated ritual table(mesa) containing a few coca leaves, pieces ofsugar pressed into symbolic forms and wrappedup in coloured llama’s wool may be offeredtogether with gaudily dyed pink and violetpieces of sugar, llama’s grease and foetuses.Apart from being a general offering for motherearth during the sowing time the llama’s greaseis spread on the eyes of the potatoes in order tomake them sprout. The sugar is supposed toprovide a sweet meal for the gods and the foe-tuses are deemed to be an especially deliciousoffering for the supernatural beings (Arnold1996: 305ff.). With all this the “dancing bulls”fulfil a very important ritual function which inearlier times was highlighted by the comingtogether of dancing groups from different partsof the village representing the ritual divisioninto “upper half” and “lower half” a practicewhich has practically ceased to exist (CDIMA2003: 44).

Tarqueada: To make the Flowers Dance ...

The tarqa is a wooden flute played from thesowings onwards, but especially during the twomonths before the indigenous anata respec-tively the Catholic carnival, in order to expressthe joy caused by the growing of the seedplants. During the anata, the festivity celebrat-ing the ritual end of the rainy season, the firstyoung tubers may be eaten. In this periodcharacterized by a generalized atmosphere ofjoyfulness and jubilance the newly born animalsare marked and ritually adorned with woollenflowers and even the plants are supposed to be

rejoicing and eager to dance. The many dancersparticipating in the indigenous anata andinacelebrated in Oruro City do not only wear theflowering twigs, plants, flowers and fruits asnatural jewellery, but also because they want to“share their joy with the plants”. They say:“They are as happy as we are and as they don’thave legs and cannot move we just make themdance like ourselves” (Sergio Chambi and other informants in López García 2007: 72f.,Fernández Erquicia 1992: 170, Lara Barrientos2000: 240).

While the instruments (tarqa) and thus themusic itself hardly vary there are big differ-ences as far as the dancing costumes and theway of dancing are concerned. As López Garcíaputs it very much to the point: there are groupsshowing “indigenous” choreographies andothers which try to imitate “uniformity” andthe structure of mestizo-urban dance forma-tions. “Indigenous” choreographies frequentlyare spatial representations of textile produc-tion. To give an example: there is a figure calledwaraq’aku, which is the name of a woollenslingshot, used in order to push on and scareaway domesticated animals. So the dance triesto imitate the movements of the thread whiletied to a sling by giving it a spatial dimension.

Fig. 6: Tarqueada dancer carrying some of the season’sfirst fruit (photo: Ulpian Ricardo López García)

16

Other choreographical patterns as the q’axcha(Aymara for lighting and thunder) and cebadilla(derived from the Spanish cebada: barley;informant Severino Calizaya in López García2007: 55), not only connect dancing to textileproduction, but also visualize the relations withnature, its fruits and Andean cosmovision.Even after a few hundred years of Christianmission lighting and thunder still are associatedwith prehispanic weather god illapa, whocommands thunderstorms, frost and hail and isworshipped as Tata Santiago (Rösing 1997: 12,Gisbert 2004: 28, Guaman Poma de Ayala 1616:899).

The dancing outfit makes clear reference to theperiod of pre-harvest, although the clothing and the accessory items vary considerably.Some of the dancers just wear a few green twigsof the potato plant while others rather might beassociated with a dancing field of flowers. In the2008 anata andina the carrying cloths of thedancers from the village Marka Huari seemedto bubble over with fresh green; the femaledancers were totally wrapped up in crossedwreaths of green leaves, all of them wore hatsbeautifully decorated with flowers and some ofthem even put on necklaces made of the firstfruits. The male dancers belonging to thetarqueada “awaya” from the Guadalupecanton and to another group from NcondoAyahuaya did not carry any “real” flowers butfrom tip to toe were gorgeously adorned withbrightly coloured t’awra panqaras (woollenflowers). The hat they used is called pantipilluand resembles the form of a flower. It isdecorated with red, blue, bright green, pinkand orange woollen slings that cover the wholehat and hang down over the brim covering morethan half of its bearer. In addition the menwear wreaths of woollen flowers tied to a beltand tied to each other in order to form achromatically coloured “curtain” formingrhomboid patterns which certainly not onlyrepresent the flowering of nature, but also therelation with weaving patterns and concepts ofspatial order. Bright colours and shades alsocharacterize many of the over-skirts of thewomen (aqsus) and carrying cloths, frequentlyassociated with the rainbow. In general many ofthe dancers performing at indigenous proces-sions and festivals emphasize on the relation-ship between de colours of their dancing clothesand nature: green skirts and capes denote the

greening of nature, while yellow, red and pinkskirts are meant to resemble flowers of the samecolour. Grey hats sometimes are associated withclouds; white ones with snow or fog (CDIMA2003: 28, 32, 43f., 61). The coloured lines,broader stripes and patterns of all those hand-woven textiles also refer to the ecozones theirbearers belong to: people coming from the lowervalleys use other colours than the farmers livingin the higher and more arid zones.

As one can gather from López García’s (2007:75f.) comparison of different tarqueada groupsand one pinkillo group from the hamlets ofTotora, Chuquichambi, San Miguel andWayllamarka the accessory items are anotherdifference marker characterizing “indigenous”and “urban” choreographies: While “indi-genous” groups dance with white flags the moreurbanized groups use bags and small hand-woven cloths (taris). As far as their meaning isconcerned there are different interpretations:For some they represent the playing (the literalmeaning of the word anata!) of the flowers inthe wind, others regard them as clouds or,following the indigenous discourse, even as anIncaic symbol of the Incaic kollasuyu regioncomprising Southern Peru and parts of presentday Bolivia (López García 2007: 74).

Approaching the extremely complex researchfield of indigenous Bolivian dance one can onlyagree with Rigoberto Paredes who already in1913 realized that “the indigenous dancescertainly are not a mere pleasure, but a veryserious and important matter connected tomany aspects of public and private life” (1913: 15).

References

Arnold, D. et al. (1996) Madre melliza y sus crías.Ispall mama wawampi. Antología de la papa.Hisbol/ILCA: La Paz.

Baumann, M.P. (1982) Musik im Andenhochland/Bolivien. Kommentar und Aufnahmen.Musikethnologische Abteilung, Museum für Völker-kunde Berlin, Staatliche Museen für PreußischenKulturbesitz: Berlin.

Baumann, M.P. (1991) Música autoctona del Norte dePotosí. Schallplattenbeiheft. Centro pedagógico ycultural de Portales, Fundación Simón I. Patiño &Pro: Cochabamba.

17

Cavour Aramayo, E. (2005) Diccionario enciclopédicode los instrumentos musicales de Bolivia. ProduccionesCIMA, 2. Auflage, La Paz.

CDIMA Centro de desarrollo de la mujer aymaraamuyta (2003) 9 años recuperando y fortaleciendo lamúsica y danza de nuestro pueblo. La Paz: CDIMA.

Centro internacional de la papa, international potatoecenter: http://www.cipotato.org/, 05.01.09

Chuma Mamani, A.R. (2000) Los mukululus dePunkun Uyu en la fiesta de la natividad (Peñas). In:Anales de la reunión anual de etnología. Museo nacionalde etnografía y folklore. MUSEF: La Paz, 229-237.

Comisión de cultura del honorable consejo universi-tario de la universidad mayor de San Andrés (2005)Monografías. Danzas entrada folklórica universitaria.Universidad mayor de San Andrés: La Paz.

Fernández Erquicia, R. (1987) Fiestas tradicionalesaymaras. In: Anales de la reunión anual de etnología.Museo nacional de etnografía y folklore. MUSEF: LaPaz. 97-112.

Fernández Erquicia, R. (1992) La danza andina en elcontexto de la fiesta. In: Anales de la reunión anual deetnología. Museo nacional de etnografía y folklore.MUSEF: La Paz, 167-174.

GENRES – Informationssystem genetische Ressourcen:www.genres.de/infos/pdfs/bd16/16-06.pdf, 05.01.09

Gisbert, T. (2004) Iconografía y mitos indígenas en elArte. Gisbert y Cia: La Paz.

Gisbert, T.; Arze, S.; Cajías, M. (2006) Arte textil ymundo andino. Plural Editores: La Paz.

Guaman Poma de Ayala, F. El primer nueva corónica ybuen gobierno (1615/1616).http://www.kb.dk/elib/mss/poma/,http://base.kb.dk/manus_pub/cv/manus/ManusPage.xsql?nnoc=manus_pub&p_ManusId=253&p_PageNo=899&p_Lang=alt&p_Mode=ocr, S. 899, 10.12.06

Gutiérrez, R. (1992) Chacu. Representación simbólicade la caza de la vicuña: El caso de los sikus choqelas deBelén. In: Anales de la reunión anual de etnología,MUSEF: La Paz. 121-133.

Lara Barrientos, G.M. (2000) Rituales del tiempo delluvias. La estructura base del carnaval de Oruro. In:Anales de la reunión anual de etnología, MUSEF: LaPaz, 239-246.

Lengua Andina:http://www.lenguandina.org/quechua/index.php,05.01.09

Lens Soria, L. (1995) El calendario aymara.Taipinquiri: n.p.

López García, U.R. (ed.) (2007) Anata andino.Máscaras y danzas de los ayllus de Oruro. LatinasEditores: Oruro.

Organización de estados iberoamericanos:www.oei.org.co/sii/entrega11/art03.htm, 05.01.09

Osuna Sotomayor, A. (1998) Significado comunicacio-nal de la danza del khusillo. Tésis. Universidad católicaboliviana “San Pablo”: La Paz.

Paredes de Salazar, E. (1976) Presencia de nuestropueblo: La Paz.

Paredes, R. (1913) El arte en la altiplanicie. Tallerestipograficos de J. Mgl. Gamarra: La Paz.

Platt, T. (1996) Los guerreros de Cristo. Cofradías,misa solar, y guerra regenerativa en una doctrinaMacha (siglos XVIII-XX). ASUR y Plural Editors: La Paz.

Proinpa: http://www.proinpa.org/, 05.01.09

Quispe, F. (1996) Calendario anual de fiestas. In:Anales de la reunión anual de etnología. Museonacional de etnografía y folklore. MUSEF: La Paz,143-174.

Romero Flores, C. R.; Romero Flores, M.A.; RomeroFlores, J. (2002) The Oruro carnival. Images andnarratives. Muela del diablo editores: La Paz.

Romero Flores, J (1997). La Julajula en la fiesta de laCruz. Una aproximación etnográfica. In: Anales de laReunión anual de etnología. Museo nacional de etno-grafía y folklore. MUSEF: La Paz. (2001a) El Carnaval de Oruro. In: Revista cultural.Fundación cultural del banco central de Bolivia. V. 14,La Paz.(2001b) La diablada en el carnaval de Oruro.Significaciones y resignificaciones. In: Anales de lareunión anual de etnología. Museo nacional de etno-grafía y folklore. MUSEF: La Paz.

Rösing, I. (1997) Jeder Ort – ein heiliger Ort. Religionund Ritual in den Anden. Benzinger Verlag: Zürich.

Stobart, H. (1994) Flourishing horns and enchantedtubers: music and potatoes in highland Bolivia. In:British Journal of Ethnomusicology 3, 35-48.

Valeriano Thola, Emmo Emigdio (n.y.). Jula Julas delAltiplano Central. In: 1er Encuentro deEtnomusicología y Danza. Universidad San Franciscode Asis, Instituto de Investigación y Postgrado: La Paz.

Note

1 The Collection Ethnomedicine recently purchasedsuch a headdress together with the correspondingcostume from the author.

18

In this paper we present five objects (threetextiles and two paintings) from Shipibo-Konibo origin that are part of the CollectionEthnomedicine, Unit Ethnomedicine andInternational Health, Medical University ofVienna. First we describe the techniques andcontexts wherein the three embroidered textileswere made. Then we analyze the contents of thetwo paintings as explained by the painters. Bothtextile patterns and painting contents arepresented as connected to indigenous medicalconcepts and to the immanent healing songs.Many anthropologists interpret the patterns to show visions obtained by ingesting thehallucinogenic plant drug ayawaska (a decoc-tion that mainly consists of Banisteriopsis caapiand Psychotria viridis). Ayawaska thus is seenas the foundation of these artistic and medicalideas and methods. In a second part we analyzeinto which extent the assumption can be heldthat art, music, ayawaska and indigenousmedicine are so intensely connected. It appearsthat historically no such connection is evident.Probably through the reinterpretation ofsuggestions by Western researchers and thefollowing mass tourism mainly aimed at theayawaska drinking practice, Shipibo-Konibopeople started to present a “more interesting”medicine to the visitors by merging art, musicand plant drugs into an “aesthetic therapy” asdescribed by various authors.

Introduction

The Shipibo-Konibo1 are a Pano speakingindigenous group of about 45.000 individualswho dwell on the shores of the Ucayali riverand major affluents in the Eastern Peruvianrainforests (Amazon basin). The ethnonymShipibo-Konibo was created during the 20thcentury to substitute the despective termChama – a name that was used by missionariesand travellers to subsume the many small Panospeaking groups they met on the Ucayali river.The Shipibo used to live in extended house-holds, relying mainly on fishing and slash-and-burn agriculture. Today, most communities are

organized in villages of about 100-2000inhabitants and beside the mentionedsubsistence economics many people work inextraction industry (wood, koka, oil), artwork production and tourism. The area theylive in is easily accessed by airplane, bus, orboat, which provides a good supply of tourists and other visitors compared to anyother region of the Amazon lowlands. This isone reason why “ethnic identity” and “indi-genous traditions” are very important to manyof them.

The Collection Ethnomedicine possesses fiveobjects of Shipibo-Konibo origin.2 It obtainedthese objects from the authors of this paperwho gathered them in Peru in 2006. The objectsconsist of three decorated textiles embroideredwith geometric designs (kewé), and two acrylicpaintings showing visions as seen by traditionalhealers (onanya jonibo) after the ingestion ofthe hallucinogenic brew ayawaska.3

The traditional geometric pattern style is oftenviewed as representation of ayawaska visions.Illius (1987: 168f.) recounts a Shipibo infor-mant’s comparison of a pattern-covered ceram-ic vessel with the world’s structure as perceivedby many ayawaska-drinkers, while referring tothe differently patterned sub-sections of bothvessel and cosmos in his informant’s eyes.Gebhart-Sayer dedicated a large section of herbook on Shipibo-Konibo cosmologies (1987:170-298) on the relations of these designpatterns with ayawaska related curing, withcuring songs and presumed ancient patternbooks possessed by this indigenous group.Martin (2005) reports about “singing patterns”,“woven songs”, “healing songs” and “healingpatterns”, as presented by his main informantHerlinda Agustín, a Shipibo female traditionalhealer. The healer related that during nightlycuring sessions ill people were covered withtextiles bearing the appropriate “healingdesign”, while she would sing the correspond-ing “pattern song”. Under the influence ofayawaska, she could “sing the designs” and

Shipibo-Konibo Art and Healing Concepts: A Critical View on the “Aesthetic Therapy”

Bernd Brabec de Mori and Laida Mori Silvano de Brabec

19

learn new songs through the visualization ofcertain patterns.4

Acrylic paintings, on the other hand, do notcarry the epitaph of “tradition” with them.First paintings among Shipibo people regularlyappeared during the 1990ies. They were obvi-ously based upon Pablo Amaringo’s successfuliconography on ayawaska visions (Luna andAmaringo 1999) as well as on his Amazonianlandscapes. The Shipibo painters of coursewere highly encouraged by both researcher’sand tourist’s requests for such paintings.

In the following we are going to analyze towhich extent this artwork is related to theindigenous medical concepts held by Shipiboindividuals. However, beforehand we would liketo draw attention to an interesting detail: themarket prices for embroidered textiles, whichare almost exclusively made by indigenouswomen, stay at about 35 dollars per piece in2008, while acrylic paintings, a domain ofindigenous men, are valorised ten times higher,around 350 dollars each. This points towardsan irrational distinction between handicraft(textiles) and art (paintings). This distinction isof European origin and ignores that bothartistic and labour investments are highlycomparable: both techniques rely on elaboratecompositions of a predetermined iconographiccorpus. In the case of the textiles, this corpus isprovided by the traditional Shipibo ornamentalstyle and for the paintings by Pablo Amaringo’siconography and some indigenous storiescombined with the same traditional patterns.The time and material invested are fairly equal,too. This short excurse shall serve as anexample how gender relations – nowadays – canbe unequally constructed by Western expecta-tions.

The Objects

The textile n° 1640 (fig.1) was produced pre-sumably around 1990 by a Shipibo woman inthe native community Caimito for her own useas a skirt (chitonti). It was embroidered withvividly coloured yarn on white cotton bought ata local market. With the colours fading and thewhite cloth becoming dirty during years of use,the skirt was later dyed with a brown liquid(pokoti) obtained from mahagony tree bark(wishtininti). The different patterns shown onthe piece belong exclusively to the category of“cross patterns” (koros kené). One mayobserve the professional composition of thedifferent designs: inside the fields on top andbottom, the artist placed iterative patternswhich are similar but not equal to each other(the blue and the pink patterns). The design of“interlocked” square motifs in the left mainsection (although embroidered in a differenttechnique) shows a kind of “tensor”, a matrixupon which both designs from the top and thebottom can be combined. In the end, the rightsection shows the main artistic contribution, acompelling picture puzzle interpretation of atraditional cross-pattern component (whichlooks like a diagonal H).

We can observe that the patterns themselves areseen as “infinite”. Each pattern would extendfurther into the plane, if it was not cut off bythe rectangular framework marking the entirecomposition – these framed sub-sections arecalled xate (cut) in Shipibo language. Roe(1979: 196) called this phenomenon “infinitedesign field truncation”. Also, there are many motifs, which show self-similarity in thedifferent xate, sometimes on different scales(compare e.g. the small motif in the mostbottom line with the blue motif in the top field).

Object n° 1639 (fig. 2) is also a chitonti skirt.The style of wearing skirts with an embroideredmiddle section and black side panels is verypopular among today’s Shipibo women.

Fig. 1: Chitonti of a Shipibo woman (photo: Collection Ethnomedicine)

Fig. 2: Chitonti skirt made for sale (photo: Collection Ethnomedicine)

20

However, this piece is made for sale.5 A whitesheet was first dyed as a whole with the brownvegetal liquid pokoti (which can be seen in thecentral section) and then painted on the sidepanels with black earth colour (mano). Thefinal step was the embroidering (see Fig. 5–8).Side panels and central section are divided by a many-lined framework. In the central section,a pattern style called “curved patterns” (mayákené) had been applied. One motif is repeatedexactly nine times, showing symmetry both overa vertical and a horizontal axis. The thick bluelines, forming that motif, are framed with thinyellow lines and the fields between them arecompletely filled with a geometric pattern called“tiny pattern” (beshé kené). This method offilling an entire area, mainly concerned with ahorror vacui, was called “busy style” by Roe(1979). However, in this example the featureswhich are regarded aesthetic by Shipibo them-selves, that is symmetry, the even distributionof the lines and regular colourful inserts called“eye” (bero), are well achieved and Shipibopeople usually attribute this textile sanken(high quality).

Textiles like n° 1641 (fig. 3) are presented asservilletas or mantitas. This new standardformat in Shipibo textile art historically com-bines the men’s scarf panyon (worn on the head to prevent sunburn, obsolete with theavailability of hats) and the women’s shouldercape rakoti (which covered shoulders andbreasts, but became obsolete with the introduc-tion of the blouse koton). This modern combi-nation is dedicated exclusively to the touristmarket. The format always presents a square orrectangular sheet, which is completely filled

with one pattern, although since about 2000sometimes it is decorated with a central circle,not unlike a mandala. The “mandala” also mayappear on newer chitonti skirts for sale. Thepattern here also shows Roe’s “busy style”, butthe main lines form an iterative koros kené(cross-pattern). It is simpler than the patternsin the other examples but still shows thepicture-puzzle effect and double symmetry.

In the streets of Pucallpa, in the few indigenousstores and in the villages, women who offer suchtextiles to tourists often insist that these designsshow what one sees when inebriate with thehallucinogenic ayawaska. Taking this forgranted, we could agree with Gebhart-Sayerand many authors of popular books on“shamanism” and drugs, and conclude that theShipibo have learned this pattern art by drink-ing ayawaska. However, this is historicallyuntrue. Newer research (Gow 1994, Shepard1998, Brabec de Mori n.d.) indicates that theayawaska drinking practice among the Shipibois younger than the design patterns. We alsoshowed elsewhere (Brabec de Mori and MoriSilvano de Brabec 2009) that the structuralsimilarities among Shipibo patterns and songs,especially ayawaska-related medical songs, donot go further than a common aesthetic back-ground.6

In summer 2008, a Shipibo art seller told thesecond author Mori Silvano de Brabec inconfidence: “I am not going to involve myself inthe ayawaska drinking thing. I will never cheattourists as a fake ‘shamaness’. However, Ialways have to lie a little bit when selling mytextiles. If I do not tell them that the patternsare ayawaska visions, I cannot sell any, andhow shall I provide things for my childrenthen?” This is not the only account pointingtowards such a little “lie”. Living inside thecommunity, like Mori Silvano de Brabec as anative Shipibo, easily reveals that the connec-tion between designs and indigenous healing is an artefact constructed to obtain a betterposition on the market.

Something similar occurred with the paintings.Artists like Milke Sinuiri (jaguar transforma-tion, see picture at the back) and Chononsuy(vision painting, fig. 4) consciously drinkayawaska for aesthetic reasons. They depicttheir visions combined with certain mythologi-

Fig. 3: Servilleta or mantita (photo: Collection Ethnomedicine)

21

cal constants in order to gain a market positionlike the Amazonian art idol Pablo Amaringodid, exhibiting his art far outside Peru andearning considerable sums by selling hisvisionary paintings. However, as PabloAmaringo told Brabec de Mori,7 when he wasyoung he only painted landscapes. He drewlandscapes on anything and as a poor youngsterhe had a hard time obtaining his workingmaterials. He said, “Nobody in Pucallpa wouldhave bought an ayawaska vision painting. Theywould have thought that I was a sorcerer andwould not wanted to have anything to do withwitchcraft and sorcery”. This changed pro-foundly when he met Dennis McKenna and LuisEduardo Luna in 1985. They asked him topaint ayawaska visions and organized Pablo’sfirst trips to the USA and Europe, promotinghis “shamanic” art (Luna and Amaringo 1999:16-17). This is how paintings of the ayawaskaexperience actually came into life.8

Both authors of the present paintings explainedthe semantic contents of their artwork to MoriSilvano de Brabec. Milke Sinuiri provided amore “educated” interpretation of the standardiconography than his peer painter. We can seethat his painting itself is divided vertically: onthe left, the “human” side, a celestial back-ground hosts symbols of modern ayahuas-querismo, like the pink dolphin on the leftstanding for love magic, the ayawaska vineitself as a basement, and the spaceship-likeanaconda pointing towards often-mentionedjourneys in heavenly or extra-terrestriallandscapes. On the other hand, the right“jaguar” side is dedicated to “old-fashioned”animal transformation, sorcery (see the snakesas arms of the sorcerer) and counter-witchcraft.The toucan also is viewed as a dangeroussorcerer. Remarkably, the animal transforma-tion is not performed through ayawaska inges-tion but through inhaling tobacco (Shepard1998: 322 and 325). Milke’s painting showsmany references to Pablo Amaringo. Themythical anaconda on the upper left looks verysimilar to Amaringo’s anacondas, e.g. in hispainting “Ayahuasca Mariri” from 2002, where also a human-jaguar-transformation isdepicted. There is a toucan in Amaringo’s “El Solitario” (Luna and Amaringo 1999: 65).In Milke’s painting a battle between sorcererand healer, symbolized with two faces con-fronting each other, can be seen to the right of

the tobacco pipe. The “bad guy” on the right(in black and red) confronting the “good guy”(in white and pastel colours) covered withShipibo patterns (kené) looks very much alikethe “bad guy” in Amaringo’s “SepulturaTonduri” (Luna and Amaringo 1999: 139). Asimilar “arsenal of snakes” as in the bottomright, Amaringo painted in “Three Kinds ofSorcerers” and in “Vision of the Snakes” (Lunaand Amaringo 1999: 71 and 81). We do notblame Milke for having produced a plagiarism;we just want to show how much today’s youngartists owe to Pablo Amaringo and how canonicthe style of ayawaska-vision painting actuallyis.

Chononsuy (vision painting, Fig. 4), on theother hand, owes more to the Shipibo women’skené techniques. Both the “busy style” thatstings the eye at the first glance as well as thecomposition (the framed rectangle with acircular mandala insert) were implemented firstin the chitonti and servilleta art formats. The“cross-pattern” koros kené can be found in thecentre, on the tower on the right side and in thecross at its top. “Tiny patterns” beshé kené arereproduced on the lower left side as well as inthe centre. However, references to Amaringo’sartwork are also present with the “angel” on

Fig. 4: Vision, painting by Chononsuy (photo: Collection Ethnomedicine)

22

the top left, with the liana-wound tower on theright and in the overall composition of threesemantic fields (bottom, center, top) represent-ing foreground, main vision and celestial back-drop.

In Chononsuy’s interpretation, his painting also includes time: the foreground shows thevivid colours one sees first when ingesting thehallucinogenic brew. The ladder-like figurebelow the circle symbolizes the “way” (kano)the ayawaska-drinker then builds to proceedwithin his visionary world. The circle itselfstands for the healer’s body (center) and thehealing song he finally performs during thesession, extending around him. The verticalstructure to the left symbolizes the “spirit of theShipibo patterns” (kenen ibo), depicted as an“angel” on the top. On the right we can see theayawaska vine itself as a tower and the faceswithin it as a representation of its various“personalities” (personajes, jonibo). The starsin the uppermost section stand for spiritualpurity and the crosses in the corners for thehealing purposes.

Analysis

In order to analyze the connection between artand indigenous medicine, we have to distinguishprimarily between the past and the present, andfurther on between “official” and “inofficial”views on both history and actual practice.

As mentioned above, ethnohistorical researchindicates that the use of the hallucinogenicayawaska brew is not anchored in Shipibohistory for a long time.9 Gow (1994: 93) pro-poses that “ayahuasca shamanism” (to useayawaska in healing and sorcery) has spreadfrom the northern Peruvian, Ecuadorian andColumbian rainforests via Jesuit missions andurban areas and such has been introduced tothe Ucayali region fairly recently. He remainshesitant to declare the use of the brew itself (as for example in collective rituals) a recentphenomenon. Shepard (1998: 326) indicatesthat the current formula of mixing theayawaska vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) withchakruna leaves (Psychotria viridis) has beenintroduced about 50 years ago among theMatsigenka of Manú, and thus probably only afew decades earlier to the Ucayali people likethe Shipibo. Brabec de Mori (n.d.) suggests that

the use of ayawaska as a hallucinogenic brew inthe Ucayali valley probably dates back to the“rubber boom” migrations between ca. 1865and 1925. Since about then ayawaska has beenin use by Shipibo shamans (yobé). However,only the yobé drank it, and the society of“ordinary” Shipibo people refrained from itbecause they would not want to have anythingin common with the feared yobé. Mori Silvanode Brabec confirms that in Shipibo villages e.g.children are not allowed to go close to the yobé’shomes because of their “dangerous nature”.

This changed when Western scholars (amongthem Michael Harner and Terence and DennisMcKenna who ventured into Shipibo societyand wrote highly popular books) started to doresearch explicitly dedicated to “ayahuascashamanism”. When Shipibo people noticed thatthe ayawaska-drinking yobé earned most atten-tion, and also the “gringos” drank the brew,ayawaska use was quickly restructured. Manypeople trained in drinking and administeringthe brew in order to attract the many drugtourists and young researchers who followed inthe footstep. They adopted a new practice ofdrinking ayawaska collectively, say; also thepatients (tourists) would drink the brew.10

Among groups less pressed by tourism there can be observed that a pre-ayawaska medicineconsisted much more of animal summoning andphysical transformations into animals, likesuggested by Milke’s jaguar painting, as well asproviding well-bearing crops to the community(see also Gow 1994: 109, Shepard 1998). E.g.our main informant from the Iskobakebo groupperformed a theatrical piece mimicking anIskobakebo janebo (healer) when he gotpossessed by the macaw bird spirit. Until today,the Iskobakebo do not use ayawaska.

It can be concluded that the importance attri-buted to ayawaska emerged mainly throughresearch on the topic and the following drugtourism. The young researchers and drugtourists (two groups not easily distinguishable)sought “ayahuasca shamanism”, and of coursefound it. When Gebhart-Sayer presented herhypothesis of an “aesthetic therapy” (Gebhart-Sayer 1986) involving patterns, songs, andayawaska, her book (1987) was not onlyreflected by Western scholars. There were alsomany young Shipibo women and men who

23

heard of the hypothesis through the authorherself (for example Herlinda Agustín workedwith Gebhart-Sayer in the late 80ies)11 orthrough questions from the followingresearchers and tourists who had read Gebhart-Sayer’s book. That is why Shipibo womenstarted to tell tourists that their patterns wereayawaska visions and could be “sung”. Theinterconnectedness of pattern art and indi-genous medicine – including ayawaska inges-tion and curing songs – is a relatively recentphenomenon. Most Shipibo artesana womenand ayahuasquero men are conscious aboutthis. They do not have a moral problem when“lying” to tourists (and researchers) about thisfabulous aesthetic therapy. They use it foradvertising their art, which actually hasdifferent cultural origins, as was shown before.

What was said above, however, is the “inoffi-cial” version on history and practice from theShipibo point of view. The “official” version, asbeing told to tourists (and researchers) insistson a “millennial indigenous tradition”, “ancientlegacy of the jungle tribes” and whatsoeversounds well in a buying tourist’s ear. So to say –ever since, the Shipibo have been working withsingable healing patterns in a shamanic settingof collective ayawaska ingestion. When lookingfor “Shipibo” and “Ayahuasca” on the internet,one may end up in watching various moviestaken by “gringos” and published via YouTubewhich show evidence of the existing practice –of drinking ayawaska collectively in order toheal, covering patients with patterned textilesand suggestions of “singing the healingpatterns”.12

Outlook

The connection of Shipibo-Konibo arts withmedical concepts is very subtle. It doubtlesslyexists in what we called above the “official”version from Shipibo perspective. In order toobtain a good market for both selling artworkand attracting drug tourists, many Shipiboayahuasqueros actually do cover their patientswith patterned textiles and several Shipibowomen actually do sing “pattern songs” whenconvincing tourists to buy their art. They alsocommonly insist that this is the “real indigenoustradition of their people”.13

On the other hand, ethnohistorical data showsthat the connection of textile art, patterndesigns and healing songs caresses of historicalevidence. Until today, many Shipibo peopledeclare “inofficially” that they are aware of therecent construction of this “aesthetic therapy”and they do not consider it “effective” inmedical contexts. They know that this is used asa collective advertisement for Shipibo-Koniboart and ayawaska drinking events. However,this construction slowly but steadily transformsinto reality, because corresponding “healingsessions” or “shamanic ceremonies” are heldwith growing frequency and social impact. Asmany young Shipibo men (and some women)train in this kind of “ayahuasca shamanism”without studying other medical techniques,some culturally less educated (mostly urban)Shipibo today already adopted these advertise-ment methods as a “historical truth”. History – permanently – is in the making.

References

Arévalo Valera, G. (1994) Las plantas medicinales y subeneficio en la salud. Shipibo-Conibo. (MedicinaIndígena). Lima, AIDESEP.

Brabec de Mori, B. (2008) “Shipibo-Konibo traditionalmedicine”. The impact of anthropologist’s (stupid)questions on an indigenous group’s self-perception.Conference paper presented at the 9th InternationalConference of the European Association of SocialAnthropologists EASA, Ljubljana/SL, August 26-29.

Brabec de Mori, B. (n.d.) Tracing hallucinations.Contributing to an ethnohistory of ayawaska usage inthe Peruvian Amazon. In review for publication.

Brabec de Mori, B.; Mori Silvano de Brabec, L. (2009)La corona de la inspiración. Los diseños geométricos delos Shipibo-Konibo y sus relaciónes con cosmovisión ymúsica. In: Indiana 26 (in print).

Gebhart-Sayer, A. (1986) Una terápia estética. Los dis-eños visionarios del ayahuasca entre los Shipibo-Conibo. In: América Indígena 46, 1: 189-218.

Gebhart-Sayer, A. (1987) Die Spitze des Bewusstseins.Untersuchungen zu Weltbild und Kunst der Shipibo-Conibo. Münchener Beiträge zur Amerikanistik.Hohenschäftlarn: Klaus Renner Verlag.

Gow, P. (1994) River people: Shamanism and history inWestern Amazonia. In: Thomas, N.; Humphrey, C.(eds.) Shamanism, history and the state. Ann Arbor,University of Michigan, 90-113.

24

Fig. 5: Dying a whitecotton sheet (tucuyo)with the liquid pokoti(mahagony tree bark).

Fig. 6: Painting adecorative rakoti sheet with black earthcolor (mano).

25

Fig. 7: Womanweaving a chitonti

skirt with poko ati, aweaving tool attached

to her waist.

Fig. 8: Embroidering a chitonti skirt.

(Photographs: Bernd Brabec de Mori

and Pierre Urban)

26

Illius, B. (1987 [1991]) Ani Shinan. Schamanismus beiden Shipibo-Conibo (Ost-Peru). Ethnologische StudienBd.12. Münster, Wien, Lit Verlag.

Labate, B. C.; Araújo, W. S. (eds.) (2004) O uso ritualda ayahuasca. 2nda edição revista e ampliada.Campinas, Mercado de Letras.

LeClerc, F.R. (2003) Des modes de socialisation par les plantes chez les Shipibo-Conibo d´amazonieperuvienne. Une étude des relations entre humains etnon-humains dans la construction sociale. Ph.D. thesis,Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative,Nanterre, Université Paris.

Luna, L. E.; Amaringo, P. (1999) Ayahuasca visions.The religious iconography of a Peruvian shaman.Berkeley, North Atlantic Books.

Martin, B. H. (2005) Woven songs of the Amazon(Icaros and weavings of the Shipibo Shamans).Conference paper presented at the 50th AnnualConference of the Society for Ethnomusicology,Atlanta/USA, November 16 -20.

Roe, P. G. (1979) Marginal men: Male artists among theShipibo Indians of Peru. In: Anthropologica N.S. 21,2: 189-221.

Shepard, G. H. (1998) Psychoactive plants andethnopsychiatric medicine of the Matsigenka. Journalof Psychoactive Drugs 30, 4: 321-332.

Stevens, A. (2005) Woven songs of the Amazon. Motionpicture by Green Spider Films. http://www.greenspider-films.com/products.html.

Tournon, J. (2002) La merma mágica. Vida e historiade los Shipibo-Conibo del Ucayali. Lima, CAAAP.

Notes

1 The official name “Shipibo-Konibo” is often substi-tuted by the shorter “Shipibo”, referring to the samepopulation.2 These are the objects n° 1639, 1640, 1641, 1785 and1786.3 For detailed information about chemistry, ethnobo-tany, different contexts and traditions of use aroundthe brew ayawaska see the volume edited by Labateand Araújo (2004).4 Such performances by Herlinda Agustín can beobserved on the internet:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9frbbFFSCts,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AwFTMTfwuk, orhttp://es.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc23V819Btk (January2009).5 This is determined by different material and elabora-

tion: The shown piece is made of a thin, white cottonsheet (locally called tucuyo), which was bought at alocal market. Skirts for wearing are made of a thicker,black sheet, which is embroidered with colourful yarn,but not dyed. The skirt format was quickly adapted asone of the Shipibo “standards” for presenting andselling to tourists, probably because of the tryptichonappearance, which excels as a wall decoration. In manycases, the side panels are also painted with designscontrasting the central section. Also a circular insert inthe very centre is often added since about 2000.6 In Shipibo-Konibo culture the aesthetic perception ishighly valorised. Symmetry is one of the main featurespositively perceived among almost all Shipibo.Symmetry occurs in musical structure, design patterns,houses, many tools and objects forged by Shipibo men,as well as in the ground plan of any Shipibo settlement.Symmetry is a basic feature that declares an object“forged by real people” (jonikoman aká) in order todistinguish them from objects made by other people.For a more profound discussion see Brabec de Moriand Mori Silvano de Brabec (2009).7 Personal communication, autumn 2005, in Pucallpa.8 Some of Pablo’s paintings are presented on his home-page http://www.pabloamaringo.com/ (January 2009).Hundreds more are available on the internet whensearching for “Pablo Amaringo”.9 Extensive descriptions of Shipibo indigenous medicalconcepts without focussing on ayawaska can bereviewed in the books by Arévalo Valera (1994),Tournon (2002) or LeClerc (2003), among others.10 A more profound discussion of these effects ofpioneer anthropological research was presented byBrabec de Mori at the 2008 EASA meeting (Brabec deMori 2008). It appears that almost the entire complexof Shipibo-Konibo traditional medicine as presentedtoday is based upon ideas from Western researcherswhich have been re-interpreted by indigenous agents inorder to control the development instead of “beingvictims of the globalization”.11 Personal communication with Herlinda Agustín,2001.12 See for examplehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXojrk7OsnQ(January 2009). This example also features a mestizoayahuasquero who “shipibisized” himself in order toappear as an “original jungle inhabitant” and thus as alegitimate heir of the “millenial tradition”.12 See for example the motion picture “Woven songs ofthe Amazon” by Anne Stevens (2005, cf.http://www.greenspiderfilms.com/products.html; a trailer is available athttp://one.revver.com/watch/310087/flv/affiliate/96978[August 2008]). In this movie, Herlinda Agustínrecounts this “tradition” and Shipibo people who donot take part in it (say, who do not “sing patternsongs”) are regarded ignorant. The fact that manyShipibo decline from “singing pattern songs” is explain-ed as a loss of cultural tradition.

27

Adapting and Including Western Treatment Methods in the Holistic Concept of Health Care

of the Tarahumara in NW Mexico

Evelyne Puchegger-Ebner

Introduction

Ever since the conquista, European, and latelyalso global, influences have been affecting pre-Columbian medical traditions of local societiesin Mexico. Additionally to the use of their ownindigenous healing practices, they have continu-ously encountered several other medical sys-tems, of which the Western one is currently themost predominant. The latter differs signifi-cantly from indigenous healing rites andshamanic practices – as experienced among theUto-Aztecan Tarahumara in the state ofChihuahua.

A superficial look on the phenomenon impliesthat the health projects, hospitals and pharma-cies not only influence the healer as a person inthe sense of a transcultural exchange, but alsohave an effect on the whole system of indige-nous therapy, preventive medicine and healingof diseases – i.e. it seems to have an impact notonly on the entire health sector of the respectivelocal culture but it also drastically changes oreven eliminates it. I believe that such a point ofview results from a frequently partial debate onglobalization1 and the different notions of termssuch as “healing practices” or “traditionalmedicine” (Knipper 2003: 153-175) or thecultural hegemony of biomedicine (Kleinman1980: 39). As medical systems2 are organizedaround cultural key concepts such as “health”and “disease”, these serve as strategies to copewith the phenomenon of “illness” and themaintenance of health. In this context, thescientific differentiation between and discourseon disease and illness is of great importance(Mechanic 1962, Kleinman 1988: 3-5).Especially the anthropological branch ofCritical Medical Anthropology criticized thedual concept of disease/illness. Young (1982:270), for instance, defined the term sickness as“process for socializing disease and illness” Thisdefinition aims at showing that the macro-socialpolitical and economic framework conditions

are important factors in the formation andsocial distribution of disease.

In contrast to western discourse, which revolvesaround considerations on disease, “healing” (inthe sense of prevention) is at the core of medicalthinking and practice according to emic under-standing. The German term “Heilkunde”(healing arts) (Hörbst, Wolf 2003) expresses thispreventive-curative aspect3, at least on alinguistic level.

Here, I would like to point out two of the fivecore functions of Kleinman’s explanatorymodels4 (1980: 24): the “curing of disease andhealing of illness” and especially “health care”are of particular importance. Health care – inKleinman’s elaboration – includes far morethan just the treatment of disease. It coversprevention as well as the processing of thera-peutic results.

In 1997, Kleinman et al. further developed the concept of suffering (Hahn 1984) and coined the term social suffering, emphasizingthe idea of collective suffering. Macro- as wellas micro-social structures and processes wereincluded as conditions for intersubjectivesuffering. The focus is put on an extensive,transdisciplinary view on suffering that aims atconnecting different areas such as medicine,social policy, development cooperation andrefugee aid.

In many indigenous healing rituals the socialenvironment is cured together with the personaffected, as I will illustrate by the example ofthe Tarahumara. Further aspects regarded inthis paper are the specific topography of theSierra Tarahumara (i.e. the shortcomings of thegeographical area) and the financial feasibilityof the medical system. Has the majority of theTarahumara easy access to a hospital or first-aid-station? Or in other words: is western medi-cine compared to traditional healing systems

28

plausible and realistic from a socio-economicpoint of view?

Trade and Change

Regular interactions, permanent socialexchange and mutual cultural influence aretypical features of the pre-Columbian groups ofthe Southwest of the USA and the North(west)of Mexico (Cordell 1984: 275) to which the Uto-Aztecan ethnicities belong. Ceremonialcenters (e.g. Paquimé5 in Chihuahua) were thehubs of life of every local culture and func-tioned as interfaces enabling the transfer ofworldview and information. As early as the pre-Columbian era, regionally developedmedical, religious and ritual knowledge andexperiences were exchanged and newly negotiat-ed in this way. And consequently, treatment andhealing methods such as therapies and tools fordiagnosis and the cosmovision in which thesewere set repeatedly altered in the course ofhistory (Ventura i Oller 2003: 79).

During the conquista and the ensuing period ofcolonization, the world and lives of the ethnici-ties living in the Sierra Tarahumara drasticallychanged. A high number of indigenous peopledied throughout the famines caused by the con-querors or fell victim to the diseases introducedby European pioneers and adventurers. Butdespite the emergence of new diseases, the andprestige of indigenous healers in the SierraTarahumara remained untouched – due to theirreputation as spiritual guidance and mentalleadership in the instigated uprisings andrevolts against the Spanish colonial rulers(Puchegger-Ebner 2004: 250ff.). From thispoint in history on, the Tarahumara had toshare their living environment with the “whites”and mestizos (chabochi) surrounding them. Inthe course of several centuries, the Tarahumaradeveloped varied strategies to be able to surviveand keep their own cultural distinctivenessdespite the daily interactions with the Mexicanmajority culture. One of these strategiesconsisted in the flight and retreat to the partlyinaccessible and arid terrain of the SierraTarahumara – a rugged part of the SierraMadre Occidental which is characterized by itshigh number of ravines.

During the colonial period Shamanic “travelingmerchants” established interethnic trade rela-

tions with the chabochi and in so doing con-tinued with the pre-Columbian tradition ofexchanging goods, information and gossip in therural area. Furthermore informal kinshiprelations with “whites” and mestizos frequentlydeveloped out of trade relations and shamanicnetworks (Puchegger-Ebner 2001: 61). Despitethese interethnic contacts shamanic healingceremonies in the Sierra Tarahumara werenever incorporated in the Catholic environmentof the pueblos – the centers created by themissionaries. Healing ceremonies were and areexclusively practiced on the ranchos6 duringcorn beer festivities, where they represent(ed)pre-Columbian tradition as well as pre-Hispanicbeliefs and rituals. This is one of the reasonswhy the Catholic Church has always striven toweaken the influence of healers, who they stillregard as (religious) competition. Education inCatholic boarding schools and state-runschools, influence by the mass media andgrowing interferences of the dominant mestizoculture all had an effect on the shamanic viewsof the Tarahumara: old healing methods andrituals are devalued as outdated and substitut-ed by ceremonies of the state and the church,and the Western medical system is labeled as“advanced”.

Ethnographic Key Data

Forms of settlements, social structure andeconomy of the Tarahumara – the census fluc-tuates between 60,000 and 80,000 members –are mutually dependent: the majority lives inscattered, stand-alone ranches (ranchos), whichare surrounded by the fields belonging to therespective ranch. These scattered settlements(rancherías) are usually made up of two to fivehouseholds of a bilateral kin group. Apart fromthat, there were and are no other formallyorganized kin groups. Every ranch is inhabitedand cultivated by one family, the core of thehousehold being the nuclear family (Deimel1980: 43).

Ever since the colonial period, the Tarahumarahave practiced a cultivation form which com-bines crop and animal husbandry (mobilefarming), as well as gathering, fishing andhunting. Most of them grow their own food andparticipate in the processes of market economyonly marginally (through trade with and wagework for mestizos). A Tarahumara “household”

29

is thus a site of subsistence production wherevital goods are manufactured in an aridenvironment. For this reason, the Tarahumaralocal culture has a very distinctive view ofproduction/reproduction – these two conceptsare perceived as a union in indigenous thinking:without (food) production the individual cannotsurvive, without individuals there is no commu-nity, which in turn ensures the survival of theindividual through a “culture of reciprocity”(Bennholdt-Thomsen 1998: 70). Apart from thecommunity, there are no social or other institu-tions taking care of an individual in a case ofemergency.

Despite the fragile eco-system, the economicstrategies of the Tarahumara functioned sur-prisingly well. It was not until the Mexican stateintroduced concepts for the utilization offorests, that the balanced system of subsistencepracticed by the Tarahumara could not entirelyoutweigh the negative ecological effects of theeconomic “advancement and development”strategies anymore. These were based on com-prehensive advertisements of the region aimedat tourists and subsequently resulted in a majorgrowth of population and tourist numbers.Today, drinking water supply and wastewatermanagement as well as curbing epidemic dis-eases such as cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitisand diseases caused by parasites are problemsthat urgently need to be dealt with. The waste-water of paper mills and highly toxic chemicalsused for ore mining, which are dumped intorivers and lakes without being filtered or clari-fied, pose another serious strain on the drink-ing water situation (cf. interview EdwinBustillos Garcia7 1997-01-21).

Wholesome Worlds

Concepts of diseases and healing systems arealways products of given historical develop-ments; they are an expression of the worldviewof a society and a manifestation of the culturaland ethnic self-conception of a community.Striking features of the indigenous interpreta-tion of the world are the comprehensiveness oftheir way of thinking and the integration of thesacred into their daily lives. Cosmovision andhealing relate to each other in numerous waysand constitute an inseparably interwovenwhole. Relations between concepts of the bodyand interpretations of the soul are among the

varied dimensions of these interweavements/interdependencies. Such relations are enteredwhen according to emic understanding e.g.supernatural powers influence the soul or thesoul separated from the body is unable toreturn; a split that can cause disease or evendeath unless healing countermeasures are takenin time. This practical approach of indigenousbeliefs – the coherence of “religion” and healing– shows its focus on the close connection of thewholesomeness of body and soul and illustrateshow deeply indigenous interpretations of healthand disease are influenced by worldviews(Mader 2003: 97f., Feest 1998: 157ff., Deimel1996: 7, Kennedy 1996: 154f., Irigoyen-Rascon1989: 172f., Merrill 1988: 95f.).

This can also be witnessed in the Tarahumarause of the term “healing”, encompassing muchmore than the physical healing of a humanbeing: the term “to heal” also means “to makeprovisions for something” and “to take care ofsomebody” and is used for a collective ratherthan for an individual. What is more, the worddoes not only denote a physical component butalso carries spiritual connotations: the commu-nity should be mentally strengthened and dis-eases and all kinds of unlucky incidents shouldbe prevented in the first place (Kennedy 1990:81). Much room is provided for healing ritualsin this holistic indigenous method which regardsmedical concepts as essential components of acomprehensive worldview, because everythingthat is important or useful, including fields,animals and even human beings, has to be sub-jected to a regenerative and preventive healingprocess at least once a year at the beginning ofthe agricultural cycle to “immunize” it against acrop shortfall.

Autochthonous beliefs regard regeneration as auniversal biological return of life – this includesastronomical cycles and the belief in the rebirth of individuals8. In this sense, healingceremonies are perceived as forms of regenera-tion – on the individual level, in the shape ofphysical and spiritual healing, and in the socialcontext of re-establishing social relations thathave weakened or broken entirely: such aperception enables people to start anew after acrisis situation.

30

Biomedical Health Care

Implanting Western medicine into indigenoussocieties has always been a highly emotionalprocess that is inseparably linked with expecta-tions as well as reactions of rejection. Thesuccessful establishment or total dismissal is,however, as much directly influenced byobjective decisions as it is determined by theeconomic situation of a society and its members.Treatment that is financially affordable or freeof charge promotes the acceptance of bio-medical systems, as witnessed in the example of a hospital run by a Jesuit mission.

Sta. Teresita in Creel/SierraTarahumara/Chihuahua9

Medical care in Creel is provided through anIMSS10 clinic, which is mostly consulted bymestizos, and through the Jesuit clinic Sta.Teresita. Contrary to the aggressive missionarywork and the harsh suppression practiced inthe past, the Jesuit mission of today strives toachieve compromises: it built a hospital whichtreats Tarahumara patients free of charge,installed the first water pipes in the settlementand finances projects aimed at improving thedrinking-water supply to remote rancherías ofthe Tarahumara.

Sta. Teresita is specialized in treatingTarahumara children suffering from malnourish-ment, infections of the skin or other diseases. A high number of the infants hospitalized arenot older than two months and frequently onlyweigh about 65% of what is medically definedas normal weight. The main reasons can befound in dehydration caused by severediarrhea. But not only children are treated freeof charge: every Tarahumara is entitled to ahealth check and medical treatment in thishospital. Five doctors, 9 to 12 nurses andnumerous assistants (auxiliares de enfermería)are employed in this 70-bed hospital.

Besides white and mestizo staff, Tarahumarawomen work as assistant nurses to bridge thelinguistic and cultural barriers. Furthermorethe Tarahumara Health Promoters Programaims at the prevention of respiratory illnesses,TB, gastroenteritis, dehydration, and malnutri-tion of infants by training male and femaleTarahumara promotores.

In 2001, operating the hospital, including anaffiliated pharmacy, technical equipment, amotor vehicle fleet and accommodations for thefamily members of the patients, who often comefrom very far, cost USD 45.000,- per month.The hospital project is still financed bydomestic and foreign donations as well as by theprofits from the missionary shop in Creel,where indigenous crafts, books, slides andinformation material on the Tarahumara aresold.

To reduce diseases caused by contaminateddrinking water, education campaigns11 wereinitiated. These health-care programs, however,lowered neither the number of gastro-intestinalinfections nor reduced the child mortalityrelated to it, because the basic requirement – sufficient amounts of clean water – was notmet. Thus, the next logical step was theplanning and implementation of a well-con-struction project. The main goal was and is tofacilitate direct access to clean water or,depending on the situation, to also create waterstorage facilities. Wells do not only providedrinking water to families, but also allow for abetter irrigation of the fields. This guarantees asecure harvest – in spite of an impairedecological balance and dry spells. After drilling a hole, water is lifted to the surface by hand-operated pumps and is transported tothe storage facilities via hoses. As the settle-ments of the Tarahumara (rancherías) aremostly located at great distances from eachother, a well can supply just one settlement –meaning up to 5 or 6 family ranches at themost.

Fig. 1: Padre Verplancken, Tarahumara assistantnurses and some young patients outside the Sta. Teresita hospital in Creel.

31

In areas where wells have already been built, asubstantial improvement of the health conditionof the indigenous population and a decline inchild mortality can be observed. However, thecosts for the installation of a well and a hand-operated pump amounted to between USD1.500,- and USD 2.000,- in the year 2000. Thismeans that the current economic and ecologicalproblems of the region are directly linked to thehealth risks of the indigenous population and it also explains why certain preventive andcurative offers are made use of.

Further Selected Local Examples of Western-Influenced Medical Care

Western medical care is already in place as anauthority in many indigenous regions – it haslong been a reality. The fact that many indige-nous people, however, do not make use of it isfrequently due to access difficulties whichmanifest themselves in the Sierra Tarahumaranot only in the form of socio-economic problemsbut also specifically in the impassibility of thearea. Transporting an injured or ill person

from Retosachi (Munérachi district) to thehospital of Creel can take 10 to 16 hours, andpart of the way the injured/ill person has to becarried on foot (field diary 4: 2001-04-06).

Besides doctors and pharmacists, nurses andmedical assistants (auxiliares de enfermería)also volunteering medical students – i.e. allpeople who provide biomedical care to thepopulation in rural communities – are con-sidered as part of biomedicine. Sometimes inthe summer they and/or young doctors travel,with their medical equipment in their back-packs, from ranch to ranch in the Munérachidistrict and offer their help to the indigenouspeople (interview Luciano12, 1997-12-18).

Sole medicalization and the individualization of disease – both characteristics of Westernmedicine –, however, often contradict tradi-tional, indigenous concepts. Indigenous healingrituals are mostly group events (cf. Ventura iOller 2003: 92). Ill people – and their treat-ment, care and recovery – are always a familymatter and not isolated blows of fate, as thefollowing two examples illustrate:

1) When Geraldo from Retosachi (Munérachidistrict) contracts malaria, he is treated withanti-malaria drugs which he receives at aninfirmary in Huisuchi.13 Parallel to this treat-ment, Geraldo insists on the performance of ahealing ceremony, because swallowing medicinewithout any ritual context does not seemsufficiently effective to him (field diary 4: 2001-04-19).

The indigenous people belief that diseases suchas colds, scarlet fever, measles but also malariainfiltrate the body in the form of a fog or wind(nawirí) and so they need to be “sweated out”.As healing ceremonies only take place in thecontext of corn beer festivities, Geraldo’s wifeDolores first brews corn beer and decorates thecrosses for the place where the dancing will takeplace. Geraldo invites relatives and friends andasks the two healers Luciano and José Mariafor their support. On the day of the healingritual, Luciano, the owéame (shaman), coversthe sacrificial goat as well as all peopleattending the ceremony in incense smoke. Theslaughtered animal is hung up on a tree,skinned and carved. A wooden board placedupon two big stones is used as sacrificial altar.

Fig. 2: The well drilling project aims at improving aclean drinking-water supply

32

Dolores puts a bowl with the goat’s blood on thealtar – next to the olla filled with corn beer.

The women start preparing the food. Spices areused for the dishes, but salt is not added untilthe end of the cooking time (i.e. at the sametime the sacred part of the ceremony ends).According to Tarahumara belief, salt is unholyand should not be consumed duringspiritual/ritual acts.

Amid this social event, the two healers, Lucianoand José Maria, carry out the actual healingritual – for themselves and without much ado.A big pit is dug and filled with a layer of red-hot coal. The coal layer is then coveredwith soil. Afterwards, Geraldo goes to sit on thispit and is “buried” in sandy soil up to his neck.Luciano walks over to the women and puts someof the (unsalted) food into small pots and thengoes to the (sweating) pit. There, he sets twosmall pieces of wood on fire and draws a crossin the air above Geraldo’s head. With a woodenstick he draws another cross onto the eartharound the pit. In the meantime, José Mariaand some of the guests dance on a circulardancing area before the crosses, becausedancing helps to protect and heal as much asthe ceremonies of the owéame. Dance is con-sidered “ritual work” which needs to beperformed to satisfy the deity. When Geraldohas finished sweating, José Maria takes him tothe circle of dancing people. Now, he covers allpeople present with incense made of pine resinwhile Luciano pours some of the sacrificial foodinto the (sweating) pit. The people thank thegod for the food and drink and pray for protec-tion of the entire community – at this particularevent, they especially pray for the protectionfrom further diseases. In a long, ritualizedspeech (nawésari), Luciano thanks the peoplefor their attendance and reminds them of theirmoral obligations that provide for solidaritywithin the community. Now the “unofficial”part of the festivities, including drinking, eatingand more dancing, begins.

Interaction, the connection between specialistsand laypersons, is a distinctive feature of tradi-tional medical systems. Shamanic healingrituals always aim at creating interaction amongthe community, the healer and the individual –i.e. social and psychological factors are includ-ed in the therapy. This is the only way a person

can convalesce in his or her entirety. Healing inthis sense does not imply a return to the initialsituation before the disease but a new regula-tion of the organism based on the experiencesmade during the disease.

Being surrounded by the community during thehealing process seemed to be very important toGeraldo. It helped him overcome his illness. Six months later, I learned that he had fullyrecovered and that no member of his family hadfallen ill since.

2) Juanito – married to Regina and living inRetosachi – has been neglecting his family forsome time. He has recently taken to the bait ofthe (alcohol) trader of Huisuchi and has beendrinking with the chabochi. This means he nolonger consumes alcohol in a ritual context andmostly drinks spirits instead of the holy cornbeer. Both factors constitute alarming signalsfor his family members, because his mis-behavior could cause them to fall ill. Luciano,Juanito’s grandfather and a healer, José Maria,Juanito’s other grandfather – also a healer –and Venancio, a friend and shaman in theregion, decide to cure the family together14 (fielddiary 3: 1997-01-07 to 1997-01-10)

Regina is sitting with her back to the housewall, her youngest child is on her lap – Juanitois next to her. The older children are crouchingaround her. The two shamans Luciano and JoséMaria are working together. First, it isJuanito’s turn. He has to take off his huaraches(sandals) and stand on a mat. José Maria thentells him to stretch out his arms and then slideshis index finger along the inside of Juanito’supper arms and the inside of his lower legs. Hetraces Juanito’s palms, and then his chest, backand the back of his neck. He then draws acircle with his index finger above Juanito’s headthree times. There are no circles traced abovethe heads of the other family members – butapart from that, the method for establishing thecause of the problem remains the same. Lucianoand José Maria take turns in examining thefamily. They agree that the invisible threads(remugá) which can cause various kinds ofmisfortune (from diseases to lightening strokes)are the cause for Juanito’s misbehavior and theimbalance in the family.

The central element of the healing ritual is thus

33

the elimination of the threads: Luciano heatscorn cobs until they smolder and then “burns”the threads (remugá) above the heads of allfamily members. Next to the healers, there is apot of corn beer. The shamans dip the woodencrosses attached to their rosaries into the cornbeer and symbolically draw crosses in the air:three times above the heads as well as the rightand the left shoulders of each child. The crossis again dipped into the beer and put againstthe mouth of each child three times. The littlecrosses the children wear around their necksespecially for this event are taken off now – theshamans “heal” these with suwiki. Every familymember now takes a few sips of corn beer.

José Maria then burns incense made of pineresin above the left and right shoulders as wellas the head of every person treated and thenfans the incense in all four cardinal directions.He picks up one of the two wooden altar crosses(the one that is decorated with a cloth and arosary) and draws an imaginary cross towardsnorth, south, east and west. Luciano takes theother (similarly adorned) wooden cross andfinalizes the ritual in the same way as JoséMaria. In the end, they throw the corn cobs –used during the ceremony - far away in all fourcardinal directions. During the whole ritual, afriend plays the healing melodies for this ritualon a violin. Towards the end of the healingceremony, the mestizo alcohol traders onceagain enter the scene in their pick-up truck.This time (and also in the following years)Juanito can resist the temptation.

Western biomedicine and indigenous healingtraditions do not necessarily pose oppositepolarities. Luciano himself has experienced thisapparent dichotomy and integrated it on aphysical level: when he is on the way home froma healing ceremony, he falls and seriouslyinjures his hip joint. He asks to be transportedto the hospital Sta. Teresita in Creel. For thenecessary but complicated hip surgery, he istransferred to the municipal hospital ofChihuahua City. The operation is successful inthe sense that the shaman of over 90 years ofage learns to walk with crutches. When he diesthree years later, the walking aid is put on hisgrave as an aid on his path to the other side.

The importance attached to the collectiveduring healing ceremonies is also reflected in

the qualities a healer has to meet. Among otherthings, he has to be a good communicator to beable to create solidarity within the communityin extraordinary situations. After Luciano’sdeath, José Maria Rekalachi from Chapataretakes on his status, function and tasks. When José Maria dies shortly afterwards too,Frederico, an aspiring healer from the close-bycity of Cieneguita, tries to fill the vacantposition of shaman. He is struggling for theapproval of the group, but is not really accept-ed. The two deceased shamans were popular,friendly and social people (interview Juanito2001-04-17). The difference to the new healercould not be greater. He is described as veryindividualistic, extravagant, uninterested insocial contacts and introverted. He seems not tocare about anyone else and only tries to cut hisown path. His unconventional method ofpractice differing from the usual Tarahumaraways (individual instead of collective fieldhealing) contributes to the downfall of theprestige of healers in Retosachi. This couldpossibly reflect a cultural change: that is atendency away from community healing – awayfrom a collective ritual experience – towardsindividual medical acts like the servicio medicooffered in Huisuchi15.

Lourdes Ayala, a nurse, attends the onlyinfirmary there for the 320 families in thesettlement of Munérachi, which covers an areaof 20 km2. The first-aid station consists of atreatment room and a resting room with twobeds. Lourdes Ayala has been living in Huisuchifor about 15 years. As the remuneration forrunning the infirmary is very low, she and her husband Miguel run a shop (tienda), where beer and various household and workappliances as well as hardware are sold inaddition to staple foods. Communication withother places in the Sierra Tarahumara (e.g.Guachochi, Creel) is possible via radio. LourdesAyala also attends to critical emergencies andgets help and instructions from doctors in thedistrict town of Guachochi via radio, as was thecase with Regina from Retosachi. She had givenbirth to all her children alone and withoutbiomedical aid. However, when complicationsoccurred during a miscarriage, her husbandJuanito brought her to the first-aid station and Lourdes Ayala was able to save her thanksto the help she received from a doctor inGuachochi via radio (interview Ayala 2001-04-06).

34

These examples and the one that will followshow the pragmatic approach of theTarahumara on the one hand, and that theydraw no clear lines between traditionally indige-nous and western medicine on the other hand.

In certain intervals, various fundamentalist US-American sects16 invade the Sierra Tarahumarafor proselytization purposes. The main goal ofthese evangelical groups is the elimination of thecommunity-oriented corn beer festivities andthe implanting of economy-oriented, “progres-sive” structures. As the majority of the sectsproselytize only temporarily, the Tarahumarapretend to commit to the conditions of themissionaries to receive various financial andmedical benefits. When the missionaries returnto the USA, the Tarahumara also return totheir old traditions.

The religious conflict in the Sierra Tarahumarais also a regional fight for water and health.The religious group that wins the war is also theone that the indigenous population joins. In Choguita17 for instance, several rivalingProtestant sects try to offer the Tarahumara inthe region a compact health-care program. Itincludes the establishment of a Protestant clinicand extensive well drillings to guarantee cleanwater. While the evangelicals carried out sevenunsuccessful drillings, the Catholic padre, whoused a divining rod, immediately discoveredthree abundant water sources (interviewVerplancken 2001-04-04). Luz Elena LeónRamirez18 comments on this laconically bysaying that building the Protestant clinic andthe Catholic wells has drastically reducedgastro-intestinal diseases in Choguita and alsochild mortality. For her it does not matterwhich religious group provides for health andwellbeing, she accepts all of them as long asthey support the indigenous population (inter-view León Ramirez 2005-03-29).

Summary and Conclusion

While hospital stays and therapies in Westernsocieties are tied to health-insurance systemswhich guarantee financial coverage in case ofillness or accidents, many indigenous societieshave very different coping strategies in case ofhealth problems. This is also true for theTarahumara, of whom the majority of thepopulation is not able to fall back on the safety

net of a social system. They resort to reproduc-tive entities: entities that are based on familyand/or other ties – in the sense of “belonging”(Parkin 1998) and “relatedness” (Schweitzer2000: IXf.; 1-32.). Care and support of illpeople takes place in a family or kinship-likecontext, healing rituals are integrated in theannual agricultural cycle, and menstruation,pregnancy and birth are celebrated as the mostimportant festivities of the circle of life.

However, by now also state and non-stateplayers (private research institutions, religiousassociations, NGOs) are involved in andsupport the health-care system in the SierraTarahumara. The latter group mostly dependson international donor organizations19. The factthat medical care can thus often be offered freeof charge has contributed to lowering theinhibition threshold of consulting Westernmedicine. This attitude was further promotedespecially by the quick and effective treatmentof severe diarrhea and malnutrition of infants,which had only been made possible through thebuilding of hospitals and first-aid stations in theSierra Tarahumara. At the same time, themestizos’ pressure to assimilate supported thetendency to trivialize healing rituals and the

Fig. 3: The religious conflict in the Sierra Tarahumarais also a regional fight for water and health.

35

resulting loss of traditional knowledge andsocial positions. Nevertheless, the importance of the collective still plays a vital role in thehealing process (as some of the given examplesillustrate), especially and also in the treatmentof the effects that come along with the imitationof mestizo behavior patterns (alcoholism, drugabuse, domestic violence).

Such cultural changes are often attributed tothe phenomenon of globalization, but they onlyreflect the cliché of a global cultural amalgama-tion or the scenario of a fragmentation of so-called “intact” societies. In many indigenoussocieties change is by no means a new pheno-menon, but part of their tradition; change doesnot necessarily equal the loss of something, butis the integration into or adjustment to some-thing, which was illustrated in the digression onthe pre-Hispanic initial situation of the Uto-Aztecan ethnicities. Thus, the concept ofthe so-called closedness of “local” medicalsystems can be questioned. In this context, theunreflected use of terms such as “hybridiza-tion” and “syncretism” in connection withindigenous societies also becomes apparent. Inreality the terminological overlapping/amalga-mation – as the labeling for such phenomenassuggests – did not exist: the two differentcultural systems (pre-Columbian, Hispanic/occidental) often seemed incompatible.

Since the conquista, the Tarahumara20 havedemonstrated how to handle dilemmas of suchcultural discrepancies and inconsistencies. Byfalling back on complementary structures andintroducing further social parallel worlds inaddition to the pre-Columbian parallelism ofsexes, they organized cultural transfer in theirvery specific way: e.g. the parallelism of thesocio-political system ranchería/pueblo and nowalso of the two medical systems that are usedparallel and complementary to each other. Thishas and will guarantee the continuity of pre-Columbian traditions while also transculturalexchange processes can take place.

The Western medical system seems like anantipode to autochthonous healing rites andshaman methods, but it can be integrated intothe indigenous concept of “healing”, which isexercised in a broad frame of reference. Withregard to the belief system of the Tarahumara,the indigenous term “healing” was outlined.

Thus it is possible to explain how the accep-tance of the Western medical system is not asmuch a medium to adapt their own medicalsystem or to involve various cultural strategiesas a policy of targeted adjustment to new livingcircumstances. It is more likely an integrationof the part of indigenous healing rituals whichhas always had to do with surgery, medicaliza-tion and physical therapy or which has alsobeen used in indigenous treatments – i.e.“healing” in the usual sense of the word.

References

Bennholdt-Thomsen, V. (1998) Die normierte Frau imEntwicklungsdiskurs versus Vielfalt von Frauenleben.In: Kaller-Dietrich, M. (Hg.) Recht auf Entwicklung?Atención! Jahrbuch des österreichischenLateinamerika-Instituts Bd.1. Frankfurt am Main:Brandes und Apsel/Südwind, 65-80.

Breidenbach, J.; Zukrigl, I. (1998) AuthentischeWelten. In: Breidenbach, J.; Zukrigl, I. (Hrsg.) Tanzder Kulturen. Kulturelle Identität in einer globalisier-ten Welt. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rohwolt, 163-202.

Cordell, L. S. (1984) Prehistory of the Southwest. SanDiego: Academic Press.

Deimel, C. (1980) Tarahumara. Indianer im NordenMexikos. Frankfurt am Main: Syndikat Autoren- undVerlagsgesellschaft.(1996) híkuri ba. Peyoteriten der Tarahumara.Ansichten der Ethnologie 1. Hannover:Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum.

Duden (1989) Etymologie. Herkunftswörterbuch derdeutschen Sprache. Mannheim: Dudenverlag.

Feest, C. F. (1998) Beseelte Welten. Die Religionen derIndianer Nordamerikas. Kleine Bibliothek derReligionen Bd.9. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder.

Hahn, R. (1984) Rethinking “illness” and “disease”.Contributions to Asian Studies 18: 1-23.

Hörbst, V.; Wolf, A. (2003) Globalisierung derHeilkunde: Eine Einführung. In: Hörbst, V.; Wolf, A. (Hg.): Medizin und Globalisierung. UniverselleAnsprüche – lokale Antworten. Medizinkultureln imVergleich. Münster: LIT Verlag, 3-30.

Irigoyen-Rascon, F. (1989) Psychiatric disorders amongthe Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico. In:Curare. Zeitschrift für Ethnomedizin und transkultu-relle Psychiatrie 12, 3-4, 169-173.

Janzen, D.T (2002) The social fabric of health. Anintroduction to medical anthropology. Boston:McGraw-Hill.

36

Kellogg, S. (1993) The social organization of householdsamong the Tenochca Mexica before and after conquest.In: Santley, R.S.; Hirth K. (Eds): Prehispanic domesticunits in western Meso America. Studies of the house-hold, compound, and residence. Boca Raton, 207-224.(1995) The woman’s room: Some aspects of gender rela-tions in Tenochtitlan in the late pre-Hispanic period.Ethnohistory 42, 4: 563-576.

Kennedy, J. G. (1990) The Tarahumara. Series:Indians of North America. New York, Philadelphia:Chelsea House Publishers. (1996) Tarahumara of the Sierra Madre. Survivors onthe canyon’s edge. Pacific Grove, California: AsimolarPress. Second Edition from 1978.

Kleinman, A. (1980) Patients and healers in the contextof culture. An exploration of the borderland betweenanthropology, medicine and psychiatry. Berkely:University of California Press.(1988) The illness narratives: Suffering, healing and thehuman condition. New York: Basic Books.

Kleinman, A.; Das, V.; Lock, M. (1997) Social suffe-ring. Berkeley: University of California Press

Knipper, M. (2003) Was ist “Krankheit” –Anmerkungen zur transkulturellen Anwendung des wis-senschaftlichen Krankheitsbegriffes. In: Wolf, A.;Hörbst, V. (Hg.): Medizin und Globalisierung.Universelle Ansprüche – lokale Antworten.Medizinkulturen im Vergleich. Bd. 19, Münster: LITVerlag, 153-175.

Lambert, H. (2003) Medical anthropology. In: Banard,A; Spencer, J. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Social andCultural Anthropology. London: World Reference, 358-361.

López Austin, A. (1988) Human body and ideology. SaltLake City: University of Utah Press.

Mader, E. (2003) Kultur, Raum und Macht imSchamanismus der Shuar. In: Schweitzer de Palacios,D.; Wörrle, B. (Hg.): Heiler zwischen den Welten.Transkulturelle Austauschprozesse im SchamanismusEcuadors. Reihe Curupira, Band 15, Marburg/Lahn:Curupira 97-127.

Mechanic, D. (1962) The concept of illness behaviour.Journal of Chronic Diseases 15: 189-194.

Merriam-Webster Online-Dictionary (www.m-w.com).

Merrill, W. L. (1988) Raramuri souls. Knowledge andsocial process in Northern Mexico. Washington, D.C.,London: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Neurath, J. (1992) Mesoamerica and the southern cere-monial complex. In: European Review of NativeAmerican Studies (Wien) 6, 1: 1-8.

Parkin, D. (1998) Foreword. In: Lovell, N. (Hrsg.):Locality and belonging. New York, London: Routledge:VIII-XIV.

Puchegger-Ebner, E. (2004) Gott ist Mann und Frau.Zum Bild des Weiblichen in Mythos und Ritus bei denTarahumara. Dissertation an der Fakultät für Human-und Sozialwissenschaften der Universität Wien (3Bände).(2001) Gott ist hungrig – Zur Stellung der Frau bei denTarahumara. Diplomarbeit an der Grund- undIntegrativwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der UniversitätWien.

Schweitzer, P. P. (2000) Introduction. In: Schweitzer,P. P. (ed.) Dividends of kinship: meanings and uses ofsocial relatedness. London: Routledge, 1-32.

Silverblatt, I. (1987) Moon, sun and witches: Genderideologies and class in Inca and colonial Peru.Princeton University Press.

Ventura i Oller, M. (2003) SchamanischeAustauschbeziehungen und Identität. Das Netzwerk derColorados. In: Schweitzer de Palacios, D.; Wörrle, B.(Hg.): Heiler zwischen den Welten. TranskulturelleAustauschprozesse im Schamanismus Ecuadors. ReiheCurupira, Band 15. Marburg/Lahn: Curupira, 72-96.

Young, A. (1982) The anthropologies of illness andsickness. Annual Review of Anthropology 11: 257-85.

Notes

1 This one-sided debate which lasted until modernismregards cultures as “intact” and static and deems the“major” cultural change as identical with the processesof globalization (Breidenbach, Zukrigl 2000: 163-202).2 Even though the concept of “medical system” (and therespective analysis) is criticized today (Lampert 2002:359, Janzen 2002: 215), this descriptive term continuesto be used in publications.3 Incidentally, connotations of the Middle High Germanword “heil” (healing) covered a similarly broad rangeof meaning: it could mean “luck”, “happy coinci-dence”, “health”, “healing”, “salvation” and “sup-port”. All meanings can be traced back to a Germanics-stem (*hailiz) and correspond to the meaning of therespective adjectives. The meaning “favorable sign”indicates usage in a sacred context from which it is verylikely derived (Duden 1989: 275). “whole”: MiddleEnglish hool healthy, unhurt, entire, from Old EnglishhÇl; akin to Old High German heil healthy, unhurt,Old Norse heill, Old Church Slavic cûl?. The term verylikely has its origin in cultic usage, compare forinstance Cymric. coel omen or German heil which doesnot only mean healthy but also saved. In northernGerman usage, heil is used with the meaning “whole” to this day. (Merriam-Webster Online-Dictionarywww.m-w.com).

37

4 The five core functions are: 1) the cultural construc-tion of disease as a psychosocial experience, 2) thecriteria determining health seeking behavior, 3) copingwith episodes of disease through communication andexplanatory models, 4) curing of disease and healing ofillness and 5) health care.5 Mogollon culture (200 B.C.E. to about 1300 C.E.).Paraphernalia used at religious celebrations were alsoproduced here and sold to the backcountry. The Uto-Aztecan traveling merchants (pochteca) were not onlytraders, but also important messengers transportingknowledge and culture to the Southwest (the area whichis today the USA) and even to the Mississippi centers(Southern Ceremonial Complex) (Neurath 1992: 1-8). 6 Small farms. Further explanation given below.7 In 1992, E. Bustillos Garcia founded CASMAC(Consejo Asesor Sierra Madre A.C., advisory councilfor the Sierra Madre). This non-governmental organi-zation (asociación civil) fights, among other things, toprotect the land rights of the Tarahumara.8 Based on the duality of the agricultural cycle(rain/growth on the one hand, drought/ripeness on theother), Uto-Aztecan societies developed the idea ofrebirth (modelled after the renewal of life in fauna andflora) – there is always a balance of power in natureand human society. In this context, regeneration standsfor a transfer between two differing, polar states ofbeing (López Austin 1998: 11ff.).9 The information and data presented in this chapterwere obtained from interviews with Padre Luis G.Verplancken, S.J., held between 2000-03-10 and 2001-04-22. In 1965, Padre Verplancken started asmall clinic with eighteen beds for children. Until hisdeath in 2004, he added numerous adjoining buildingsand turned it into an efficient hospital. Information onthe clinic and the activities of the Jesuit mission can be

found at: http: //www.companymagazine.org/v193/loveofapeople.htm10 Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social11 The advice offered in these campaigns included forinstance to only drink boiled water that had rested forat least half an hour before consumption. Anotherrecommendation given was to avoid scooping waterfrom water holes whenever possible.12 Until his death in 2000 Luciano was one of the oldestand most respected healers of the region.13 More details will follow below.14 For detailed description of the healing of diseases cf.Puchegger-Ebner (2004: 582-585).15 On the mesa between Barranca de Batopilas and deUrique, a two to three hours distance from Retosachiby foot. The information refers to Europeans / USAmericans, because the Tarahumara are faster andmore sure-footed.16 E.g. Summer School of Linguistics, Baptists,Methodists, Mormons, Pentecostalists, Asamblea deDíos.17 A village in the Sierra Tarahumara Alta.18 Luz Elena León Ramirez lives in Choguita and is oneof the local authorities.19 To what extent these organizations expand morestrongly in comparison to state-run institutions and towhat extent they subsequently support the withdrawalof state regulation and monopolies in the field ofhealth-care policy needs to be investigated.20 This does not only apply to the Tarahumara(Puchegger-Ebner 2004: 244-248), but also to numer-ous other American ethnicities as Irene Silverblatt(1987) showed for the Incas, Susan Kellogg for theAztec society (1993, 1995), and as Ventura i Oller(2003: 91) illustrated by the example of the network ofthe Colorado with regard to medical parallel worlds.

Project Report: Inviting an Indigenous Healer from the Peruvian Amazon to Austria

Bernd Brabec de Mori, Yvonne Schaffler

In October 2006 the EMLAAK associationorganized a fundraising event in order tofinance a visit of Gilberto “Soi Meni” MahuaOchavano, a Shipibo-Konibo who comes fromthe Peruvian Amazon and has been working asan indigenous healer for 49 years. In March2007 Gilberto Mahua Ochavano came to Austriawhere he stayed for a couple of weeks carryingout healing sessions and holding two lectures inthe academic environment. He used indigenouspractices such as singing curative songs, ritualtouching and blowing fragrances (agua florida)and tobacco on to the participants.1 The songsMahua Ochavano sang for them not onlydescribed the problems affecting the people

Fig. 1: Gilberto Mahua Ochavano (right) with BerndBrabec de Mori (left) during a lecture at theJosephinum, Vienna

38

they were directed to, but also depicted thecauses of these problems and the measures thatshould be taken in order to remove them.According to the healer’s cosmology the cura-tive effect is due to his spiritual confrontationwith the disturbing influence. These perfor-mances were effected either in group-sessionswhere one person after the other was addressedto or in the course of individual consultations.EMLAAK was conscious about the possiblyproblematic encounter of culturally differentconcepts and eventual difficulties in the under-standing of healing. In the following a fewaspects of the intercultural contact between theAustrians and the representative of the Shipibo-Konibo shall be described.

Technically the healer did not notice manyremarkable differences between curing peoplebelonging to his own ethnic group and theAustrians, but as far as spirits were concernedhe did notice a difference: according to hisperception there would be a bigger variety ofspirits in the Amazon which, above all, wouldbe much more dangerous. The illnesses them-selves would only differ in part: the Austrianswould predominantly suffer from disorderscaused by the cold; a cold that would causepain in the bones or that would enter the headand trigger vertigo (matsi jikia).2 MoreoverMahua Ochavano stated that a fairly highnumber of the Austrians who attended thesessions would consume drugs, something thathe deemed to have a negative effect on theirmental state (raon irabana). In general heobserved a strong dispersion of the partici-pant’s minds (shinan tsokas), mainly in caseswhere the affected persons themselves werecomplaining about depressions, disorientationand uncertainty. He also explained depressionsas a debilitation of one’s will (shinan masata).Another important topic of Mahua Ochavano’ssongs was the noxious influence (niwen tsaia) of air pollution and „gases“ caused by thedropping of bombs3. In the worst case suchenvironmental influences would lead to severeillnesses that are known in Europe as cancerand multiple sclerosis. In addition, he observedquantitatively less significant causes for dis-orders, always formulated in his own terms asshown above. In any consultation he found anexplanation of people’s problems in his own,culturally determined terms. Mahua Ochavanorepeatedly remarked that in Austria less people

than in Peru would practice witchcraft in order to harm their victims, e.g. by recitingsickening spells (boman). Therefore there wouldbe relatively few people suffering from severediseases caused by “black magic” or by“magical darts” (yotota). According to MahuaOchavano, the greater poverty in Peru andsubsequent enviousness would lead people toorder witchcraft. Here in Austria there wouldbe less jealousy and people as a whole would behappier and more carefree than in Peru, some-thing beneficial to one’s health.4

In the email-survey following MahuaOchavano’s visit5 the vast majority of his clientssaid that they would have another session atany time. They described the act of being sungto as something very pleasant and stimulating,especially in terms of gaining ease of mind andhaving the sensation of being cared for. Forsome participants Mahua Ochavano’s expecta-tion of his clients remaining in a passive statewas quite unfamiliar. One of them said that“according to my European point of view” the healing ceremony “somehow lacked thedynamics” the client himself added “by singingalong”. Another participant complained thatshe could not verbalize her concerns. For someclients who are accustomed to tell theirtherapists about their sufferings, above all thelanguage barrier and the dependency ontranslations6 were disturbing. However duringMahua Ochavano’s sessions the suffering is feltintuitively and does not need to be verbalized.Others did not like the intensive smoking oftobacco, a plant negatively connotated inAustria while considered as an important ritualplant in the Amazon. “The room should havebeen ventilated better and there should havebeen less smoking”. In some cases the perceivedeffects of the performances were describedusing vocabulary belonging to other spiritualtraditions. Mahua Ochavano’s singing wasreferred to as “reviving chacras” or leading toan “amplification of the energetic body”.

After the hours-lasting group sessions held inrooms without light the majority of the partici-pants felt tired, but content. Some recountedpositive effects like “things emerged thathappened at least 20 years ago or longer, untiltoday I feel how my strength and my self-con-sciousness grow”, or even as enthusiastic as“the life before Gilberto was different to the life

39

after Gilberto. The changes were correspond-ingly deep. Everything turned into clarity andtoward solution – spiritually, psychically andhence corporally!” At this point it is impossibleto say if this is due to fulfilled expectancies or ifMahua Ochavano’s healing power is workingtransculturally.

People said that they had participated in ritualswith Mahua Ochavano, because he had “otherperspectives than a bio-medical doctor” andbecause he had “a more direct and undisguisedaccess than the physicians and psychologistsfrom our fields”, as one client said. Anotherparticipant remarked that he expected a tradi-tional healer to access “living parts” in humansrather than proceed in the mechanistic way heattributed to biomedical practice. Many justshowed interest or curiosity while others con-fessed to be frustrated with biomedicine, which“can only cut surgically, prescribe pills andtreat symptoms, but not the causes”. MoreoverMahua Ochavano’s decades-lasting experience,the „traditionally rooted method“ and theprospect of a „holistic treatment” caused inter-est in the curative rituals.

From EMLAAK’s point of view MahuaOchavano took care of his Austrian clients witha high amount of tolerance and benevolence,something that showed itself for instance in howthose who saw him frequently and those whowere in charge of caring for Mahua Ochavanoafter a short time began to address him with tío(uncle). Once, when Mahua Ochavano wassinging one of his curative songs during a groupsessions, the person sung to suddenly started toclap into his hands and join the singing. Whilethe other participants were disturbed by thesinging and clapping Mahua Ochavano did notget out of rhythm. As he said, clapping handsdid not have anything to do with an indigenoussession, but was not at all disturbing as it just had been a sign of joy and interest of theparticipant.

Basically 59-year-old Gilberto „Soi Meni“Mahua Ochavano liked his first overseas visit.After the rainy cold in the beginning theweather turned out to be more pleasant for himand he also considered the food tasty. However,he did not sleep well, because during the wholestay his head „was very full“. He felt better inthe countryside than in Vienna but above all he

appreciated that there is little crime in Austria:“Here in Austria, it is relaxed. There is nodanger, there are no villains to assault you. Butin Peru it is different. One can not walk in thestreets alone late at night, sometimes theyattack you, they might kill you with a knife, it islike this, they kill you in Peru. “ 7

When departing from Austria, MahuaOchavano was already planning a subsequentvisit to Canada. However, he could not go thereuntil today. He stated that from now on hecould go anywhere, from the technical point ofview that he owned a passport (and that heentered and left Schengen without incident),and also from his new individual perception ofjourneying in foreign countries. AlthoughMahua Ochavano did not charge any fees andtherefore did not come home as a rich man (inthe way many travelling indigenous healers do),after his return there could be traced someenvy or suspicious talking among his Shipibo-Konibo peers.8 Anyway, this kind of talk diedaway with time and Mahua Ochavano himselfand his social environment seem to take it fairlyeasy these days.

Further Readings

Arévalo Valera, G. (1994) Las plantas medicinales y subeneficio en la salud. Shipibo-Conibo (MedicinaIndígena) Lima, AIDESEP.

Brabec de Mori, B. (2007) Wissenschaft undDschungelkino – Schicksal eines feldforschendenMenschen im Amazonas. In: Lechleitner G.; Ahamer J.(Hrsg.) Um-Feld-Forschung. Erfahrungen, Erlebnisse,Ergebnisse. Wien: Verlag der ÖAW, 133-145.

Brabec de Mori, B. (2009) Words can doom. Songs mayheal: Ethnomusicological and indigenous explanationsof song-induced transformative processes in WesternAmazonia. In: Curare 32, 1 (in print).

Gow, P. (1994) River people: Shamanism and history inWestern Amazonia. In: Thomas, N.; and Humphrey, C.(eds.): Shamanism, history and the state. Ann Arbor,University of Michigan Press, 90-113.

Illius, B. (1987 [1991]) Ani Shinan. Schamanismus beiden Shipibo-Conibo (Ost-Peru). Ethnologische StudienBd. 12. Münster: Lit Verlag.

Illius, B. (1992) The concept of Nihue among theShipibo-Conibo of Eastern Peru. In: Langdon, E. J.M.; Baer, G. (eds.): Portals of power. Shamanism inSouth America. Albuquerque, University of NewMexico Press, 63-78.

40

LeClerc, F. R. (2003) Des modes de socialisation par les plantes chez les Shipibo-Conibo d´amazonieperuvienne. Une étude des relations entre humains etnon-humains dans la construction sociale. Ph. D.thesis, Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologiecomparative, Nanterre, Université Paris.

Tournon, J. (1991) Medicina y visiones: canto de uncurandero Shipibo-Conibo, texto y contexto. In:Amerindia. Revue d`ethnolinguistique amerindienne16: 179-209.

Tournon J. (2002) La merma mágica. Vida e historia delos Shipibo-Conibo del Ucayali. Lima, CAAAP.

Whitehead, N. L.; Wright, R. (eds.) (2004) In darknessand secrecy. The anthropology of assault sorcery andwitchcraft in Amazonia. Durham and London, DukeUniversity Press.

Notes

1 There was no fee charged for the indigenous„therapeutic sessions“ and already exiting therapeutic

relationships between patients and biomedical or othermedical instances were not interrupted or affectedotherwise.2 Bernd Brabec de Mori collected Mahua Ochavano’sinterpretations.3 These are translated contents of the songs. MahuaOchavano explained to Brabec de Mori that he referredto actual bomb-dropping e.g. in the Middle East oreven during World War II, which would have causedlong-lasting and far-reaching consequences.4 Interview with Gilberto Mahua Ochavano, conductedby Yvonne Schaffler on 14.4. 2007.5 Michael Engel effected the email-survey with the par-ticipants.6 Bernd Brabec de Mori translated for MahuaOchavano (Spanish-German and Shipibo-German).7 Mahua Ochavano, 14.4.2007: “Acá en la Austria,tranquilo. No hay peligro, no hay no hay rateros, loque te asaltan. Pero en Perú no es así. No se puedeandar todo solito en la calle fuera de hora, a veces teatacan de ahí, te pueden matar, tienen cuchillo, así es,matan gente en Perú.”8 Since Bernd Brabec de Mori is still in contact withmany Shipibo-Konibo, he could listen to some of the talk.

Conferences

Summary of the Workshop „Medical Pluralism“, Organized at the Annual Meeting of the AustrianWorking Group for Latin American Research (ARGE Lateinamerikaforschung) in Strobl, Austria,June 1-3, 2007Coordinators: Bernhard Wörrle, Yvonne Schaffler, Evelyne Puchegger-Ebner

In most of Latin America’s pluralistic medical systems one can observe a coexistence of bio-medicalinstitutions and indigenous healing systems. During the workshop, regional examples were discussed, in particular from Otavalo (Ecuador), Sierra Tarahumara (Mexiko), Rosita (Nicaragua), San José(Guatemala), Peru, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.1

In many cases, local people do not approve biomedicine. Many NGOs who work in medical issues assumethat intracultural factors in indigenous societies play an important role in the acceptance of biomedi-cine. In the workshop, we discussed and challenged this assumption. It seems likely that the problemrather consists in the lacking adaption of biomedicine for the local needs. We agreed that in some caseslocal biomedical supply is actually lacking quality (e.g. through the absence of qualified medicalpersonnel or the non-existence of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment), while in other cases, assome of us observed, patients are treated in a questionable way by physicians in charge, who, forinstance, show a euro-centric attitude. One of the results of the workshop was that representatives ofbiomedicine should not so much try to “educate” the indigenous but to gain their confidence instead.Many projects undertaken by NGO’s in order to bringing forward the local biomedical supply mayresult in disaster because of the limited project duration and the withdrawal of resources following theend of the project. This can be observed for example in the western Amazon where deserted medicalposts are now used as guesthouses for visitors, while indigenous healing declined at the same timebiomedical projects decomposed.

According to the participants of the workshop one of the advantages of indigenous healing is that it canreproduce itself and also operates locally, while biomedicine is not only expensive but also depends onthe supply of drugs, instruments, and personnel which itself depends on the governmental apparatus

41

that is often unreliable or not working at all. This way dependency is created. In general, continuity ordeterioration of the indigenous arts of healing are less determined by factors of medical efficiency thanby political decisions, tourism or the intervention of Evangelical sects.

Bearing in mind such exterior but nevertheless determining factors, the question arose, if conservationof indigenous arts of healing would be promising in any case. The WHO, for example, along with manylocally operating NGOs, promotes such conservatism in indigenous medical techniques2. Analysing theapproaches of such institutions, it appears that most of them concentrate on selecting supposedly usefulhealing plants according to Western imaginations of medical efficiency. On the other hand, spiritual – and such scientifically intangible – healing techniques and their representatives are promoted veryseldom.3 Such selective conservatism, we concluded, would rather lead to a bending, re-interpretationand re-weighing of indigenous concepts and methods.

During the workshop also methodical issues regarding health-seeking behaviour were thematised.Retrospective accounts of patients are always interconnected with posterior reflection and resultingexplanations. Therefore, one has to ask whether interviewing people is a methodologically sufficientapproach to study their health-seeking behaviour. Based on the analysis of observed cases that werepresented in the workshop it appeared that most people, especially in cases of acute illness, make use ofall available resources (usually the closest and cheapest first). They probably do not reflect much onhow to classify the disease and to estimate its cause, which would seem necessary to decide which healthinstitution they are going to resort to. Such classifications and contextualisations patients usually under-take only in retrospect. However, one can assume that besides easy geographic and economic reach,confidence in a certain healing method plays an important role when choosing a medical institution. Sothe following strategies were proposed:

• To define confidence as a main action-leading factor in order to ask by which means confidence in anymedical institution may be obtained. Therefore, it has to be understood which factors are necessaryto let an individual rely on a certain type of treatment.

• To deduce less from what people tell (especially from interviews about patients’ careers) in order tostudy their health-seeking behaviour, but to observe the processes instead.

Another issue in discussion was the terminology of “medicine”, “religion” and “healer” in the course ofmedical anthropological research. Neither the term religion nor the term medicine can grasp the prac-tice of indigenous healers in satisfying profoundness. On the one hand they both encompass more thanwhat is done but on the other hand they do not describe every aspect of a healing performance. To givean example: an indigenous healer’s activity also includes ritual proceedings which are supposed tomanipulate social relationships or optimize financial success, and which fairly often also involve assaultsorcery. Moreover – as far as (healing) rituals are concerned – the Durkheimian distinction between thesacred and the profane is not as rigid as often assumed, that is, switching between the two is highlyfrequent. Ritual proceedings often contain relaxed phases where people laugh and foster social contactsand not infrequently they also satisfy a need for ecstasy. Rituals do not necessarily have to be carriedout in a space reserved for religious or medical contexts, but may also take place in everyday-settings.

Finally, the term “healer” may be seen as a Western construct, as in some indigenous languages nocorresponding term exists (i.e. Shipibo or Tarahumara). “Healer” can only be legitimized by theindividual researcher’s focus on the aspects of healing.During the workshop the following suggestions concerning the use of the mentioned terms were worked out:

• In German, the terminology of “healing” encompasses religious and medical meanings in a broadersense than in English: the religious grace (Heil), the sacred (heilig) and the saviour (Heiland)definitely stem from the same root as the medical healing (heilen), being whole, unharmed or healthy(heil) and of course the healer (Heiler). Thus, in German, the term “art of healing” (Heilkunst) mightbe justifiably employed as an alternative to the term “medicine” in medical anthropological studies inorder to highlight the twofold religious and medical quality.

42

• Instead of talking about “religion” there could be more emphasis put toward “spirituality” or “belief”which would stress the non-institutionalised character.

• If available, emic terminology should be explored in regard of its meaning and preferred to howevergeneralizing terms like “healer”, in any possible case.

Notes

1 Besides the three coordinators, also Bernd Brabec de Mori, Barbara Kazianka, Lucia Mennel, Nora Ramírez, andChristina Schmutzhard participated in the workshop.2 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs134/en/3 Indigenous spiritual healing techniques, however, are often promoted in esoteric or „neo-shamanistic“ contexts.Therefore, „serious“ medical projects seem to avoid their involvement in these discourses.

Obituary

Nina L. Etkin, Professor of Anthropology at the Universityof Hawai’i, died in Honolulu, on January 27, 2009, ofcancer. Nina was born in New York City, earned the BA inzoology at Indiana University, and began graduate studies inanthropology in 1970 at Washington University-St. Louis,where she received the MA in 1972 and the PhD in 1975.

Her early research emphasized the biocultural dimensions ofhealth, beginning with her Ph.D. dissertation, whichexplains the biochemical basis of protection against malariainfection that is afforded by an inherited enzyme (G6PD)deficiency. She also explored the evolution of populationvariability, epidemiology, and health through studies ofsickle hemoglobin and malaria; ABO blood groups and infec-tious diseases; and the intersection of diet, genetics, anddaily activity patterns in the expression of hypertension.

Her postdoctoral research evolved into a multi-decade study of Hausa health, diet, and medicinein northern Nigeria, through which she broadened her theoretical perspective to work at theinterface of biology and culture. Her husband, Paul Ross, was an integral element of her Hausaresearch. She is best known for her pioneering work on the pharmacologic implications of plantuse, especially the interrelations between medicine and food, and the cultural constructions ofhealth and physiologic implications of people’s health-seeking actions. In a later trajectory ofethnomedical inquiry Nina began research on the use of complementary and alternative medicines(CAM) in Hawai’i. Her studies revealed that the uses of CAM are not only for preventive andtherapeutic actions, but also are statements about what it means to be sick and who has access tothe knowledge and substance of cure. In sum, Nina’s biocultural medical anthropology researchraised questions about explanatory disease models and healing paradigms, ‘irrational’ drug use,agency and authority in identifying drug actions as primary or side effects, the overlap of medicineand food, physiological outcomes of self- and specialist-care, physician-driven and patient-augmented polypharmacy, syncretic models of health care, gauging therapeutic efficacy, and thecultural construction and social negotiation of medical knowledge.

Beginning early in her career, Nina has published extensively across a range of disciplines. Hermost recent book is “Edible medicines: An ethnopharmacology of food” (2006). At the time of her

† January 27, 2009

43

death another book was in production, “Biocultural perspectives on food, and beverages, andassociation” and another in process, “An ethnobiology of Darwin’s gardens”. Her research hasbeen funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Social ScienceResearch Council, National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright, American HeartAssociation, National Geographic Society, and several private foundations and university sources.

Nina Etkin’s first academic position was at the University of Memphis (1977-1979). She joined theanthropology faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1979, and the University of Hawai’i in 1990.At UH, she served for many years as graduate chair and briefly as department chair, with strongcontributions to college and university governance. She chaired dozens of anthropology PhD andMA committees, mentored extensively outside of anthropology, and served as external reviewer atboth the graduate and faculty levels. Her CV lists about 130 publications, including 28 (three ofthem books) since she became ill about 4 years ago. Her accomplishments were recognized throughthe prestigious Regents‘ Award for Excellence in Research, and college teaching and merit awards.She had only recently learned that she was to be awarded the Distinguished Economic Botanistaward at the Society for Economic Botany meetings in June, 2009, in Charleston, SC, USA, atwhich occasion the Society will celebrate her life and career.

Among her many colleagues she will also be remembered because of her great dedication toscholarly work, her enthusiasm for a critical dialogue and her quiet but determined personality.Her research greatly improved our understanding how people understand and use what we com-monly call medicine and food: Food as medicine and medicine as food. Nina traveled extensively,many of the trips centering on invitations to present plenary addresses and serve on the scientificboards of international conferences. She was a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and pastPresident of the International Society for Ethnopharmacology. She was editor-in-chief of oneacademic journal and associate editor of 3 others, and served on the editorial boards of another ten.

Outside of her professional accomplishments, Nina was passionate about hiking, botanizing, andpet dogs. She is survived by her husband and research partner, Paul Ross; three sisters, a niece,two nephews, and their families; and a golden retriever. Contributions to the ACLU (by NinaEtkin, lightly edited by Elaine Elisabetsky, Michael Heinrich, and Dan Moerman).

The International Society for Ethnopharmacology has dedicated its latest ISE Newsletter to thememory of Nina Etkin. (http://www.ethnopharmacology.org/downloads/newsletters/nl_2009/ise_newsletter_april_2009.pdf)

44

Wiener ethnomedizinische ReiheBd. 6, 2009, 432 S., 34.90 EUR, br., ISBN 978-3-643-50008-3

This book is supposed to be a warm thanks to all those who have supported the Austrian EthnomedicalSociety (Österreichische Ethnomedizinische Gesellschaft) in the last three decades and who have turnedit into what it is today. The 29 authors of this volume have been connected to the Society and the UnitEthnomedicine and International Health , Medical University of Vienna, in various ways. Apart fromour guest professors John Janzen, Wolfgang Jilek, Ma Kanwen, Margaret Lock, Richard Ralston, Sjaakvan der Geest and Zohara Yaniv, many other medical anthropologists have contributed to this volume.

After giving an introduction to the history of the Austrian Ethnomedical Society and other ethnomedicalinstitutions, a selection of theories and research topics in current medical anthropology and ethno-pharmacology is presented.

This book is also dedicated to Els van Dongen and Nina Etkin, two medical anthropologists of interna-tional format and guest lecturers at the Unit, who recently passed away.

45

Wiener ethnomedizinische ReiheBd. 4, 2007, 176 S., 14.90 EUR, br., ISBN 978-3-8258-0171-7

Distance and proximity are concepts par excellence to describe what may happen in times of illness andsuffering. When one faces distress and suffering the need of proximity of the sick or suffering personmay manifest itself or - the opposite - a need of distance exists. A doctor or an anthropologist may believeproximity is necessary, but the other can disagree. Illness raises questions for all individuals. The sickindividual will question his/her relationship with others and being-in-the-world. The authors of thisvolume take up issues of distance and proximity in illness and suffering in various situations. The paperswere first discussed in a workshop texteditFacing distress. Distance and proximity in times of illness atthe 8th Biennial EASA (European Association of Social Anthropologists) conference in Vienna inSeptember 2004.

46

The Austrian Ethnomedical Society

President: Manfred Kremser, Vicepresidents: Wolfgang Kubelka and Armin Prinz, 1. Sectretary: Ruth Kutalek, 2. Secretary: Christa Kletter, Treasurer: Doris Burtscher

Dear friends and colleagues!

If you want to become a member of the Austrian Ethnomedical Society and to get the VEN regularly(three times a year), please send the completed form back to:

ÖSTERREICHISCHE ETHNOMEDIZINISCHE GESELLSCHAFT(AUSTRIAN ETHNOMEDICAL SOCIETY)

c/o Unit Ethnomedicine and International Health Zentrum für Public Health

Institut für Geschichte der MedizinWähringerstraße 25

A-1090 WIENAUSTRIA

MEMBERSHIP ENROLLMENT

Member (Euro 20,–) ❏

Student Member (Euro 10,–) ❏

MEMBER NAME:...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

ADDRESS: ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

FAX: ......................................................... PHONE: ....................................................

E-MAIL: .................................. PAYMENT BY VISA AND MASTERCARD POSSIBLE

DATE: SIGNATURE:

With your membership you help us to publish this newsletter.If you are already a member, please hand forward this application form to somebody who might beinterested in our work.

Photograph last page

Milke Sinuiri’s painting is divided vertically: on the left, the “human” side, a celestial background hosts symbols of modernayahuasquerismo, like the pink dolphin on the left standing for love magic, the ayawaska vine itself as a basement, and thespaceship-like anaconda pointing towards often-mentioned journeys in heavenly or extra-terrestrial landscapes. On the otherhand, the right “jaguar” side is dedicated to “old-fashioned” animal transformation, sorcery (see the snakes as arms of thesorcerer) and counter-witchcraft. The toucan also is viewed as a dangerous sorcerer. Remarkably, the animal transformationis not performed through ayawaska ingestion but through inhaling tobacco. (See article Brabec and Brabec this issue)

Bernd Brabec de Mori (born 1975, Bregenz/Austria) studied musicology, philosophy andhistory of arts at the Universities of Salzburg, Graz and Vienna. For his master’s thesishe spent one and a half year fieldworking in the Peruvian Amazon. He decided to stayin the area, married co-author Mori Silvano de Brabec and became integrated in theindigenous group Shipibo-Konibo. His recent fieldwork on musical practice in theUcayali valley (2004-2006) was supported by a grant (program ‘DOC’) by the AustrianAcademy of Sciences and paved the way for his doctoral thesis (Documentation andanalysis of indigenous musical practices and identity aspects on the Ucayail river/Peru;advisor: Gerhard Kubik). Since 2006 he has been working at the Phonogrammarchiv inVienna. He has published various papers about music, medicine, arts and history ofShipibo-Konibo and other Peruvian Amazonian groups.

Laida Mori Silvano de Brabec, Neten Rama (born 1975, Patria Nueva/Peru) was raisedwithin Shipibo-Konibo society and pertains to the first generation of Shipibo-Konibowho received organized bilingual school education. She studied primary school educa-tion at the Superior Institute of Education in Yarinacocha and at the University SanMarcos in Lima. She worked as a translator and field assistant with Frédérique RamaLeClerc and later with her husband and co-author Brabec de Mori. During two years inthe field and translating, she specialized in interpreting and analyzing Shipibo-Koniboart and music. Now she lives in Austria together with her husband and their fivechildren.

Eveline Sigl was born in 1975 in Vienna/Austria. Before starting on cultural and socialanthropology she finished studies on bio-chemistry, internacional comerce andpedagogics of business administration. She is the founder and director of a Bolivian folkdance group in Austria (www.bolivia.at.tf) and in August 2008 she published hermaster’s thesis “Para Bolivia y el mundo. La danza como generadora de identidad yetnicidad en los contextos online y offline” at CEPA/Oruro/Bolivia. At the momentEveline Rocha Torrez is working on her dissertation about structures of power,ethnicity, status and gender in the Bolivian highland dances.

Evelyne Puchegger-Ebner, MA, PhD in cultural and social anthropology from theUniversity of Vienna, where she works as a lecturer. She is also freelance documentaryfilmmaker and author. Her research is preceded and based upon by several periods offieldwork (1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007) in Mexico and Colombia (2008). Theseconstitute the foundation of her scientific focus on feminist anthropology, women andgender studies, anthropology of violence, peace and conflict studies, as well as theoriesand concepts of cosmovision, mythology and rituals. Included in the cosmologicalcomplex are themes of body concepts, power and hierarchy.

Yvonne Schaffler, born 1978 in Klagenfurt/Austria, studied social and culturalanthropology at the University of Vienna. She recently finished her doctoral thesis onDominican folk medicine, spirituality and identity after eleven month of field researchin the Southwest of the Dominican Republic. She teaches at the University of Viennaand at the Medical University of Vienna. She currently works on a filmproject (supported by the Austrian Nationalbank) at the Unit Ethnomedizin and InternationalHealth, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna.

Contributing Authors

A-1090 WIEN · WÄHRINGERSTRASSE 25 · AUSTRIA · TEL ++43(0)1/427763412 · FAX ++43(0)1/42779634

Jaguar transformation, painting by Milke Sinuiri

ViennaInternationalAirport

Sponsored by