Chamanismos guaraní contemporáneos en Brasil: un estudio de caso del proceso de transfiguración cultural

In the Guarani village Mbiguaçu (Santa Catarina, Brazil), the adoption of ayahuasca and other ritual practices results from dialogue with non-Indian groups during shared ritual performances and from the circulation of concepts in Brazilian public policies and alternative spiritual movements. Actors in this network share ideas such as indigenous knowledge, the 'ecological' and 'spiritual' native, indigenousness, and 'traditional medicine'. This appropriation is part of an ongoing ethnopolitical movement of cultural transfiguration among the Guarani of the Brazilian coast.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This paper examines the adoption of ayahuasca and other ritual practices in the Guarani village Mbiguaçu (Santa Catarina, Brazil). This adoption is the productof the dialogue that has emerged in the ritual performances shared with non-Indian groups and the circulation of concepts and discourses present in Brazilian public policies and alternative spiritual movements. The actors involved in the formation of the network examined here share common ideas and images, such as indigenous knowledge, the ‘ecological’ and ‘spiritual’ native, indigenousness, and ‘traditional medicine’. We demonstrate that the appropriation of these rituals and ideas is part of an ongoing ethnopolitical movement of cultural transfiguration among the Guarani of the Brazilian coast. https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472X74