Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon (75 page)

NOTE: AA = Araujo-Lima & Alvarez-Leon, 2003; B = Brownrigg, 1996; BB = Bartlett & Bartlett, 2003; C =
Chibnik, 1994; CS = Clements & Shany, 2001; D = Duellman, 2005; E = Emmons, 1997; ER = Eisenberg & Redford, 1999; FP = Froese & Pauly, 2008; HB = Hilly & Boyd, 1986; K = Kricher, 1997; OV = Ortega & Vari, 1986; PB = Pearson & Beletsky, 2008; RDT = Rios, Dourojeanni, & Tovar, 1975; RG =
Ridgely & Greenfield, 2001; RKF = Reis, Kullander, & Ferraris, 2003; SaR = Saldana & Rojas, 2004; SSLOP = Schulenberg, Stotz, Lane, O'Neill, & Parker, 2007.

Fish identifications should be viewed with some skepticism. Some species have many different common
names; some common names are used to refer to many different species. Colossoma bidens is called
both tambaqui and gamitana; Brachyplatystoma flavicans is called both dorado and bagre. Conversely, a fish called bagre could be any of twenty different species; the popular name carachama refers,
in Peru alone, to fifteen different fish species. Citations to FP are to FishBase species identification
number, and English names are those given by the American Fisheries Societies wherever possible.

a Ramphastos cuvieri of southern Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and western Brazil is probably the same as R.
tucanus of northeast Colombia to Guyana (HB 331).

There are two Cebus species generally distinguished in the Peruvian Amazon-machin blanco, white
capuchin, sometimes mono blanco, white monkey, C. albifrons; and machin negro, black capuchin,
sometimes mono negro, black monkey, C. apella (B 193, 204; E 127-130; RDT 82; SaR 604; see Aquino & Encarnacidn, 1994; Soini, 1972).

The genus name Agouti for the paca is confusing, because the paca is not an agouti; the various species
of agouti, generally called anuje in the Peruvian Amazon, belong instead to the genus Dasyprocta. For
that reason, the genus of the paca is sometimes given the name Cuniculus.

The species is alternatively Felis onca. The jaguar is often called tigre in the Upper Amazon.

Mestizos consider the otorongo and the yanapuma to be distinct species; Western zoologists consider
both animals to be Panthera onca, with the yanapuma a melanistic form.

In the Upper Amazon, where there are no rattlesnakes, the term cascabel is used to refer to juveniles of
the genus Bothrops, probably because juvenile B. atrox have yellow tails (Armed Forces Pest Management Board, 2008; Russell, n.d.).

3 Spelling variants include acarahuas6 and carahasG.

INTRODUCTION

i. Hood, 1996.

CHAPTER 1

i. Hankiss, 1981, p. 204.

2. Patai, 2001, p. 276.

3. Patai, 1988, p. 18; emphasis in original.

CHAPTER 2

i. It is possible that the term mesa was borrowed from the shamans of the northwestern Peruvian tradition, whose elaborate mesas are a central feature of their healing
ceremonies. See, for example, the discussions in Joralemon & Sharon, 1993; Skillman, 199o.

2. Cebrian, 2005, p. 178.

3. Quoted in Tindall, 2008, p. 219.

4. See Luna, 1986c, p. 94.

5. Tindall, 2008, p. 191.

CHAPTER 3

i. Laderman & Roseman, 1996, p. I; emphasis added.

2. Laderman & Roseman, 1996, p. 2.

3. Schechner, 1994, P. 183.

4. Hutton, 2001, p. 85.

5. G6mez-Pena, 2000, pp. 232-233.

6. Schechner, 1994, P. 184.

7. Schechner, 1988, pp. 50-51; see also Schechner, 1971.

8. Schechner, 1985, P. 5.

9. Schechner, 1985, p. 10.

10. Turner, 1969, p. 82; for discussion, see Duntley, 1993, P. 4.

ii. Howe, 2000, p. 63-

12. Schechner, 1994, P. 185.

13. See, for example, Brown, 1988.

14. Sullivan, 1988, P. 459.

15. Schechner, 1994, P. 185.

16. Carlson & Shield, 1989; May, 1989, p. 1o8; Krippner, 1989, p. 112; Krieger, 1989,
pp. 125-126; Kubler-Ross, 1989, p. 127; Johnson, 1989, p. 131.

17. Vizenor, 1997, P. 52; Brown, 1988, p. 103; Crocker, 1985, P. 237.

18. Hugh-Jones, 1994, P. 35.

1q. Hutton, 2001, p. 90.

20. Laderman & Roseman, 1996, p. 6.

21. Strathern, 1995, P. 127.

22. Kendall, 1996, p. 50.

23. Katz, 1982, p. 107; for discussion see Turner, Blodgett, Kahona, & Benwa, 1992,
p. 200.

24. Cited in Kalweit, 1992, p. 114.

25. Cited in Hutton, 2001, p. 94.

26. Cited in Hutton, 2001, p. 95.

27. La Barre, 1972, P. 319.

28. Singer, 1990, P. 444.

29. Singer, 1990, PP. 448-449.

30. Radin, 1926/1983, P. 103.

31. Radin, 1926/1983, pp. 110-111, 125.

32. Levi-Strauss, 1958/1963, pp.175-178.

33. See discussion in Glucklich, 1997, pp. 168-16q.

34. Descriptions are given in Christopher, 1973, PP. 74-81; Cooper, 1944; Dunning,
1959, PP. 178-180; Feraca, 1998, PP. 3-44; Flannery, 1944; Hallowell, 1942; Holy
Bull, 2000; Hultkrantz, 1992, PP. 37-39; Lewis, 1992, pp. 71-105; Powers, 1984.

35. Burger & Neale, 1995, P. 51; Hallowell, 1942, P. 74.

36. Dow, 1986, pp. 108, iio.

37. Drury, 1982, p.1.

38. Harris, 1992, P. 412.

39. Harner, 1980, pp. 115-117.

40. Sullivan, 1988, p. 659.

V. Descola, 1993/1996, PP. 332-333.

42. Dow, 1986, p. 11o; Bear, 2000, pp. 126-127; Gorman, 2006.

43• Perruchon, 2003, p. 218.

44. La Barre, 1972, p. 320.

45• Hallowell, 1942, P. 19.

46. Burger & Neale, 1995, P. 52.

47. Burger & Neale, 1995, P. 130.

48. Burger & Neale, 1995, pp. 6,130.

49. Briggs, 1996, p. 187; Mattingly, 2000, p. 200.

50. Mattingly, 2000, p. 181.

51. See Mattingly, 2000, p. 199.

CHAPTER 4

i. Brown, 1989, p. 8.

2. Doore, 1988.

3. Harner, 1980, p. xii, 1988a, p. 182, 1989, P. 137.

4. Luna & Amaringo, 1993, P. 13.

5. Heinze, 1991, p. 7.

6. Perruchon, 2003, p. 214.

7. Buchillet, 2004, p.118.

8. Buchillet, 2004, pp. 117-118-

9. Grof, 1994, P. 23; see also Kalweit, 1989.

io. Shoemaker, 1997b, p. 40.

ii. Brown, 1986, pp. 6o-6i, 200 n. 3; Whitten, 1976, p. 146.

12. Adams, 1997, p. 113; Hillman, 1976/2000, p. 118, 1983a, P. 34; Moore, 1989, p. 112.

13. Moore, 1989, p. 112.

14. Moore, 1989, p. 113.

15. Moore, 1989, p. 112.

16. Hillman, 1988, p. 1o.

17. Buber, 1947/1965, P. 14.

18. Levinas & Kearney, 1986, p. 23.

19. See Welwood, 2000, pp. 11-14-

20. Kornfield, 1989, p. 15o.

21. Harvey, 2003, p. 8.

22. Eliade, 1951/1964, pp. 264-265, 500. For critiques, see Balzer, 1997, p. xvi; Harvey,
2003, p. 16; Noel, 1997, P. 34.

23. Smith, 1987, Pp. 2, 122 n. 2.

24. Eliade,1951/1964, pp. 264-265, 269. See Noel, 1997, PP. 35-36; for a lengthy critique, see Smith, 1987.

25. Eliade, 1951/1964, P. 500.

26. Eliade, 1951/1964, p. 500.

27. Wasson, 1972b, pp. 197-200; Wasson & Wasson, 1957, P. 295.

28. Estrada, 1981, P. 55•

29. Estrada, 1981, p. 73.

30. Letcher, 2007, p. 104.

31. Estrada, 1981, P. 55.

32. Estrada, 1981, p. 25; Letcher, 2007, p. 104.

33• Letcher, 2007, p. 86.

34. Letcher, 2007, p. 100; Metzner, 1971, p. 104.

35• Znamenski, 2007, p. 128.

36. Estrada, 1981, p. 86.

37. Estrada, 1981, pp. 90-91.

38. Letcher, 2007, p. 102; Wasson, 1980, p. 28; Estrada, 1981, P. 55•

39. Vizenor, 1997, P. 52.

40. Crocker, 1985, P. 237.

41. Clastres, 1989, P. 144.

42. Perruchon, 2003, p. 266.

43. Cebrian, 2005, p. 27; my translation.

44. Brown, 1988, p. 114; Buchillet, 2004, p. 109.

45. Hugh-Jones, 1994, P. 35.

46. Douglas, 2005, p. 90.

47. Uzendoski, 2005, P. 58.

48. Metraux, 1949, P. 598.

49 Buchillet, 2004, p. iio; Chaumeil, 1983/2000, p. 65; Brown, 1989, p. io.

50. Quoted in Charing, 2007a.

51. Rubenstein, 2002, p. 243.

52. Perruchon, 2003, p. 226.

53• Siskind, 1973a, p. M.

54. Hugh-Jones, 1994, P. 36.

55. See also Freedman, 2000, p. 113.

56. Perruchon, 2003, P. 235.

57. Beckerman & Yost, 2007, p. 162.

58. Chacon, 2007, p. 539.

59• Whitehead, 2002, p. 205; Whitehead & Wright, 2004, P. 4.

6o. Brown, 1989, p. io.

61. Fausto, 2004, pp. 171-172.

62. Lagrou, 2004, p. 268 n. 2.

63. Chaumeil, 1983/2000, pp. 120-121.

64. Jackson, 1983, p. 198; Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1975, pp. 86, 241 n. 21.

65. Brown, 1988, pp. 103-104.

66. Freedman, 2000, p. 113.

67. Quoted in Rubenstein, 2002, p. 22.

68. Chaumeil, 1983/2000, pp. 62, 66, 219.

69. Lagrou, 2004, Pp. 248-249.

70. Perruchon, 2003, p. 236.

71. Brown, 1988, p. 104, 1989, PP. 8, 10.

72. Dube, 2003; Little, 2003.

73. Brown, 1988, p. 114.

74. Clastres, 1989, P. 144, 1994, p. 64.

75. Rubenstein, 2002, p. 244.

76. Buchillet, 2004, p. 124-

77. Wilbert, 2004, p. 28.

78. Lagrou, 2004, pp. 258, 262.

79. Goldman, 1979, p. 266.

8o. Siskind, 1973a, p. 166.

81. Lagrou, 2004, p. 268 n. 2.

82. Descola, 1993/1996, P. 331.

83. See, for example, Hendricks, 1993, P. 290.

84. Brown, 1989, p. 1o.

85. Freedman, 2000, p. 113.

86. Hugh-Jones, 1994, P. 71.

87. Chevalier, 1982, p. 402.

88. Perruchon, 2003, P. 225.

89. Taussig, 1987, p. 246.

9o. Perruchon, 2003, pp. 236, 266.

CHAPTER 5

i. Dobkin de Rios & Rumrrill, 2008, p. 45

2. Bear, 2000, p. 133.

3. Castonguay, 1990, p. 9o.

4. See Luna, 1986c, p. 50.

5. Luna & Amaringo, 1993, p. 6o n. 105.

6. Muratorio, 1991, p. 64.

7. Calvo, 198i/i995b, p. iii.

8. Quoted in Charing, 2007e.

9. See Dobkin de Rios, 1973; Luna, 1984b, 1986c, pp. 51-55-

io. Calvo, 198'/I995b, p. 155.

ii. Bear, 2000, pp. 131-132; Castonguay, 1990, p. 21.

12. Cebrian, 2005, P. 38.

13. Luna, 1986c, p. 45.

14. Chevalier, 1982, P. 346.

15. Luna & Amaringo, 1993, P. 56.

16. Quoted in Slawek, 2007-

17. Luna, 1986c, p. 52.

18. Sammarco & Palazzolo, 2002.

19. Quoted in Rubenstein, 2002, p. 153.

20. Silva, 2004, P. 195.

21. Silva, 2004, p. 196.

22. Schultes & Raffauf, 1992, P• 79-

23. Chaumeil, 1983/2000, pp. 9-10.

24. Muratorio, 1991, p. 181.

25. Quoted in Charing, 2007a.

26. See Luna, 1986c, p.55•

27. Quoted in Cloudsley & Charing, 2007-

28. Luna, 1984b.

29. Quoted in Cloudsley & Charing, 2007.

30. Quoted in Rubenstein, 2002, p. 153.

31. Quoted in Slawek, 2007-

32. Quoted in Heaven & Charing, 2006, p. 52. The jealousy of the plants is reiterated
in Chevalier, 1982, P. 348.

33. Quoted in Cloudsley & Charing, 2007-

34. Descola, 1993/1996, P. 339.

35. Quoted in Muratorio, 1991, p. 181.

36. Vargas Llosa, 1987/2001, p. 196.

37. Quoted in Muratorio, 1991, p. 215.

38. Quoted in Heaven & Charing, 2006, p. 52.

39. Luna, 1986c, p. 54.

40. Castonguay, 1990, P. 32.

41. Castonguay, 1990, P. 32.

42. Chevalier, 1982, p. 404 n. 19.

43. See Luna, 1986c, p. 54; Shoemaker, 1997a.

44. Quoted in Rubenstein, 2002, p. 153.

45. Payaguaje, 1990/2001, p. 231.

46. Freedman, 2000, p. 113; see Gow, 2001, p. 150.

47. Bear, 2000, pp. 132-133; Wilcox, 2003, p. 107.

48. Luna, 1984b.

49. Bear, 2000, p. 144.

50. Quoted in Hvalkof, 2004, p. 213.

51. Luna, 1986c, p. 66; Luna & Amaringo, 1993, P. 48 n. 8o.

52. Luna, 1986c, p. 159.

53. Luna, 1986c, p. 63.

54. See Luna, 1986c, p. 71.

55. Heaven & Charing, 2006, p.140.

56. Luna, 1986c, p. 103, 1992, P. 238.

CHAPTER 6

1. Luna, 1992; Chavez, 2001, p. 143.

2. The most important reporting on icaros has been by Luis Eduardo Luna, in three
largely overlapping publications (1984b, 1986c, 1992) based on his Iquitos fieldwork. In addition, there has been a very brief article by Rosa Alarco (19651985)
and two articles analyzing the icaros sung during a single ayahuasca session (Katz
& Dobkin de Rios, 1971; Stocks, 1979). Alfonso Padilla (1984) wrote a musical
analysis of seven icaros collected by Luna during his first period of fieldwork,
published as an appendix to Luna, 1984b. Transcriptions of eight icaros are found
in Luna, 1986c, pp. 174-180; and two others are transcribed in Luna & Amaringo,
1993, PP. 39-41, and Katz & Dobkin de Rios, 1971. Icaros from a variety of mestizo
ayahuasqueros are available on a number of cDs, videos, and audiocassettes. The
line between commercially produced and homemade CDs is increasingly blurred
with the increasing capabilities of relatively inexpensive computers; such smallscale CDs oficaros turn up from time to time on such outlets as eBay. Those interested in hearing a variety of mestizo icaros can try Campos, 2000; Garcia Sampaya,
Montes Shufla, Gerena Pinedo, & Torres Devila, 2003; Gonzales Ramirez, 1998;
Guerra Gonzales, 1987, 2001; Luna, 1984c, 1987; Montes Shufla, Laiche Celis,
Coral, & Pena Shufla, 2001; Mossembite, 1983; Murayay, 2007; Panduro Vasquez,
2000; Rivas, 1988, 1998; Tangoa Paima, 2004.