Papers by Esther Jean Langdon
Spirits, Shamans and Stars: Perspectives from South America, 1979
The paper presents shamanic narratives of yagé visions.
Revista Estudos Feministas, 1993
Tomei emprestado este título do livro do meu professor, Stephen Tyler, que explorou conosco o sig... more Tomei emprestado este título do livro do meu professor, Stephen Tyler, que explorou conosco o significado da linguagem como comunicação e depois começou a perceber que os silêncios também têm mensagens
Social Science & Medicine. Part B: Medical Anthropology, 1979
... of our Xray equipment and the refusal by the patient of an offer of free travel to the ... in... more ... of our Xray equipment and the refusal by the patient of an offer of free travel to the ... in disease classification and diagnosis, although it has been sug gested by Fabrega that this ... AcknowledgementsWe are most grateful to Drs Carlos Leon and Haydee Seijas for their ...
The Fabrics of Culture, 1979
Spirits, Shamans, and Stars, 1980
Page 1. Yage Among the Siona: Cultural Patterns in Visions E. JEAN LANGDON Investigations and lit... more Page 1. Yage Among the Siona: Cultural Patterns in Visions E. JEAN LANGDON Investigations and literature concerning the use of hallucinogens among indigenous groups in the Amazon basin have been increasing at a rapid ...
Anthropology of Consciousness, 1995
Anthropology of Consciousness [6(1)] "heterohypnosis" are terms applied to activities that are go... more Anthropology of Consciousness [6(1)] "heterohypnosis" are terms applied to activities that are goal-directed; if I saw musicians shirt into a different pattern of perceptual, cognitive, and/or emotional activity unaware, I might surmise that they had become "suggestible" or that their awareness had become "labile," but I would not consider "hypnosis" an appropriate label. The authors observe that "the Balinese do not have a specific word for trance" (p. 172), a statement that assumes that "trance" has been established as a universal phenomenon, but I would consider it a cultural construct that might not be applicable in Bali where alterations in consciousness are ubiquitous, complicated, and idiosyncratic. The authors deftly list the similarities and differences between "multiple personality disorder" (MPD) (recently renamed "dissociative identity disorder" by U.S. psychiatrists) and Balinese "trance-possession"-but downplay the differences (most critically the positive sequelae that often occur in Bali), concluding that "both represent fundamentally the same psychobiological process" (p. 214) and that "the phenomenology of MPD and possession both in the West and in Bali are similar if not the same" (p. 219). The authors make acase for the virtual absence of MPD in Bali, citing the rarity, in Bali, of sexual and physical abuse of children (an apparent causal factor of MPD in the West) as well as the Balinese worldview that acknowledges multiplicity in personality and its "muted" nature of individual identity. The book's glossary is a valiant attempt to acquaint readers with the key terms used in the book, but reveals an ethnocentric bias. For instance, the description of latah begins with the phrase, "a condition akin to hysteria"; the definition oikarauhan is simply trance-possession. Shamans are defined as "traditional healers in diverse cultures," a statement that ignores the social roles and self-regulatory abilities that differentiate them from other practitioners. The 58 black and white illustrations are superb and add to the descriptive value of the book. In conclusion, Trance and Possession in Bali contains valuable data that were arduously collected, and the authors' suggestions for further research to test their theories are reasonable and workable. Perhaps a cadre of investigators will arrive in Bali before tourism dilutes and distorts a culture that is at once unique and fascinating, a culture that presents students of the anthropology of consciousness a variety of riches that challenge Western formulations with respect to human nature and its permutations.
Reviews in Anthropology, 1982
Page 1. Ideology of the Northwest Amazon: Cosmology, Ritual, and Daily Life E. JEAN LANGDON Chris... more Page 1. Ideology of the Northwest Amazon: Cosmology, Ritual, and Daily Life E. JEAN LANGDON Christine Hugh-Jones.From the Milk River: Spatial and Temporal Processes in North-west Amazonia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. xx + 302 pp. ...
Revista Colombiana De Antropologia, 2013
E ntre los indígenas siona, los vuelos chamánicos son recreados a través de la per formance oral.... more E ntre los indígenas siona, los vuelos chamánicos son recreados a través de la per formance oral. Con el fin de explorar la relación entre la performance narrativa, la producción de la experiencia extraordinaria y la perspectiva chamánica, este trabajo analiza una narración que relata la visita a la casa de los tigres por un joven apren diz y su chamán maestro. Este viaje al lado oculto no ocurre durante el ritual bajo la influencia del yajé, sino a la mañana siguiente, cuando el novato está de vuelta a la aldea. El análisis señala las estrategias de contextualización que permiten a la performance narrativa crear experiencias, transmitir el conocimiento chamánico e informar sobre el intercambio de perspectivas y de poder chamánico. PaLabras CLavE: chamanismo, transmisión del conocimiento, contextualización, indexicalidad, performance. "visit to the house of the Jaguars": contextuaLization in narratives about extraordinary experiences
Narrative is a mechanism for the conservation of oral tradition. In daily life stories, the Siona... more Narrative is a mechanism for the conservation of oral tradition. In daily life stories, the Siona expose the correspondence of their cosmology with dreams. T...
Revista De Antropologia, 1995
O trabalho examina a relacao entre representacoes do corpo e nocoes de morte entre os indios Sion... more O trabalho examina a relacao entre representacoes do corpo e nocoes de morte entre os indios Siona, um grupo tucano localizado na Bacia Amazonica da Colombia e do Equador. A corporalidade do poder xarnânico permite nao so a medacao do xama entre os mundos visiveis e invisiveis do universo Siona, mas tambem a possibilidade de uma existencia imortal, em oposicao ao destino do homem comum. Seis narrativas nas quais se relata o destino dos corpos e das almas xamas sao apresentadas como exemplos das possibilidades de imortalidade. Finalmente, o trabalho analisa as nocoes de morte e de vida apos a morte a luz de discussoes sobre o tema por outros grupos tucanos, em particular a de Reichel Doltnatoff sobre os Desana e a de Cipolletti sobre os Siona-Secoya. O enfoque no corpo e nas mortes dos xainas em narrativas ilumina o principio de energia ciclica, que e considerada caracteristica da cosmologia tucana.
Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, 2017
Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, 2017
Horizontes Antropológicos, 1997
SHAMANISM, NARRATIVES AND THE STRUCTURING OF ILLNESS.
Spirits, Shamans and Stars. The Hague: …, 1979
Page 1. Yage Among the Siona: Cultural Patterns in Visions E. JEAN LANGDON Investigations and lit... more Page 1. Yage Among the Siona: Cultural Patterns in Visions E. JEAN LANGDON Investigations and literature concerning the use of hallucinogens among indigenous groups in the Amazon basin have been increasing at a rapid ...
Boletín de Antropología
Una versión anterior de este artículo fue publicada en Oral and Written Narratives and Cultural I... more Una versión anterior de este artículo fue publicada en Oral and Written Narratives and Cultural Identity. Interdisciplinary Approaches, de los editores Franciso Cota Fagundes e Irene Maria F. Blayer (2007. Nueva York, Peter Lang). El artículo es parte del proyecto "Documentación, traducción y revitalización lingüística. Investigación colaborativa desde una perspectiva sociolingüística crítica", apoyado por el CNPQ (Proceso312648/2014-6). Traducción de Mauricio Pardo Rojas. Se publica con permiso de los editores. Dialogicalidad, conflicto y memoria en etnohistoria siona / 57 el modo en que los siona marcan el despliegue de su historia e identidad a través del discurso y de la manera correcta de hablar.
Medical Anthropology, 2011
This article traces the development of anthropological research on health in Brazil in light of d... more This article traces the development of anthropological research on health in Brazil in light of discussions on modernity/coloniality and world anthropologies. Originating in the 1970s, stimulated by external and internal pressures for scientific production and along with the expansion of graduate programs, a network of anthropologists has consolidated and multiplied in Brazil. We describe the development of research groups, meetings, and publications in order to characterize Brazilian anthropology of health as a research program that distinguishes itself from North Atlantic medical anthropology. We examine the visibility and circulation of references in academic publications to explore the participation of Brazilians in the global discourse and, more specifically, in the North-South dialogue. From a comparative perspective, we argue that anthropological investigations of health reflect a perspective and ethos distinctive to Brazil and its historical and political processes.
Civilisations, 2013
Revue internationale d'anthropologie et de sciences humaines 61-2 | 2013 Chamanismes en mouvement
Horizontes Antropológicos
Resumen Este artículo explora la consciencia histórica de los procesos de ocupación y afirmación ... more Resumen Este artículo explora la consciencia histórica de los procesos de ocupación y afirmación territorial en la región fronteriza entre Ecuador y Colombia, una región ocupada tradicionalmente por los grupos de Tucano occidentales. A partir de diferentes modos de investigación antropológica e histórica, examinamos y correlacionamos la etno-etnohistoria de los Siona sobre la época extractivista de quina y caucho con los documentos escritos de los archivos estatales y religiosos. Los documentos escritos revelan la preocupación del gobierno colombiano por la presencia, defensa y control estatal del territorio. Las narrativas orales de los Siona tratan de la ocupación de su territorio ancestral como lugar de pertenencia y relaciones de intercambio y conflicto entre los asentimientos indígenas. En lugar de relatar los conflictos con los nuevos invasores de su territorio ancestral, las narrativas Siona de este período recuerdan las epidemias y otras desgracias que afligieron a los asent...
Revista del Museo de Antropología
This paper explores the value of narrative of the Siona Indians of Colombia as cultural patrimony... more This paper explores the value of narrative of the Siona Indians of Colombia as cultural patrimony and expression of ethics and aesthetics of daily life, collective memory and identity. It focuses on a group of narratives collected in the 1960s by a young Siona man, Felinto Piaguaje, who learned to write his language. Five of these were presented in a workshop in 2014 that intended to collaborate with the ongoing language revitalization and ethnoeducation projects of this Western Tukanoan speaking group. Two of the narratives examined in the workshop are analyzed, as well as the discussions and performances that they stimulated. The participating elders emphasized their value for collective memory regarding their perspective of the world and need for their preservation as cultural patrimony. The young teachers expressed the value of the narratives for educational activities and ethnic identity because they reference their own tradition and language in a context of rapid change. Siona narrative tradition continues to invoke their perspective of a fractal universe as well as philosophy of living well. In addition, in the contemporary situation, these narratives represent the expression of identity for the Siona, conveying information about who they are to themselves and others.
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Papers by Esther Jean Langdon