Living Ancestors

Zeljko Jokic received his PhD in Social Anthropology in 2004 at the University of Sydney. Since then he lectured at various universities, conducted a short-term fieldwork in Siberia and worked as a Research Assistant at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. He also spent several years working as a consultant for the Inter-American Organization for the Elimination of Onchocerciasis at the Amazonian Centre for Investigation and Control of Tropical Diseases, Puerto Ayacucho, Venezuela. Currently, he is a Policy Officer at the Health and Medical Research Office of the Australian Government Department of Health.

• List of IllustrationsPreface and AcknowledgementsIntroductionShamanism: Origins and Key FeaturesYanomami Shamanism: A Cross-Cultural PerspectiveThe Book’s Subject Matter and its Guiding PrinciplesFieldwork Setting and MethodologyThe Book’s OutlineChapter 1. Life on Top of the Old Sky: Yanomami Habitat, Ethnographic Setting and Local HistoriesYanomami HabitatHistorical Migratory Movements and EncountersThe Sweeping Winds of Change and its ConsequencesPlatanal and Sheroana-theri at the Turn of the Twenty-First CenturyChapter 2. Inside the Boa’s Abdomen: The Yanomami CosmosHolographic Totality of the Yanomami CosmosNo Patapi tëhë: The Ever-present Mythical Time of CreationOrigin MythsChapter 3. Hekura, Body and IllnessShamans and HekuraEpena: Transformative Substance and Aliment for HekuraShamanism in Myths and in Contemporary ContextYanomami Conception of a Person and Causes of IllnessChapter 4. Hekuraprai: Corporeal CosmogenesisSummary of the Initiatory OrdealTransformation into Hekura: Day-by-Day ProcessCosmic Body and its DynamismFirst Trance: Re-experience of Death and the Beginning of HekuramouChapter 5. Oneiric EncountersHekuramou and Expansion of Shamanistic PowersDreams and ShamanismDream Lucidity and the Transitional States of Dream ConsciousnessDreams, Illness and HealingChapter 6. Shamanic Battlefield: The Pendulum of Life and DeathShapori’s New Identity and Social Obligation on the Intracommunal LevelThe Dialectics between Defensive and Offensive HekuramouBody Intrusion and the Dynamics of the Cosmic FlowShaporimou and Intersubjective Knowledge DiffusionChapter 7. Two Pathways to Curing and in Between: Biomedical and Shamanic Treatment in the Life of YanomamiShamanism and Biomedicine: Compatibility and DifferencesDynamics of Doctor-Shapori-Patient InteractionYanomami Responses to Diarrhoea, Malaria and Respiratory InfectionsChapter 8. Return of the Ancestors: The All-pervading Shawara, The End of the World and the Beginning of a New EpochThe Origin of Shawara EpidemicsFurther Expansion of the Shawara ConceptThe End of the World and the Beginning of Another Cosmic CyclePostscript: Recent DevelopmentsGlossary of Yanomami TermsBibliographyIndex

“This meticulously researched study with its accessible, clear, and engaging presentation fills a significant gap in the regional study of the Yanomami. Essential.” · Choice“Jokic’s ethnography …is very well written and reads fluidly. Jokic frequently narrates his own experiences of the Yanomami shamanic world, as well as the thoughts he was having as he was witnessing the events he describes in the book or while listening to the testimonies he references. This contributes to the reader’s experience as it makes it easier to understand the motivations and concerns that the author had for producing this ethnography, as well as the conditions upon which it was produced.” · Anthropology Book Forum“The book is a fascinating account of the experiential qualities of Yanomami shamanism, particularly in relation to shamanistic initiation. In great detail, Jokic relates both the theoretical and the emotional dimensions of Yanomami shamanistic notions, to which he is well suited as he can build upon his own experiences of being initiated during his fieldwork.” · Journal of Anthropological Research“The Living Ancestors is a fine piece of ethnography, straddling several important subjects in contemporary anthropology. Jokic's analysis is innovative and convincing… the message of multiplicity and multiperspectivism is a valuable lesson… and reveals that we still have much to learn and to appreciate about shamanism as an experience of self, other, and world.” · Anthropology Review Database“A captivating and original ethnographic description of religious/healing practices among the Yanomani of the Upper Orinoco… The author has achieved a deep understanding of the culture, worldviews, ideologies, and cosmology during his fieldwork in two communities. The writing is articulate, fluent, and incisive, and still remains plain enough to attract a wide range of academic and non-academic public." · Diana Riboli, Panteion University“…the work as a whole is superb… a meticulous documentation of shamanistic experience and practices.” · Jadran Mimica, University of Sydney