Dark Shamans: kanaima studied

Neil Whitehead's 2002 ethnography Dark Shamans, based on fieldwork among the Patamona of Guyana, documented kanaima assault sorcery as a lived practice, including testimony from people who said they were kanaima.

2002 CE · 5.20, -59.60 · status: account

The account

Whitehead linked kanaima to the violence of mining, missions and the state in the highlands. Position approximate.

The sceptical view

Some anthropologists questioned how much of the testimony can be taken literally.

Connections in the atlas

• im Thurn on kanaima

Sources

1. Duke University Press: Dark Shamans