[The Yawanáwa medical system and its specialists: healing, power, and shamanic initiation].
A wide variety of terms are used in Yawanáwa shamanism to name both healers and the relations between these specialists and techniques of healing and aggression, a characteristic that appears heterogeneous and complex. However, there is unity behind this appearance, because all the techniques are based on the same concepts of power and knowledge. To show how these ideas are conceived by the Yawanáwa, this article explores the process by which power and knowledge are acquired: shamanic initiation.
Pérez-Gil
L
L
Nucleo de Saúde e Saberes Indígenas, Departamento de Antropologia Social, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, 88040-970, Brasil. laurapg@altavista.com
D001938:Brazil / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American; D019359:Knowledge; D019423:Shamanism; D009626:Terminology as Topic