Technologies of the Self in Contemporary South American Shamanisms

Abstract

I adapt Michel Foucault’s notion of technologies of the self to carry out a comparative analysisof two ethnographic cases of contemporary South American shamanisms. In these cases, theircosmological and ritual frameworks display ontological thresholds acceded through specifictechnologies of the self that contest current assumptions about both the Christian and thescientific hegemonic worldviews. In the first case, I review an indigenous ethnic shamanismrooted in Qom/Toba tradition in Argentina’s Chaco region. In the second one, I analyze SantoDaime, a Brazilian ayahuasca religion that displays shamanic traits. To contextualize thesecases, I introduce historical data of the constitution of Argentine and Brazilian socio-religiousfields, within which these forms of shamanism would emerge. I provide ethnographic dataabout the history and main religious features of these shamanisms and my analysis stressesthe technologies of the self unfolded to achieve a direct connection with the numinous.