Soul Loss in the Forest of Symbols: Transformational Bodies, Avá-Guaraní Acoustemology, and Magical Mediating Methodological Instruments

Summary

The author reflects on their fieldwork with the Avá-Guaraní people, where they participated in a naming ritual that connected them deeply to the community. They experienced what could be seen as soul loss upon returning home, rather than reverse culture shock. This prompted a need for emotional expression, challenging traditional masculinity norms. The findings suggest that male shamans foster charismatic relationships through emotional displays that demonstrate care for their communities.

Study at a glance

Abstract

“Eric, you no longer have an Americano soul,” my Avá-Guaraní sister told me as my 2006-2007 fieldwork was ending. In 2005, her mother became my ritual sponsor in the naming/ensouling ritual, mitã karaí, identifying me as “Yvyrajú”, indicating the tree for which I was named/ensouled. That ritual enmeshed me in relations of familial reciprocity, positioning me in their cosmology, and identified where my soul might be found if lost. I spent my days with shamans and their kin, engaging in all-male activities when possible, including learning about and from flora and fauna. My nights were spent researching shamanic rituals, waking and sharing morning maté as we discussed our dreams. Upon returning home, I drank maté whilst archiving field recordings and writing in isolation after the intense enmeshment in the human ecological community. Viewing and listening to recordings featuring male shamans’ harangues and wept speech as they discussed the intertwined loss of culture and forest and the concomitant web of relations made me weep. Over many years, I realised that this was what, from an Avá-Guaraní perspective, might be interpreted as an instance of soul loss–rather than a case of reverse culture shock–requiring community healing through soul retrieval led by shamans. Instead, I was forced to work through “boys don’t cry” rules of masculinity in which I was raised and learn how to cry to continue the unlearning process and better understand unfamiliar forms of embodied relational knowledge. This empathetic process of embodied (un)learning suggests that male Avá-Guaraní shamans cultivate charismatic relationships with their followers through these emotional displays of care for their communities. Keywords: Guaraní, Paraguay, acoustemology, shamanism, sound healing, trauma, transformational bodies

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