An Unstable “Religion”
The Oxford Handbook of the Anthropology of Religion February 19, 2026 Aparecida Vilaça
European colonizers initially failed to recognize Indigenous Amazonian rituals as religious. Only in the nineteenth century, with anthropology and Tylor's concept of animism, did shamanism—a practice widespread in Amazonia—gain recognition as local religion. This chapter examines shamanism and its associated "perspectivism" in contrast to classical animism. It concludes by exploring how perspectivist peoples convert to Christianity and adopt an objectified notion of "culture," often introduced by missionaries.