Neil L. Whitehead is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author and editor of numerous books, most recently Beyond the Visible and the Material: The Amerindianization of Society in the Work of Peter RiviÈre (coedited with Laura Rival) and War in the Tribal Zone: Expanding States and Indigenous Warfare (coedited with R. B. Ferguson). He is the editor of the journal Ethnohistory.

“An exceptionally fine ethnography of the kanaimÀ, Dark Shamans will fill a large gap. As an ethnography located in ethnohistory and processes of modernization, this book is an outstanding example of new anthropological work at the leading edge of the discipline.”-Donald Pollock, State University of New York, Buffalo “Ethnographer Neil L. Whitehead enters this realm of reality and mythology, of storytelling and firsthand experience by accident, and his opening tale sustains the horror-filled storytelling power characteristic of such authors as Bram Stoker and Stephen King. As such, the kanaimÀ, long known to explorers, poets, and ordinary people of northeastern South America, take their place in the history of modernity along with Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man.”-Norman Whitten, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 11. The Ethnographer's Tale 112. Tales of the Kanaima: Observers 413. Tales of the Kanaima: Participants 884. Shamanic Warfare 1285. Modernity, Development, and Kanaima Violence 1746. Ritual Violence and Magical Death in Amazonia 202Conclusion: Anthropologies of Violence 245Notes 253Works Cited 285Index 299

Neil L. Whitehead is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author and editor of numerous books, most recently Beyond the Visible and the Material: The Amerindianization of Society in the Work of Peter RiviÈre (coedited with Laura Rival) and War in the Tribal Zone: Expanding States and Indigenous Warfare (coedited with R. B. Ferguson). He is the editor of the journal Ethnohistory.

“An exceptionally fine ethnography of the kanaimÀ, Dark Shamans will fill a large gap. As an ethnography located in ethnohistory and processes of modernization, this book is an outstanding example of new anthropological work at the leading edge of the discipline.”-Donald Pollock, State University of New York, Buffalo “Ethnographer Neil L. Whitehead enters this realm of reality and mythology, of storytelling and firsthand experience by accident, and his opening tale sustains the horror-filled storytelling power characteristic of such authors as Bram Stoker and Stephen King. As such, the kanaimÀ, long known to explorers, poets, and ordinary people of northeastern South America, take their place in the history of modernity along with Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man.”-Norman Whitten, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 11. The Ethnographer's Tale 112. Tales of the Kanaima: Observers 413. Tales of the Kanaima: Participants 884. Shamanic Warfare 1285. Modernity, Development, and Kanaima Violence 1746. Ritual Violence and Magical Death in Amazonia 202Conclusion: Anthropologies of Violence 245Notes 253Works Cited 285Index 299

Neil L. Whitehead is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author and editor of numerous books, most recently Beyond the Visible and the Material: The Amerindianization of Society in the Work of Peter RiviÈre (coedited with Laura Rival) and War in the Tribal Zone: Expanding States and Indigenous Warfare (coedited with R. B. Ferguson). He is the editor of the journal Ethnohistory.

“An exceptionally fine ethnography of the kanaimÀ, Dark Shamans will fill a large gap. As an ethnography located in ethnohistory and processes of modernization, this book is an outstanding example of new anthropological work at the leading edge of the discipline.”-Donald Pollock, State University of New York, Buffalo “Ethnographer Neil L. Whitehead enters this realm of reality and mythology, of storytelling and firsthand experience by accident, and his opening tale sustains the horror-filled storytelling power characteristic of such authors as Bram Stoker and Stephen King. As such, the kanaimÀ, long known to explorers, poets, and ordinary people of northeastern South America, take their place in the history of modernity along with Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man.”-Norman Whitten, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 11. The Ethnographer's Tale 112. Tales of the Kanaima: Observers 413. Tales of the Kanaima: Participants 884. Shamanic Warfare 1285. Modernity, Development, and Kanaima Violence 1746. Ritual Violence and Magical Death in Amazonia 202Conclusion: Anthropologies of Violence 245Notes 253Works Cited 285Index 299