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"The symbolic efficacy" revisited: curing songs of the Ayoreo

Renshaw, John

Revista de antropologia (São Paulo), 2006-01, Vol.49 (1), p.393-427 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

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Title:
"The symbolic efficacy" revisited: curing songs of the Ayoreo
Author: Renshaw, John
Subjects: Music ; Symbolism
Is Part Of: Revista de antropologia (São Paulo), 2006-01, Vol.49 (1), p.393-427
Notes: ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
content type line 23
ObjectType-Feature-2
Description: The aim of this paper is to consider a specific field of Amerindian knowledge, namely the sarode or curing songs of the Ayoreo of the Gran Chaco, and to try to elucidate some of the taken-for-granted metaphysical assumptions that underlie Ayoreo epistemology. Following the approach taken in Joanna Overing's introduction to Reason and Morality (1985), I will suggest that even these apparently simple, repetitive curing songs have to be understood as part of a broader corpus of "mythical" knowledge and acquire their effectiveness or power, not through suggestion or metaphor but rather by harnessing the power of the "mythical" world of the jnani bajade, the "original beings" that were and still are both Ayoreo and the Ancestors or Masters of the present-day animals, plants and minerals. Adapted from the source document.
Language: Portuguese

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