Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man by Michael Taussig

Below is a brief summary of some main points from Michael Taussig’s book named “Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man.” All of the quotes from the book are accompanied by page numbers so that you, if needed, could find more detailed information in the book itself. If you choose to cite this in your school work, make sure to paraphrase or use quotation marks because this (like everything else in my blog) is my original content unless stated otherwise.

In the first part of the book Michael Taussig speaks of colonialism and “the magical realism of debt" - a fictional reality created by the whites during the rubber boom in Putumayo to enslave Indian workers; a fictional reality that led to the extermination of thousands of natives who were caught in the fragmented world of "savagery and business, cannibalism and capitalism," magic, torture, and subjugation (73). In the second part of the book he explores the realm of sorcery and its connections to colonialism and post-colonialism. The phrase "fictional reality" is frequent in his book, and it emphasizes the idea that realities (like historical narratives) are constructed by people - not preexistent.

This is a very important point. Very often we take the realities we live in for granted, forgetting that we ourselves create and recreate them every moment and every day. Our realities are not simply given to us – we are active makers of them, no matter what social positions we occupy. In my opinion, Taussig’s “fictional reality” doesn’t mean that the colonial world people lived in was “unreal.” I think the author means that the world was filled with myths and tales which often differed from factual reality, but eventually became real because they were reinforced by retelling and people’s beliefs. For example, the “primitive” weren’t really primitive, but European newcomers viewed them as such, so the label “primitive” helped create this new threatening and magical reality filled with wild and ungodly “others”.

Multiple fictional realities were created during colonial times. Some of them were those of the savage - a hostile, treacherous cannibal, or a gentle, humble, child-like creature. One of the assumptions drawn by Casement constituted a myth that Indians suffered a "mysterious displacement of their true selves" (87). Hardenburg tried to establish a single reality of the true Indian, but his attempts failed (85). During the rubber boom Westerners were ruled by the irrational fear of the jungle (and all its contents) and by the feeling of superiority over the native inhabitants. Out of fear, pride, and impunity of the newcomers rose fictional realities and the culture of terror, which the author calls "a mediator of colonial hegemony; the space of death where Indian, African, and white gave birth to the New World" (5).

The Church played a big role in creating the magical reality. Claiming that Indians had memories of the pact with the devil and of his teachings, and trying to erase these memories, the Church was "creating and strengthening them as a new social force, thereby ensuring the transmission of myth into reality and memory into the future" (143). That myth, once real, lived in the image of the shaman, a "pagan savage." According to Taussig, the colonizer himself becomes dependent on the pagan and its power in search for "salvation from the civilization that torments him as much as the savage on whom he has projected his antiself" (211). Here, after years of slavery and torture, the roles change - the shaman exploits the colonist (331).

Creation of the historical narrative is present along with the creation of magical reality. In the story of Nina Maria, for example, the author shows us how the official history was overpowered by multiple versions of the story. Some of the interviewed claimed that the Virgin was brought by the Spanish, and others believed that it was found by the Indians. Both attributed supernatural powers to the Virgin, saying that she helped her people overcome the enemy by creating illusions (193-197). The ultimate truth, if it existed, would be lost in the subtle battle of power and submission, in people's multiple descriptions of one past.

The array of stories, sides, and views touches all aspects of the world in which whites and Indians live side by side. Taussig mentions the existence of many divisions and oppositions in the fictional reality. There are the Church and the pagans; there are shamans who use yage and witches who learn their magic from satanic books; mediums and shamans of the lowlands and highlands who are distrusting and using each other; social classes that live in a constant struggle; the dark-skinned and the whites. There are also mediators (the highland shamans) who are in between Christianity and paganism, mediating both the spiritual and the social opposites (the masters and the peons) (254).
Taussig says that without imagined realities the conquest itself would be impossible. Stories of cannibalism, magical cures, wicked sorcerers, and savage primitives “functioned to create through magical realism a culture of terror that dominated both whites and Indians” (121).

Taussig, Michael (1987) Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.

Advertising, media, and beauty standards

Here is a beautiful paper named "A Critique of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty"

I guess many people have seen Dove beauty ads in the past few years, and if not, you can find them on Youtube.

The author of the paper, Sarah Scott, discusses these ads and their influence on our society in several ways. The question is, are these ads truly ethical. Is their sole purpose to bring more money to the company? Do they really help women?

Paper link: http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1129&context=comssp

Latest Dove ad:

Anthropology and activism

It is generally accepted that anthropologists are to observe and record cultural phenomena without trying to change or “fix” it. Anthropologists can become active participants of various cultural processes in order to gain information and better describe whatever it is they are studying, but they are not supposed to use their own cultural and moral norms to judge and correct other people’s belief systems, traditions, rites, and customs.

Cultures themselves are not static; they change through time. But we, anthropologists, are not there to bring the change according to our own standards of what cultures are supposed to be. On the contrary, often anthropologists often strive to record cultures the way they are before they change or cease to exist, like in the case of many disappearing languages. In a way, anthropologists are historians of the present. They make records for the future generations who will live in a very different world with changed, transformed societies which might view our present as unfamiliar, distant, and bizarre.

We also live in the world of globalization where societies, cultures, and ethnicities merge and blend together like never before. In this world of cultural interconnections, displacements, and marginal states of existence things change and transform constantly. Anthropologists must adapt to this fast-paced globalized world as well.

The idea of observing and recording things without trying to “fix” them goes hand in hand with cultural relativity and the notion that no culture is “right” or “wrong”. Good and bad are relative terms that exist within cultures and may not be the same for everyone in the world. What is accepted as normal in our culture may look horrible to someone from another, and vice versa.

But what do we do when we come across things like female genital mutilation, child brides, victims of torture, child labor, slave trade, destruction of various environments, and much more? Do we stand in the midst of the crowd, watch, and record like indifferent observants, or do we actively engage ourselves? If we try to “make things better”, do we cease to be anthropologists and turn into activists instead?

At this point I believe that anthropology and activism don’t have to be mutually exclusive. We may be anthropologists, writers, historians, engineers, business-people, teachers… But first and foremost we are all human beings. Each person plays a wide array of various social roles. You cannot be just an anthropologist, or just a police officer, or just a grandmother. Life is more complex than that. Our personalities are complex, as well as our ideas, thought processes, and beliefs. We change throughout our lives just like our cultures do. We are not static beings frozen in time. 

Being an anthropologist doesn’t mean being rigid. We must be flexible. We can remember about cultural relativism AND try helping those who are sexually and emotionally abused. We can observe AND fight against companies which employ little children to do dirty jobs in slave factories overseas. We are allowed to be non-judgmental and accepting of other cultures, but recognize when it’s time to say “you don’t have to be a victim of torture and mutilation; you are a human being and you must have rights.” We are anthropologists, and we do not judge, but we can describe things and let the society decide if these things need to be transformed into some relative “better.”