Native American Religions of Central and South America Anthropology of the Sacred

by Sullivan, Lawrence

• ISBN13: 9780826411198
• ISBN10: 0826411193
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-06-24
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

The New World came into being in the Europeans' encounter with the indigenous religions and cultures of Central and South America. Yet these religions remain little known or are filtered through inadequate categories such as "animism," "superstition," or "syncretism." In this volume, an international group of the finest authorities working on the subject provide rich descriptions and provocative interpretations of religious ideas rarely gathered in one place. Since an exhaustive treatment would be impossible (it is estimated that there could be as many as fifteen thousand different South American languages living or extinct), the aim is to illustrate something of the range of religious beliefs and practices through cases that are exemplary. The first part of the book describes the religious views of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca, dating from the time prior to contact with Europeans. The rest of the book treats contemporary cases from the major cultural and geographical areas of Central and South America. Whether the focus is on myth, architecture, ritual celebrations, or shamanic practice, each essay provides a distinctive profile of the culture in question.Contributors include David Carrasco, Edgardo J. Cordeu, Mercedes de la Garza, Alfredo López Austin, Juan Ossia Acuña, Alejandra Siffredi, Lawrence E. Sullivan, Terence Turner, Peter van der Loo, Robin M. Wright, and Reiner Tom Zuidema.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(6)
Lawrence E. Sullivan
Part One: Central America	7	(170)
Aztec Religion: Sacred Cities, Sacred Actions	9	(24)
David Carrasco
Indigenous Mythology from Present-day Mexico	33	(33)
Alfredo Lope Austin
Ritual and Myth in Tlapanec Life	66	(26)
Peter L. van der Loo
Sacred Forces of the Mayan Universe	92	(85)
Mercedes de la Garza
Part Two: South America	177	(136)
The World and Its End: Cosmologies and Eschatologies of South American Indians	179	(21)
Lawrence E. Sullivan
Contemporary Indigenous Religious Life in Peru	200	(21)
Juan M. Ossio
The Baniwa	221	(15)
Robin M. Wright
Inca Religion: Its Foundations in the Central Andean Context	236	(18)
R. Tom Zuidema
The Religion of the Chamacoco (Ishir) Indians	254	(24)
Edgardo Jorge Cordeu
The Sacred as Alienated Social Consciousness: Ritual and Cosmology among the Kayapo	278	(21)
Terence Turner
Fragments of Southern Tehuilche Religiosity and Myths	299	(14)
Alejandra Siffredi
Contributors	313	(4)
Index	317