The jaguar and the priest : an ethnography of Tzeltal souls

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The jaguar and the priest : an ethnography of Tzeltal souls

Pedro Pitarch ; foreword by Roy Wagner

（The Linda Schele series in Maya and pre-Columbian studies）

University of Texas Press, 2010

  • : [pbk.]

Available at  / 2 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [233]-240) and index

Size of pbk.: 23 cm

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780292723313

Description

In contrast to western notions of the soul as the essence or most native part of a human being, the Tzeltal-speaking Indians of Chiapas, Mexico, regard the soul first and foremost as an Other. Made up of beings that personify the antithesis of their native selves-animals such as hummingbirds or jaguars, atmospheric phenomena like lightning bolts or rainbows, or spirits of European appearance such as Catholic priests or evangelical musicians-Tzeltal souls represent the maximum expression of that which is alien. And because their souls enfold that which is outside and Other, the Tzeltal contain within themselves the history of their relationship with Europeans from the beginning of the Spanish conquest to the present time. Thus, to understand the Indian self opens a window into the Tzeltal conception of culture and community, their notions of identity and alterity, and their interpretation of interethnic relations and types of historical memory. In this pathfinding ethnography, which was originally published in Spanish in 1996 as Ch'ulel: una etnografia de las almas tzeltales and is now extensively rewritten and amplified in English, Pedro Pitarch offers a new understanding of indigenous concepts of the soul, personhood, and historical memory in highland Chiapas. Exploring numerous aspects of indigenous culture and history-medicine and shamanism, geography and cosmology, and politics and kinship among them-he engages in a radical rethinking of classic issues in Mesoamerican anthropology, such as ethnicity and alterity, community and tradition, and change and permanence.

Table of Contents

* Foreword by Roy Wagner * Preface *1. Introduction * What Are the Souls? * The Self as European * Conversations about Souls * The Town of Cancuc *2. The Ethnography of Souls * The Bird of Our Heart * The ch'ulel * The ch'ulel in ch'iibal Mountain * The ch'ulel inside the Heart * Dreams * Death and the ch'ulel * The lab * Lab That Are Animals * Water lab * Meteor lab * The "Illness-Giver" lab * The lab as Personal Power * Complete Human Beings * The Internal lab * The Transference of lab * Further Interpretations *3. Souls and Signs * Signs in Gestures * Signs in Dreams *"Comparing, Harmonizing like Voices" * The Person * Words * Fostering Knowledge *4. The European Within * The Magic Mountain * A Perpetual Fiesta * Castilian Features in the lab * The Ethnic Contrast between Heart and Head * Loss of the Senses and Exposing the Heart *5. Animism as History * Birds of the Heart, Livestock, Metal Tools * Priests * Scribes and Writing * Cattle Ranchers * Christian Music * The lab "Mothers-Fathers" and Coffee Cultivation * Soul History and the Body *6. Narrative, Ritual, Silence * The Past in Narrative * Exceptions to Neutrality * Ritual * Christian Rituals, Indian Simulation * Difficulties of Dialogue with the "Castilians" * Crosses * New Religious Identifications *7. The Mirror in the Saints * The Body of the Saints * Saints in Narrative * Images of Origins in the Mirror *8. A Case of Healing: Text and Ritual * The Ceremony * The Text * Commentary *9. Conclusion: The Fold * Person, History, and Memory * The Counterpoint between the Indigenous and the European * The Redoubling of the Other * Appendix: An Outline of Tzeltal Souls * Notes * Bibliography * Index
Volume

: [pbk.] ISBN 9780292737471

Description

In contrast to western notions of the soul as the essence or most native part of a human being, the Tzeltal-speaking Indians of Chiapas, Mexico, regard the soul first and foremost as an Other. Made up of beings that personify the antithesis of their native selves-animals such as hummingbirds or jaguars, atmospheric phenomena like lightning bolts or rainbows, or spirits of European appearance such as Catholic priests or evangelical musicians-Tzeltal souls represent the maximum expression of that which is alien. And because their souls enfold that which is outside and Other, the Tzeltal contain within themselves the history of their relationship with Europeans from the beginning of the Spanish conquest to the present time. Thus, to understand the Indian self opens a window into the Tzeltal conception of culture and community, their notions of identity and alterity, and their interpretation of interethnic relations and types of historical memory. In this pathfinding ethnography, which was originally published in Spanish in 1996 as Ch'ulel: una etnografia de las almas tzeltales and is now extensively rewritten and amplified in English, Pedro Pitarch offers a new understanding of indigenous concepts of the soul, personhood, and historical memory in highland Chiapas. Exploring numerous aspects of indigenous culture and history-medicine and shamanism, geography and cosmology, and politics and kinship among them-he engages in a radical rethinking of classic issues in Mesoamerican anthropology, such as ethnicity and alterity, community and tradition, and change and permanence.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Roy Wagner Preface 1. Introduction What Are the Souls? The Self as European Conversations about Souls The Town of Cancuc 2. The Ethnography of Souls The Bird of Our Heart The ch'ulel The ch'ulel in ch'iibal Mountain The ch'ulel inside the Heart Dreams Death and the ch'ulel The lab Lab That Are Animals Water lab Meteor lab The "Illness-Giver" lab The lab as Personal Power Complete Human Beings The Internal lab The Transference of lab Further Interpretations 3. Souls and Signs Signs in Gestures Signs in Dreams "Comparing, Harmonizing like Voices" The Person Words Fostering Knowledge 4. The European Within The Magic Mountain A Perpetual Fiesta Castilian Features in the lab The Ethnic Contrast between Heart and Head Loss of the Senses and Exposing the Heart 5. Animism as History Birds of the Heart, Livestock, Metal Tools Priests Scribes and Writing Cattle Ranchers Christian Music The lab "Mothers-Fathers" and Coffee Cultivation Soul History and the Body 6. Narrative, Ritual, Silence The Past in Narrative Exceptions to Neutrality Ritual Christian Rituals, Indian Simulation Difficulties of Dialogue with the "Castilians" Crosses New Religious Identifications 7. The Mirror in the Saints The Body of the Saints Saints in Narrative Images of Origins in the Mirror 8. A Case of Healing: Text and Ritual The Ceremony The Text Commentary 9. Conclusion: The Fold Person, History, and Memory The Counterpoint between the Indigenous and the European The Redoubling of the Other Appendix: An Outline of Tzeltal Souls Notes Bibliography Index

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