Cosmopolitics among the Siona : shamanism, medicine and family on the Putumayo River

Cosmopolitics among the Siona: Shamanism, Medicine and Family is the product of Jean Langdon's experiences in the Colombian Amazon Basin and of what she learned in her comings and goings in the Siona world for almost half a century. In particular, the book presents the dynamics associated with the transformations and revitalization of the shamanic universe and strategies used to negotiate with the invisible beings. Making a rich contribution to the ethnology of Lowland South America, it demonstrates that ethnography is a social relationship. First written when the premises of research followed the tone of the classical monograph, the author transcends the univocal quality characteristic of this period by presenting oral histories and personal narrations that illustrate the intertwining of life and narrative in a feedback process. The text makes evident that the author, upon entering and leaving the territory, also enters and leaves the canons of anthropology. In the unfolding of the narrative, shaped as an academic autobiography, the details of the fieldwork experience flourish and result in timely reflections, thanks to the author's passage through the different periods and histories of anthropology.

The book presents the dynamics associated with the transformations and revitalization of the shamanic universe and strategies used to negotiate with the invisible beings. Making a rich contribution to the ethnology of Latin American lowlands, it demonstrates that ethnography is a social relationship. The text makes evident that the author, upon entering and leaving the territory, also enters and leaves the canons of anthropology. In the unfolding of the narrative, shaped as an academic autobiography, the details of the fieldwork experience flourish and result in timely reflections.