Book
Gods & vampires: return to Chipaya
University of Chicago Press • Chicago • Published In 1994 • Pages:
By: Wachtel, Nathan, Volk, Carol.
Abstract
Drawing on follow-up research conducted in 1991, this book discusses the substances of change that have occurred in Chipaya communities since the author's previous fieldwork in the 1970s and 1980s. Over those decades, Chipaya communities witnessed profound changes and social transformation. One of the most significant changes the author noticed was the dissolution of the traditional Chipaya religious system, including the disappearance of the underworld divinities that dominated community life in the 1970s. Main reasons given for this include the rapid assimilation of Chipaya people into the dominant Aymara and Spanish cultures, expansion of missionary churches, the advent of education and youth migration, and globalization. Nevertheless, the author finds continuity of some elements of the old Chipaya culture. One is the myth of [n]kharisiri[/n], a vampire-like creature believed to appear in the person of a white or [i]mestizo[/i] man, causing death and sickness by extracting body fat from innocent victims. A second element exhibiting a degree of continuity is the kinship rule by which the Chipaya divided themselves into moieties.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2014
- Region
- South America
- Sub Region
- Central Andes
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Teferi A. Adem; 2012
- Field Date
- 1973-1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1989
- Coverage Date
- 1973-1989
- Coverage Place
- Chipaya, Oruro department, Bolivia
- Notes
- Nathan Wachtel ; translated by Carol Volk
- Spine title: Gods and vampires
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-143) and index
- LCCN
- 93035865
- LCSH
- Chipaya Indians--Social life and customs
- Social structure--Bolivia--Chipaya
- Social change--Bolivia--Chipaya
- Ethnology--Fieldwork--Bolivia--Chipaya
- Chipaya (Bolivia)--Social conditions