Jagt, sex og død. Et studie af airo-pais jagtritualer i amazonskoven

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to explore relations between the Amazonian indigenous people Airo-pai and the animals and spirits inhabiting their natural environment. The thesis analyzes how non-human animals and spirits interact with Airo-pai during rituals and subsistence activities in their everyday life. The findings are based on empirical material collected from February to March 2018 in Bellavista, Peru, where I lived amongst the Airo-pai in the Amazon rainforest. The thesis applies anthropological theories rooted in the ontological and phenomenological tradition. The analysis shows how animals, spirits and shamans are all influential subjects during Airo-pais’ subsistence activities, which is reflected in the hunters’ seduction of animals and during the shamans’ seduction of the animals’ master spirits. The thesis argues that Amazonian cosmologies are best understood by applying an ontological and phenomenological theoretical approach, because it is open to understanding indigenous’ ideas of animal personhood and the agency of spirits from a perspectivist and multinaturalistic point of view. The thesis challenges symbolic anthropology and socio-centric theories in studies of animism, because these theories are rooted in Western Cartesian dichotomies, such as the separation of mind and world and of nature and culture etcetera. The thesis argues that these Cartesian dichotomies are not necessarily compatible with Amazonian cosmologies. This study follows the lead of indigenous thought and contributes, thereby, to the ontological turn within anthropology. However, the thesis discusses the potential problems of applying an ontological and multinaturalistic approach on political studies and on studies outside this ethnographic region. The theories applied in this study are fruitful for understanding particular indigenous cosmologies, but may have political and social consequences if applied on political studies.