Abstract
Taking as a point of departure the recurring nightmares of a Yanesha boy, the author examines the dream theories and practices of Yanesha people of Peruvian Amazonia. Particular emphasis is placed on the conscious manipulation of actions taking place in nightmares. This practice, common to many indigenous peoples throughout the world, has become known in Western tradition as “lucid dreaming.” The author explores how New Age thinkers and entrepreneurs have adopted this and other connected indigenous dream practices by means of “simulation,” a mode of appropriating the magic of “Others” that, in the context of globalized neocolonial encounters, appears as the counterpart of “mimesis.” In this process of “cultural cannibalism” and commoditization, native practices are simplified, secularized, and sanitized in ways that contribute—even if unintentionally—to the perpetuation of the long-lasting opposition between the “civilized” West and the “savage” Others.
Tomando como punto de partida las pesadillas recurrentes de un joven Yanesha, el autor examina las teorías y prácticas del sueño de la gente Yanesha de la Amazonía Peruana. Particular énfasis es puesto en la manipulación conciente de las acciones que tienen lugar en las pesadillas. Esta práctica, común a muchos pueblos indígenas del mundo, es conocida en el mundo occidental como “sueños lúcidos.” El autor explora como los pensadores y empresarios de la Nueva Era (New Age) han adoptado ésta y otras prácticas indígenas relacionadas mediante el proceso de “simulación,” un modo de apropiación de la magia de los “otros” que en situaciones de encuentros neocoloniales globalizados aparece como la contraparte de la “mimesis.” A lo largo de este proceso de “canibalismo cultural” y mercantilización, las prácticas nativas son simplificadas, secularizadas y pasteurizadas en maneras que contribuyen—aún si de manera no intencional—a perpetuar la antigua oposición entre el Occidente “civilizado” y los Otros “salvajes.”
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments. This paper would not have been written without the inspiration and support of my father, Fernando Santos-Veiga, a medical doctor and psychoanalyst who has always been a life-long supporter of psychosomatic medicine. His insightful comments helped me find my way through the maze of Yanesha dream theories and beliefs. This article is dedicated to him. Insightful comments, by the three reviewers, helped me sharpen aspects of the argument, and for that I am grateful. Thanks are also due to my colleague Olga F. Linares, who has helped me as always to polish my English.
Recommended Citation
Santos-Granero, Fernando
(2003).
"Pedro Casanto’s Nightmares: Lucid Dreaming in Amazonia and the New Age Movement",
Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America:
Vol. 1:
Iss.
2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70845/2572-3626.1008
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/tipiti/vol1/iss2/2
