Shamanism, Psychosis and Autonomous Imagination

This paper focuses on traditional healers (balian)in Bali, Indonesia, to raise new argumentsconcerning the nature of the initiatory sufferingsreportedly experienced by shamans in many cultures.Our evidence suggests that a) contrary to ourexpectations, an initiatory madness or illness isexperienced by a minority rather than the majority ofbalian, and b) whether or not a balian undergoesinitiatory sufferings seems to be linked to gender andto the methods of healing employed – thus womenhealers who employ trance possession are those mostlikely to report an initiatory madness or illness.This leads to the central argument of the paper: c)the nature of the initiatory sufferings, where they dooccur, can be clearly distinguished on several groundsfrom the onset of mental illness among Balinese, bothemically in terms of cultural understandings, andetically in terms of objective criteria. Finally wediscuss the concept of ``autonomous imagination,'suggesting that the key to becoming a balian is notovercoming an initiatory madness but gaining controlover this special mode of imagery thought. We furthersuggest that Western ideas concerning the self andself healing, the superficial resemblance of theinitiatory sufferings to schizophrenia, and thedramatic nature of the initiatory sufferings when theyoccur, have combined to give a misleading prominenceto the role of an initiatory madness in shamanism.     

Land-Use Change and Biogeochemical Controls of Methane Fluxes in Soils of Eastern Amazonia

Tropical soils account for 10%–20% of the 15–35 Tg of atmospheric methane (CH₄) consumed annually by soils, although tropical deforestation could be changing the soil sink. The objectives of this study were (a) to quantify differences in soil CH₄ fluxes among primary forest, secondary forest, active pasture, and degraded pasture in eastern Amazonia; and (b) to investigate controlling mechanisms of CH₄ fluxes, including N availability, gas-phase transport, and soil respiration. At one ranch, Fazenda Vitória, annual uptake estimates (kg CH₄ha⁻¹ y⁻¹) based on monthly measurements were: primary forest, 2.1; secondary forest, 1.0; active pasture, 1.3; degraded pasture, 3.1. The lower annual uptake in the active pasture compared with the primary forest was due to CH₄ production during the wet season in the pasture soils, which is consistent with findings from other studies. In contrast, the degraded pasture was never a CH₄ source. Expressing uptake as a negative flux and emission as a positive flux, CH₄ fluxes were positively correlated with CO₂ fluxes, indicating that root and microbial respiration in the productive pastures, and to a lesser extent in the primary forest, contributed to the formation of anaerobic microsites where CH₄ was produced, whereas this productivity was absent in the degraded pasture. In all land uses, uptake rates of atmospheric CH₄ were greater in the dry season than in the wet season, indicating the importance of soil water content and gas transport on CH₄ fluxes. These clay soils had low annual uptake rates relative to reported rates on sandy soils, which also is consistent with gas transport within the soil being a limiting factor. Nitrogen availability indices did not correlate with CH₄ fluxes, indicating that inhibition of CH₄ oxidation was not an important mechanism explaining differences among land uses. At another ranch, Fazenda Agua Parada, no significant effect of pasture age was observed along a chronosequence of pasture ages. We conclude that land-use change can either increase or decrease the soil sink of CH₄, depending on the duration of wet and dry seasons, the effects of seasonal precipitation on gas-phase transport, and the phenology and relative productivity of the vegetation in each land use.     

Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology Occasional Paper No. 25

Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology, Occasional Paper No. 25. James G. Cusick. Carbondale. IL: Center for Archaeological Investigations. Southern Illinois University, 1998. 502 pp.     

Paradigmatic Processes in Culture Change

Paradigmatic processes in culture change are defined, in the sense of Thomas Kuhn, as the consequence of long-continued deliberate effort by numbers of persons to innovate within a recognized technical, artistic, or intellectual tradition (or "school" or "discipline"). The evolving paradigm will often, after a certain point of development, attract exploitation; there will then occur various functionally entailed social-cultural consequences; and ultimately efforts will be made to rationalize the change in religious, ethical, and philosophical terms.     

A Spatial Probit Econometric Model of Land Change: The Case of Infrastructure Development in Western Amazonia,Peru

Tropical forests are now at the center stage of climate mitigation policies worldwide given their roles as sources of carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation. Although the international community has created mechanisms such as REDD⁺ to reduce those emissions, developing tropical countries continue to invest in infrastructure development in an effort to spur economic growth. Construction of roads in particular is known to be an important driver of deforestation. This article simulates the impact of road construction on deforestation in Western Amazonia, Peru, and quantifies the amount of carbon emissions associated with projected deforestation. To accomplish this objective, the article adopts a Bayesian probit land change model in which spatial dependencies are defined between regions or groups of pixels instead of between individual pixels, thereby reducing computational requirements. It also compares and contrasts the patterns of deforestation predicted by both spatial and non-spatial probit models. The spatial model replicates complex patterns of deforestation whereas the non-spatial model fails to do so. In terms of policy, both models suggest that road construction will increase deforestation by a modest amount, between 200–300 km². This translates into aboveground carbon emissions of 1.36 and 1.85 x 10⁶ tons. However, recent introduction of palm oil in the region serves as a cautionary example that the models may be underestimating the impact of roads.     

Dynamics, patterns and causes of fires in Northwestern Amazonia

According to recent studies, two widespread droughts occurred in the Amazon basin, one during 2005 and one during 2010. The drought increased the prevalence of climate-driven fires over most of the basin. Given the importance of human-atmosphere-vegetation interactions in tropical rainforests, these events have generated concerns over the vulnerability of this area to climate change. This paper focuses on one of the wettest areas of the basin, Northwestern Amazonia, where the interactions between the climate and fires are much weaker and where little is known about the anthropogenic drivers of fires. We have assessed the response of fires to climate over a ten-year period, and analysed the socio-economic and demographic determinants of fire occurrence. The patterns of fires and climate and their linkages in Northwestern Amazonia differ from the enhanced fire response to climate variation observed in the rest of Amazonia. The highest number of recorded fires in Northwestern Amazonia occurred in 2004 and 2007, and this did not coincide with the periods of extreme drought experienced in Amazonia in 2005 and 2010. Rather, during those years, Northwestern Amazonia experienced a relatively small numbers of fire hotspots. We have shown that fire occurrence correlated well with deforestation and was determined by anthropogenic drivers, mainly small-scale agriculture, cattle ranching (i.e., pastures) and active agricultural frontiers (including illegal crops). Thus, the particular climatic conditions for air convergence and rainfall created by proximity to the Andes, coupled with the presence of one of the most active colonisation fronts in the region, make this region differently affected by the general drought-induced fire patterns experienced by the rest of the Amazon. Moreover, the results suggest that, even in this wet region, humans are able to modify the frequency of fires and impact these historically well preserved forests.     

Post-Boom Logging in Amazonia

Recent analyses of timber exploitation in Amazonia conclude that a variety of socioeconomic and ecological factors in the region make a stable and profitable logging industry virtually impossible. Most of these studies focus on large-scale timber industries and their dependence on over-exploitation of a small number of high-value timbers. In this article we discuss the economic, ecological, and social aspects of Amazonian logging in a region where the timber industry appeared to have collapsed after stocks of high-value timber were exhausted. We show that forestry in a post-boom phase, currently found in many areas of Amazonia, differs from the better-described boom period in its scale of operations, in the range of timbers cut, in management practices employed, and in the costs and benefits of production. Results of a seven-year study show that when sawtimber, poles and firewood are produced in a management system that combines forestry and agriculture they can provide significant additional income for Amazonian smallholders.     

Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies.

Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies. Linda H. Connor and Geoffrey Samuel. eds. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey, 2001. 296 pp.