Sorcery, ghostly attack and the presence and absence of shamans among the Ulwa and Miskitu of eastern Nicaragua

Abstract

This article considers mystical violence and the role of shamans in two villages in eastern Nicaragua. In one of these villages – a predominantly Ulwa community called Karawala – sorcery accusations and intimations constitute an important area of discourse in discussions of the causes of misfortune, while in the other – a Miskitu community called Kakabila – ghostly attacks are much more significant. The analysis is comparative in focus, presenting the many similarities shared by these communities, while at the same time isolating important variations that might account for the differing emphases on sorcery and ghostly attack. Consideration of beliefs and practices surrounding death and the role of shamans in the diagnoses of the causes of misfortune suggests that the differing emphases on sorcery and ghostly attack in these two contexts must be understood as refractions of how potentially conflictive relationships within the (re)productive process, crucially perceived in both translocal and local terms, are managed.