Sorcery-revenge and anti-sorcery. Individuation and dividuality in the Gran Chaco

FLORENCIA TOLA

social analysis

berghahn The International Journal of Anthropology

Lugar: london; Año: 2019 vol. 63 p. 81 - 101

0155-977X

This article focuses on sorcery, revenge, and anti-revenge among the Qom people in Argentina. For the Qom, death is the result of an intentional action, usually sorcery or a shamanic attack. When a close relative dies, the family may decide to avenge the death through practices performed on the dying body by a specialist in revenge. Nonetheless, under specific circumstances relatives intentionally decide not to take revenge, performing what I refer to as ?anti-revenge?. Ethnographic analysis of relations among victims, aggressors, and avengers reveals how alternation between relational excess and fissures makes individuation possible. The processes responsible for the composite and relational character of personhood necessarily lead to a relational excess that needs to be restrained through practices such as anti-revenge. The relation between revenge and anti-revenge is a key aspect of a broader Qom understanding of personhood, in which individuation needs to be achieved to avoid an inherent generalized indifferentiation.