Dark Shamans: Kanaima and the Poetics of Violent Death
by: Neil L. Whitehead

Softcover. Durham NC, Duke University Press , 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 309 page, b&w and color illustrations. Light pencil marking in text. On the little-known and darker side of shamanism there exists an ancient form of sorcery called kanaima, a practice still observed among the Amerindians of the highlands of Guyana, Venezuela, and Brazil that involves the ritual stalking, mutilation, lingering death, and consumption of human victims. At once a memoir of cultural encounter and an ethnographic and historical investigation, this book offers a sustained, intimate look at kanaima, its practitioners, their victims, and the reasons they give for their actions.