Abstract

JARAMILLO, Pablo. Kariburu: Ritual Digression and Political Positioning in the Healing Practices among the Embera. univ.humanist. [online]. 2007, n.63, pp. 133-154. ISSN 0120-4807.

The analysis of rituals as a way of political positioning has been a very difficult task, essentially because the category of ritual itself has darkened important issues concerning the rituals' functions. Using the category of ritual digression, the present paper assesses how a specific healing ritual performed by Embera people becomes a tool to generate political commitment. The study considers the ritual as a discursive and performative work, which produces political identities in a context where conflict prevails. The present work is based in ethnographic fieldwork carried out from 2000 to 2004, in sporadic seasons in an Indian reserve called La Albania, Risaralda and San José de Caldas, Caldas, Colombia.

Keywords : ritual; politics; identity; ethnography; embera people.