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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository THE SICKNESS : SOCIALITY, SCHOOLING, AND SPIRIT POSSESSION AMONGST AMERINDIAN YOUTH IN THE SAVANNAHS OF GUYANA Courtney Rose Stafford-Walter A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2018 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15549 This item is protected by original copyright The Sickness: Sociality, Schooling, and Spirit Possession amongst Amerindian youth in the Savannahs of Guyana Courtney Rose Stafford-Walter This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of St Andrews March 2018 Candidate's declaration I, Courtney Rose Stafford-Walter, do hereby certify that this thesis, submitted for the degree of PhD, which is approximately 76,089 words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for any degree. I was admitted as a research student at the University of St Andrews in September 2013. I confirm that no funding was received for this work. Date Signature of candidate Supervisor's declaration I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date Signature of supervisor Permission for publication In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand, unless exempt by an award of an embargo as requested below, that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that this thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use and that the library has the right to migrate this thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I, Courtney Rose Stafford-Walter, confirm that my thesis does not contain any third-party material that requires copyright clearance. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the publication of this thesis: Printed copy No embargo on print copy. Electronic copy No embargo on electronic copy. Date Signature of candidate Date Signature of supervisor Underpinning Research Data or Digital Outputs Candidate's declaration I, Courtney Rose Stafford-Walter, hereby certify that no requirements to deposit original research data or digital outputs apply to this thesis and that, where appropriate, secondary data used have been referenced in the full text of my thesis. Date Signature of candidate This thesis is dedicated to the late Edie Turner. Abstract The goal of this thesis is to explore the recent changes in the social landscape of a Wapishana village, due to long-term separation from kin. I consider the impact of a recent educational shift from small scale community based education to regional boarding schools on family life and community structure amongst Amerindian people in the hinterland of Region 9, Guyana. Furthermore, the project analyzes an emergent form of spirit possession that affects almost exclusively young women who live in the dormitories, locally referred to as the sickness. Using the sickness as an analytical lens, the thesis examines the ways in which young Amerindian women navigate a shift in expectations from their parents and communities as well as how they experience this rapid social change and transformation. Various vantage points employed in the analysis of the sickness help to illustrate the complexities of the current lived reality of Amerindian life. By exploring the experience of kinship and community in the Wapishana village of Sand Creek, it is possible to demonstrate how these relationships are produced and reproduced in everyday life through the sharing of space and substance. Furthermore, it is necessary to consider different aspects of the Creole and Amerindian notions of the spiritual world and their intervowenness in Wapishana lives, drawing out human and non-human agency and how they effect change in the world. Additionally, drawing on the anthropology of education, the thesis identifies the influence the state has on people’s lives through institutionalized education, and locates this process within the wider context of historical indigenous residential schools. The ethnographic data on the experience of the sickness is put in dialogue and contrasted with other conceptions of spiritual vulnerability in Amerindian communities, examples of ‘mass hysteria’ in schools or other institutional settings in other parts of the world, and the Afro-Caribbean experience of spirit possession. Finally, through an analysis of the etiology of the sickness, the final chapter draws on Amazonian literature to examine the embodiment of gender and the local gendered history of knowledge production in the area. The sickness is a phenomenon that permeates life in Southern Guyana for Amerindian youth, their families, and their communities. Undoubtedly, these various themes found in Wapishana young women’s lives influence one another, irrespective of an ultimate manifestation of spirit possession. In the concluding section I show how these themes can be placed in the wider Amazonian framework of alterity and ‘Other-becoming’, illustrating how this phenomenon provides a productive tool for the analysis of the experience of rapid social change among Amerindian youth and the impact of these transformations throughout the region. Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 11 ‘Our children are forgetting us…’ ............................................................................................... 11 Ethnographic Context .................................................................................................................. 12 Schooling in the Rupununi ........................................................................................................... 13 The Sickness ...................................................................................................................................... 14 Thesis Outline ................................................................................................................................ 18 Chapter Summaries ....................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 1 Kinship and Family Life in Sand Creek Village, Guyana .............................. 24 Foregrounding Kinship ................................................................................................................ 24 Etta .................................................................................................................................................. 27 Auntie Doley .................................................................................................................................. 35 Uncle Beltram ................................................................................................................................ 43 Generations and Gendered Movement ...................................................................................... 47 Chapter 2 Consubstantiality, Community and Conviviality ............................................ 49 Consubstantiality ........................................................................................................................... 49 Community ..................................................................................................................................... 54 Conviviality ..................................................................................................................................... 61 Chapter 3 Amerindian Spiritual World .............................................................................. 68 The Envious World of Humans and Spirits .............................................................................. 69 Jumbie on the Roof ....................................................................................................................... 73 Kanaima attack ................................................................................................................................ 77 Ghost Stories .................................................................................................................................. 84 Parties and Poison ......................................................................................................................... 89 Obeah magic .................................................................................................................................. 97 1 Photographs .......................................................................................................................