Overview

An important new way of viewing the prehistoric art of the Americas, The Jaguar Within demonstrates that understanding a work of art’s connection with shamanic trance can lead to an appreciation of it as an extremely creative solution to the inherent challenge of giving material form to nonmaterial realities and states of being. Shamanism—the practice of entering a trance state to experience visions of a reality beyond the ordinary and to gain esoteric knowledge—has been an important part of life for indigenous societies throughout the Americas from prehistoric times until the present. Much has been written about shamanism in both scholarly and popular literature, but few authors have linked it to another significant visual realm—art. In this pioneering study, Rebecca R. Stone considers how deep familiarity with, and profound respect for, the extra-ordinary visionary experiences of shamanism profoundly affected the artistic output of indigenous cultures in Central and South America before the European invasions of the sixteenth century. Using ethnographic accounts of shamanic trance experiences, Stone defines a core set of trance vision characteristics, including enhanced senses; ego dissolution; bodily distortions; flying, spinning, and undulating sensations; synaesthesia; and physical transformation from the human self into animal and other states of being. Stone then traces these visionary characteristics in ancient artworks from Costa Rica and Peru. She makes a convincing case that these works, especially those of the Moche, depict shamans in a trance state or else convey the perceptual experience of visions by creating deliberately chaotic and distorted conglomerations of partial, inverted, and incoherent images.

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9781477329214

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"A tour-de-force of mature scholarship, elegant writing, and well-illustrated text. This album-sized art book takes the reader on a comparative adventure of deep penetration into shamanic practices and conceptions of the Andes and Costa Rica, via pottery and dramatic visionary imagery. . . She also extends her research skills to anthropological fieldwork, hinting that she has befriended healers and shamans over many years of confidence building. . . From Mesoamerican Chavin Vision Serpents with feline elements, to Peruvian Moche visionary scenes with feline-snake depictions, Stone skillfully reveals commonalities and variations of shamanic imaginations.-- ""Religion"" (6/21/2012 12:00:00 AM)"

Author Information

Rebecca R. Stone was a Masse-Martin/NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities (2010–2014), a professor in the Art History Department, and Faculty Curator of Art of the Ancient Americas in the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. She has published one other book, Art of the Andes from Chavín to Inca, as well as one online catalogue and two museum catalogues.

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