Lost in Other-than-Human Worlds

Abstract

This paper explores how disorientation and displacement in the shamanic topography of the Evenki lead to the establishment of novel relationships between humans and nonhuman beings. Examining human experiences of disorientation demonstrates how these spatial disruptions can convey geographical and sociocultural information about nonhuman ontologies and topographies. Ethnographic research with the Evenki in Siberia reveals that disorientation, although generally considered unfavorable, can enhance human abilities by extending and deepening connections with nonhuman worlds. This material is further compared with North American Pacific Coast Indigenous traditions of similar phenomena. By analyzing diverse scenarios of traveling to nonhuman worlds, we investigate two strategies of navigation: changing bodily appearance and changing self, which correspond to covering and metamorphosis in Amerindian perspectivism. However, we argue that, unlike Amazonian perspectives, where bodily transformations often confer extraordinary abilities or skills upon individuals, in Siberian and North American contexts, such transformations are less about acquiring new abilities and more about establishing communicative relationships through the strategic use of coverings.