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Somatic Poetry in Amazonian Ecuador
Author(s) -
Uzendoski Michael
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
anthropology and humanism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1548-1409
pISSN - 1559-9167
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-1409.2008.00002.x
Subject(s) - amazonian , poetry , mythology , drama , literature , beauty , history , art , amazon rainforest , anthropology , aesthetics , ecology , sociology , biology
SUMMARY In this article, I explore two healing experiences, one in Amazonian Ecuador and the other in Amazonian Peru. I argue that these experiences can be theorized through the idea of “somatic poetry,” which I define as the process of making and experiencing beauty so that life and the story become part of the same thread. I discuss how somatic poetry involves drama and coauthoring with nonhuman natural beings, including spirits. I also explore how somatic poetry works textually in interconnecting past lives, history, myth, the body, and the myriad and various subjectivities of the Amazonian landscape.