Shool for Shamans to Save Culture From Extinction (Brazil)

[icymist]

While environmental groups and governmental policies are aiming at reducing deforestation and development in the Amazon rainforest to help preserve the world's most diverse terrestrial ecosystem, traditional indigenous cultures in the region are being rescued from extinction as well. For native tribes of the Northwest Amazon, shamans have long played an important role in daily life, acting as spiritual leaders and medicinal healers. Throughout the twentieth century, shamans faced such intense persecution from Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries that some feared their ancient wisdom would be lost to the ages, but a new school in the Amazon is working to make sure that doesn't happen.

The school, called Malikai Depan, located in the village of Cachoeira Uapui in the northwest of Amazonas state of Brazil, was founded by the children of a renowned shaman with the support of anthropologist Robin Wright. According to a report in Socioambiental, the school is the result of years of research sponsored by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in California, which interested in supporting the art and practice of traditional shamanism.

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