摘要：This article explores the first phase of shamanic initiation among the Ikpeng, an Amerindian people living close to the Middle Xingu River in southern Amazonia. Submerged in a nocturnal river or lake and staring up at the dark water surface, the initiate absorbs a swarm of water and forest beings, attracted by the potent aroma of jatobá tree resin, dripped onto the surface above his (or her) eyes, turning the novice’s body into a living container for these spirits. Attempting to unpack some of the topological complexity of this process, I introduce a series of concepts—swarm and anomaly, inoculation, plasma, quasi-events, entanglement, and multiple life—intended as improvised solutions to the contaminations, distortions, and alterations made to Western concepts when exposed to Ikpeng and Amerindian thought.
