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Mushrooms for Life among the Jotï in the Venezuelan Guayana

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Abstract

Mushrooms for Life among the Jotï in the Venezuelan Guayana. This paper explores the relevance of mushrooms in mythology and daily life among the Jotï, an indigenous group inhabiting the rain forests of the Venezuelan Guayana. It is reported here how a personal experience of the author in the field stimulated deeper research into the religious symbolism surrounding mushrooms and their role in Jotï cosmology, ritual, and life dynamics. Different categories of mushroom usage are described, including edible, medicinal, and ritual uses. Mushrooms seem to be more important to the Jotï than to most Amazonian groups. Most significantly, certain species of mushrooms are key ingredients in medicinal and ritual preparations used throughout the Jotï life cycle in ways that reflect their worldview and mythology.

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Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful to the Jotï for their kindness, friendship, and willingness to help throughout all stages of data collection, and for sharing their homes and taking care of me in their lands; pseudonyms are used where the names of individual Jotï are mentioned. I am especially thankful to Glenn Shepard, Jr., for his extensive editorial help and his lucid comments, and for his time and dedication to improving this paper. Thanks go also to Teresita Iturriaga for identifying the mushroom collections. Financial help was received from Wenner Gren Hunt Fellowship (Gr 7518) and Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Human Ecology, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela

    Egleé L. Zent

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  1. Egleé L. Zent
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Correspondence to Egleé L. Zent.

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Zent, E.L. Mushrooms for Life among the Jotï in the Venezuelan Guayana. Econ Bot 62, 471–481 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-008-9039-2

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