Transcript:

Heres a program from our archives.ambience, Shaman ChantThe Yanomami people of the Amazonian Rainforest are among the last indigenous societies to have been contacted by the outside world. But contact has brought epidemics of disease that have ravaged the population. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.O'Connor: What you're listening to here are the traditional chants of a Yanomami shaman involved in a, for lack of a better word, an exorcism, an attempt to pull a spirit out of the body of someone who is infected with malaria.Geoffrey O'Connor recently directed a film documentary on the Yanomami.O'Connor: I think it's difficult for us to imagine how disease impacts in a community like the Yanomami. We have to remember that they've lived in an isolated area. Their populations have not had diseases over the years and built up resistance to them. People often are two weeks' walk from the nearest missionary or Indian Agency clinic, and it's difficult to get to those areas. The consequence is that entire villages are wiped out; that in the case of the Yanomami, 20% of their population died from these diseases.The way that the Yanomami have responded to the epidemic has been interesting. They understand the benefits of our drugs to counteract malaria, but at the same time, they continue to practice their traditional means of curing. In this sense, the shamans play a critical role in the community. They see white man's diseases, or outsider's diseases, as transmitted through fumes that emanate from objects. Therefore they have to counteract these fumes through shamanism. This archival program is part of our thirtieth anniversary celebration. If you want hear more, check out our podcast.