The article addresses aspects of the ethnography and the translation of the poetry of Amerindian peoples from the South American lowlands, particularly the Marubo (Javari valley, Amazon). I begin with a brief review of theoretical perspectives that are central to understanding the subject and go on to argue that the work of translational re-creation of songs and narratives derived from oral performances should be carried out in tandem with the work of conceptual translation. Finally, I provide a bilingual rendering of a long narrative testimony on posthumous fate and the formation of the Way of the Dead ("The Reports of the Death-Path"), as given by Marubo shaman Armando Cherõpapa.
Ethnography; Translation; Amerindian poetry; Marubo; Armando Cherõpapa
