"The Spirits Drink Cassava Beer": The More-Than-Human Politics of Self-Help in Amazonian Guyana.

This article concerns vernacular practices of "self-help" among the indigenous Makushi people of Amazonian Guyana. Contrasted with "Western" self-care, the article examines , a traditional system of communal work grounded in a collaborative ethic of "helping each other out." A convivial event, is always accompanied by feasting, drinking, and the celebration of social relationships. This cooperative ethos passes beyond the human realm to harness the agency of nonhuman beings who participate in this shared work. The article moves on to investigate how shamanism and the use of plant-charms are integral in mediating these generative relations of shared selfhood.