The Grisis Siknis ancestral worldview o psychosocial disorder: community case study of Alal, Bonanza Nicaraguan caribbean coast

Abstract

This article aims to elucidate the myths or taboos around Grisis siknis or jungle madness that afflict the population belonging to the native and Afrodescendant peoples of the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast in the particular case of the Mayangna ethnic group inhabitants of the Sauni As territory of the Alal community, Bonanza North Caribbean coast. UNANManagua, as part of its social commitment, became involved in a project working jointly with Chilean filmmakers who are carrying out an investigation into the causes and effects of Grisis siknis, which will allow them to subsequently make a documentary exposing the situation of the inhabitants living together. With this disease. The work collects and consolidates the different activities carried out in the first phase of the project incorporating assessments, comments and the perception of its inhabitants as the main protagonists of this socio-cultural phenomenon. The documentary filmmakers have carried out the first phase of the work that consists in exploring the area, identifying the testimonies and collecting first-hand the manifestations of this condition. The results of this first stage of the study show that this health problem is caused by people who practice black magic or occult sciences, this practice gives them the power to contact and manipulate different spirits that are everywhere, those who later take possession of people is a type of sorcery; from the ancestral worldview of the community in relation to the spiritual world that dwells in the environment, they say that they can cause imbalances in people’s health.