Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 339 



The "suicidal" neonate, whom the shaman finally persuades to live, 

 is not discriminated against in any way, though his difficult birth 

 will be remembered and people will knowingly refer to it when such 

 a child begins to misbehave in a way characteristic of future shamans 

 (Devereux, 1937 c). It is also possible that children, who overhear 

 references to their difficult birth, may begin to think of themselves 

 as potential shamans. 



Even neonates whose mothers actually died in birth are not dis- 

 criminated against, though it is not always easy to find a woman, with 

 a living infant of her own, who is willing to nurse such an orphan. 

 This, however, is not due to discrimination, but to the Mohave woman's 

 reluctance to give her own child a rival at the breast (Devereux, 1947 a 

 and pt. 3, p. 115, and pt. 7, pp. 340-348) . 



The chief reason why such children are not discriminated against 

 is that the Mohave are fond of any fuUblood Mohave child capable 

 of insuring the perpetuation of the tribe (pt. 6, pp. 257-259). A sub- 

 sidiary reason is that the shamanistic neonate's suicidal and murderous 

 behavior is routinely explained in terms of characterological com- 

 pulsions implicit in his being a potential shaman. The final reason 

 is the simple fact that, even though the Mohave do not admire shamans 

 as people and dread them as potential witches, they believe them to be 

 necessary for the welfare and survival of the sick. 



The following obstetrical death was cited as an example of the 

 prenatal suicide of a future shaman, although the informants were 

 unable to say why it was believed to be a suicide of this type, rather 

 than the complaint suicide of a bewitched fetus or a death caused by 

 the breach of a taboo. It is tentatively suggested that the diagnosis 

 may have been determined by the fact that the mother was the 

 daughter of a shaman, so that — in view of the belief that "shamanism 

 runs in families" — the conclusion that the infant unwilling to be born 

 was also a future shaman was practically inescapable. 

 CASE 83 (Informant not recorded; probably Haray He:ya) : 



Hualy Hore :e, a 30-year-old fullblood Mobave woman, the wife of Nyilas and 

 the daughter of a shaman specializing in the cure of the ahwe: illnesses (pt. 4, 

 pp. 128-150) had a protracted labor. She and her female attendants waited all 

 day and all night for the baby to be born. It was "lying across" in the womb. 

 "We could feel the head bulge." "We also knew it from the way it moved." In 

 the end they called in the shaman Haray He:ya, who knew how to cure such 

 cases. He arrived at about 10 : 00 a. m., but by that time both the woman and 

 the unborn baby were dead. They were cremated together. 



Comment 



The remark concerning the "bulging head" can be linked with the fact that 

 certain old women are believed to be able to diagnose impending twin births 

 by abdominal palpation. As for the late arrival of the obstetrician, IMohave 

 shamans habitually attribute their therapeutic failures to the fact that they 

 were not consulted in time (McNichols, 1944). 



