Shamanism: Critical Concepts in Sociology

Front Cover
Andrei A. Znamenski
Psychology Press, Mar 11, 2004 - Body, Mind & Spirit - 1200 pages
Mircea Eliade descibed shamanism as the primal religion of humanity, the 'archaic technique of ecstasy'. The books of best-selling author Carlos Castaneda made it part of popular culture. Since the 1960s shamanism has continued to attract the attention of scholars, artists, writers and the general public. The most intriguing aspect of this religion is the ability of shamans to enter into contact with spirits on behalf of their communities. The first eighteenth-century explorers of Siberia dubbed shamanism a blatant fraud. Later, academic observers stamped it as 'neurotic delusion'. In the 1960s shamans were recast as 'wounded healers', who sacrifice their lives for the spiritual well being of their communities. Many current writers and scholars treat shamanism as ancient wisdom that has much to teach us about true spirituality.
This anthology tells the story of shamanism in Eurasia, North and South America, Africa and Australia. It brings together for the first time fifty-six articles and book excerpts by anthropologists, psychologists, religious scholars and historians, illustrating the variety of views on this subject.

From inside the book

Contents

VOLUME I
xi
The development of a Washo shaman 62
xiv
Extract from Aboriginal Men of High Degree 383
xv
Shamanisms today 117
xvi
Shamans and acute schizophrenia 278
xl
PART 1
l
Extracts from Folk healing and the structure of conquest
lviii
Shamanic Counseling 77
lxiv
Meanings and identities
86
Extracts from Divine election in primitive religion
124
Siberian and Inner shamanism
149
from partnership in supernature
165
Cosmic symbolism in Siberian shamanhood
177
a unique monument of spiritual culture
193
Small séances with a great Nganasan shaman
212
The shamanism of the Mongols
227

A critical overview of the psychiatric approaches
lxxxii
Interaction transformation and extinction 3
lxxxviii
Extract from Aus Sibirien
25
Otomi Indian
29
Shamanism in general
61
The shaman
83
PART 3
235
The Lamaist suppression of shamanism
245
An experiential study of Nepalese shamanism
272
Jacobs shamanic vision
275
Shamanism and traditional healers in modernday Indonesia
294
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