Slippage: An Anthropology of Shamanism
Annual Review of Anthropology October 21, 2021 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110350 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Keywords | Pride Skepticism Colonialism History of anthropology Ethnology Epistemology Archaeology |
| Citations | 14 |
| Key points | Argues that the centrality of shamanism in anthropology arises from a history of social relations where shamans are cast as translators of the unseen and as sites of anxiety in encounters across gender, class, and colonial race lines, and that anthropologists have found in shamans translators across social worlds who are not unlike themselves. |
Abstract
If our knowledge of shamanism has been so abidingly partial, so impressively uneven, so deeply varied by history, and so enduringly skeptical for so long, how has its study come to occupy such pride of place in the anthropological canon? One answer comes in a history of social relations where shamans both are cast as translators of the unseen and are themselves sites of anxiety in a very real world, one of encounters across lines of gender, class, and colonial incursions often defined by race. This article contends that as anthropologists have cultivated a long and growing library of shamanic practice, many appear to have found, in a globally diverse range of spirit practitioners, translators across social worlds who are not unlike themselves, suggesting that in the shaman we find a remarkable history of anthropology.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Cognitive Neuroscience, Shamanism and the Rock Art of Native California | 1998 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From Culture to Experience: Shamanism in the Pages of the Soviet Anti-Religious Press | 2020 | Historical analysis | |
| Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate Ways of Knowing–Being in the World: One Anthropologist's Journey of Discovery and Transformation | 2010 | Reflective essay or personal narrative |
Citations in the library
Cited by 10
- The Shaman and Schizophrenia, Revisited Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry November 30, 2023
- Communication of Tradition(s): Narrative Templates of Magical Healing in Urban Shamanism Traditiones December 2, 2023
- Siberia, protest, and politics Focaal June 9, 2022
- The Shaman’s Drum: Eurocentric Interpretations of Non-European Sonic Worlds VIRUS - Beiträge zur Sozialgeschichte der Medizin 2023
- Shamanic tradition and altered states of consciousness in Turkic culture Pharos Journal of Theology February 14, 2026
and 5 more in the library
Cites 8
- Spirit Possession Revisited: Beyond Instrumentality Annual Review of Anthropology October 1, 1994
- Trends in Contemporary Research on Shamanism Numen 2011
- Thunder Shaman: Making History with Mapuche Spirits in Chile and Patagonia Project Muse May 17, 2016
- Shamanism and Possession The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology September 5, 2018
- Shamanism, sanity and remoteness in Russia Anthropology Today April 1, 2020
and 3 more in the library