The Double Identities of the Shaman and the Dualistic Attitudes of the State: An Exploration of Contemporary Organizational Shamanism in Northeast China
Religions March 28, 2024 DOI: 10.3390/rel15040415 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | The first shamanic organization in China and shamans and specialists in Northeast China |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key findings | Argues that organizational shamanism in Northeast China is marked by shamans' double identities and national authorities' dualistic attitudes, treating shamanism as both cultural heritage and superstition. The organization, the author contends, gave traditional shamans a modernized, globalized space to gain empowerment, legitimacy, and agency, and helped link local traditions with global discourse and political forces. |
Abstract
This paper presents a case study of the first shamanic organization in China and argues that organizational shamanism in Northeast China is characterized by the double identities of the shaman and the dualistic attitudes of the national authorities. The analyses in this paper reveal how the shamanic organization created a modernized and globalized space for traditional shamans and specialists to connect with the outside world, enabling them to gain empowerment, legitimacy, and agency. Chinese authorities hold dualistic attitudes towards shamanism: the positive attitude of seeing shamanism as part of cultural heritage has always been coupled with the negative attitude of seeing shamanism as superstition. The studies in this paper demonstrate that organizational shamanism in Northeast China has played a crucial role in negotiating with political authorities and linking local traditions with global discourse. In this sense, the traditional eco-cosmological way of maintaining relationships with natural forces and nonhuman beings has been irrevocably transformed into a cosmopolitical form for the shaman, where the animistic world engages with the outside world, global currency, and political forces.
Comparable studies
Other case reports and case series on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain changes during a shamanic trance: Altered modes of consciousness, hemispheric laterality, and systemic psychobiology A normal subject with extensive training in the Mongolian shamanic tradition | 2017 | Case study | n = 1 |
| The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions | 2013 | Ethnographic case studies | |
| Transformation in Dang-ki Healing: The Embodied Self and Perceived Legitimacy. A male dang-ki, 10 temple assistants, and 9 clients at a shrine in Singapore | 2016 | Case study | n = 20 |
| (Neo)Shamanic Dialogues Members of a Guarani Indian village on the Atlantic coast of Santa Catarina, Brazil | 2012 | Case study | |
| Kambô: A Shamanic Medicine - Personal Testimonies | 2018 | Case study |
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- Contemporary Northeast Chinese Shamanism in the Interaction Between Public Heritage and Private Belief Religions May 30, 2025
- A Cultural Pathway to Addressing Contemporary Mental Illness: Construction and Healing Logic of the “Virtual Illness” Concept in Shamanism in the North of China Religions April 1, 2026
- Human Will in Digital Discourses About Shamanism Religions June 19, 2025
- From Cosmopolitical Mode to Traditional Knowledge: Introduction to the Special Issue “The Revitalization of Shamanism in Contemporary China” Religions April 16, 2025
- Shamanism and Christianity: Models of Religious Encounters in East Asia Religions January 24, 2025
Cites 6
- The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism Anthropology of Consciousness September 1, 2016
- Individualist Religious Movements: Core and Neo‐shamanism Anthropology of Consciousness March 1, 2004
- Deconstruction of the Trance Model: Historical, Ethnographic, and Contextual Studies of Manchu Shamanism Religions April 4, 2023
- Deities System and Ritual Practice: A Case Study of the Daur Shamanic Oboo Ritual Religions May 16, 2023
- Sacred land cairns and shamanic burial sites on the Sino-Russo-Mongolian borderlands Asian Ethnicity March 20, 2023
and 1 more in the library