A Critique of Philosophical Shamanism

Abstract

Among Anthropologists, There Is A Fierce Controversy over the figure of the shaman, with some reserving the term for practitioners in hunter-gatherer societies in present-day Siberia (among whom the term originated), and others defining shaman more broadly to include any figure performing similar functions, from prehistory until today.1 Though the exact nature of these functions (and whether there is one, and only one, figure who performs them) is central to this controversy, the majority view is helpfully summarized by Russian anthropologist Anna Kuznetsova. She schematizes the Siberian shaman according to the following four attributes: (1) divine election involving dreams, (2) initiation through sickness and self-healing, (3) musical and dancing performances, and (4) responsibility for meeting the community's psychospiritual needs (Kuznetsoza 49). A proponent of the Siberian-only view, Kuznetsova argues that this specific religious figure has been improperly attributed to other cultures and civilizations, including her example of the mythical figure Orpheus in ancient Greece.The history of such importations is documented by religious studies scholar Kocku van Stuckrad, who writes of “neoshamanism” or “modern Western shamanism” as a nineteenth-century reaction to what Max Weber termed the “disenchanting” of contemporary society. “For quite a few European enlighteners,” van Stuckrad begins, “the shaman was a religious virtuoso, a reminder of those ancient ecstatics and artists who were able to transgress ordinary reality by means of music and poetry” (773). Then, after “Mircea Eliade in 1951 put forward his new conception of the shaman as trance specialist,” for thinkers inspired thereby, such as Jung and Joseph Campbell, the shaman “became an indication of a new understanding of humanity's relation to nature, of man's ability to access spiritual levels of reality, and of leading a respectful life toward the ‘sacred web of creation’” (773). Finally, after the “seminal work of Carlos Castaneda . . . major shamanic protagonists hold a degree in anthropology” and “try to combine this education with a spiritual practice outside the academy” (774). The relevance of this history to American philosophy can be seen in van Stuckrad's identification of Thoreau and Emerson as an intermediary link (between Schelling's nature philosophy and neo-Shamanism) (787).The present investigation concerns precisely this extension of the shaman concept to academic philosophers, particularly common in American philosophy and pragmatism, where it often takes the form of channeling Native American traditions. More recently, it has been identified and valorized in the work of the influential Chicana theorist Gloria Anzaldúa. Though increasingly appreciated by non-Indigenous philosophers, Anzaldúa has been criticized by scholars of Latin American Subaltern Studies for claiming to speak for Indigenous peoples without tribal authority, and for advocating the concept of mestizaje despite the latter's continuing prominent role in matrices of oppression for Indigenous peoples in Latin America.2More generally, as noted by contemporary neo-Shamanism advocate and anthropologist Robert J. Wallis, this tendency within “neo-Shamanisms” has been criticized as a form of “neo-colonialism” (xiii). This is especially true, Wallis notes, in the U.S., “where many Native Americans are extremely angry at what they see as ‘stealing’ of their traditions by ‘New Agers’, be it mythologies, sweat lodges, or monuments” (xiii). On this point, Wallis references P. J. Deloria, son of the influential Native American thinker Vine Deloria, Jr., on the harm done by early U.S. enthusiasts of shamanism. “In true colonial fashion,” Wallis relates, “inventing American identity required distancing real Indians, perceiving them to be already extinct or at least vanishing, to uphold an imperialist and romanticised idea of Indians past. The very real Native American struggle for social justice was ignored” (Wallis 25). More generally, Wallis summarizes four central objections to neo-shamanism: “1. Decontextualizing and universalizing 2. Psychologizing and individualising 3. Reproduction and reification of cultural primitivism. 4. Romanticizing of indigenous shamans” (49).Amplifying Wallis's and Deloria's critique is Geary Hobson, an American Studies scholar of Cherokee, Quapaw and Chickasaw descent. Hobson's original essay, “The Rise of the White Shaman as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism,” concerned white, spoken-word poets in the Bay Area who were dressing in pseudo-Indigenous garb, adopting pseudo-Indian names, and performing homages to white poet Gary Snyder's poem “Shaman Songs” (Hobson 1). Reflecting on his essay twenty-five years later (in 2002), Hobson turns to purveyors of “White-thought ‘Indian medicine,’” for whose efforts he blames “spiritual fakers” including Carlos Castaneda (3). By contrast, Hobson affirms that Native American “medicine people” (his preferred term, as opposed to “shamans”) have continued to practice, largely invisibly to non-Indigenous people, and in a way that is dispersed across various professions and social roles, including “throughout the university structure” (4–7).While fully supporting Hobson's analysis, I would add two caveats regarding the limitations of its applicability to the present investigation. First, as noted above with the example of Anzaldúa, not all proponents of philosophical shamanism today are white, and some are even Indigenous (so either the problem is bigger than just “White Shamanism,” or philosophical shamanism does not coincide exactly with Hobson's object of critique). In part for this reason, Native American theorist Ward Churchill's similar critique prefers the term “spiritual hucksterism,” and names multiple Indigenous practitioners thereof.3 Second, my previous work on Cherokee philosophy dovetails with Hobson's preference for the term “medicine” for Native American healing practices—reserving “shamanism” for the Indigenous Siberian communities who claim their word for themselves alone—so I do not claim any place for the present investigation within any Native American spiritual tradition.4It is nevertheless imperative, especially for those raised and working in a U.S. context and tradition, whatever their embodiment and position, to attend to Hobson here, not falling prey to similar malfeasance. The present investigation, in part, attempts to respond to these problems, by suggesting more contextualizing, community-centered, respectful, and responsible criteria for any future conception of philosophical shamanism. More precisely, any such conception, compared to its two predecessors, must emphasize the responsibility of the shaman to their concrete community—specifically an ability and willingness to respond to their community members.This responsiveness, in turn, implies a firm grounding in the existing practices and environments of the community, since to be able to respond one must speak the language of one's interlocutors, both comprehending and creating communication. Crucial in this context, and widely neglected in the history of philosophy, is nonverbal language, including body language, comportment, fashion, and dance.5 At this level, a shaman must be able to interpret the bodies and movements of their community, to move in the ways to which its people have become accustomed, while also improvizing new ways of moving to repair their existential injuries. A shaman must, in both the of their community, and also to in more the in of this critique of philosophical shamanism is that its on community responsibility an to and to the struggle for social justice for Indigenous peoples including for Native American in this according to is the of to while for the is justice this I would add Native American than of Native according to the of or in their these are since a people in an are also more to various other of with the of the concept of shamanism in the non-Indigenous as summarized by contemporary Russian Anna with work in its and is also for its many a few its of and in his and of and Robert Wallis an that the of shamanic practice while its Wallis for my here, Kuznetsova argues the concept from its original in the context of ancient Siberian Kuznetsova the to the social role the shaman in this reason, on Siberian shamanism work is for its not of The was already for later Western inspired by Eliade to his already to Siberian more my of I do of specific tribal the are by the that he in the early In he does even in these early that are than those who the or who the of the and shaman is not as such until after he has two of including shamanic names and functions of the and of the language, In such Eliade that in a specific community is for more as a for the for (and the this is in the of of “shamanism” in of in means the the of the and one to the of the in such is the of as by the of in the of his with the Indigenous spiritual Wallis that scholars have since that what is in shamanism is not the or the and of the the body with that also the nature of the in its and with the cultural and and the and of its in of with various and of the to by the figure of the shaman with non-Indigenous is not only Eliade in over tribal religious even claiming that the has a has it its The problem here, from the of and their is that the or the and their at least as as the their tribal In other a and it in an to an in a for which the and environments was more is that this is and that the to which the shaman do have reality of one not the reality of a as This is not to that one must as an to the view, a tribal view or a one, that one be in the of to religious ways of is of the as the to whether there is any to it is not that the of such to the shaman (in either the of or of as an a shaman does not the of the shamanic work on of their work on the part of a that any shaman and them as both practitioners and In is of with a shaman, a and the and that are and an This is not to that do not have Eliade affirms his that a shamanic is not an in a and more in this is which attempts to his by of healing and This is the in that and what does it is this and what is the Finally, what does it to that part of this the cultural that has non-Indigenous to shamanism from the more for the present investigation is to his with his on and in ancient in and shamanic with this view, Kuznetsova to Siberian with the figure of of shamanic the in both to be there is with from the very of does not does to a to that that ancient does not a shaman At it to a shaman in more “The as This more in than in the other of this conception of non-Indigenous as is also present to some degree in them “The and the The as an from similar to Though I a the of essay is that and his in his that he is that the and the shaman are More that and two similar of the in the way they his as a this at the of that “the shaman performs a this as one of on its an that the that the of work is from their that work also other including a the body is only present in by way of the which as conception The which the of the of to specific and philosophers, that “the healing and In to its this claim also that shamanic are not or in their tribal In is more for non-Indigenous in their cultural than for Indigenous in is non-Indigenous philosophers, after whose are as whose are as by in non-Indigenous and who in a of is present-day non-Indigenous the figure of the shaman, this is also the only place in that the body in his claim that the is in the body I in my the exact view of the is the defining of the conception of non-Indigenous as move forward in to the conception of philosophical of which on Gloria In her one an of and the cultural of Indigenous and tribal cultural Anzaldúa references to as shaman in her for a essay in the Gloria Anzaldúa in the of the I that in the context of after a few references to shamanism in a in one be an in the of a shaman, healing through as a for the of the with the access to other or this Anzaldúa also a more of the idea claiming that practice a of shamanism through the in what a of on of indigenous shamanism where a an a A similar can be in of what or New by the for some people, such practices toward The I can to Anzaldúa as a shaman in her claim that “the of the shaman, which is a to this one has her life this of shamanism in Anzaldúa, with her for the conception of philosophical I my with one place in her work that with the work of and the concept of her of and its In Anzaldúa of as a from the of the of which is a with of central concept in Anzaldúa in to part of the of her by of This Anzaldúa this concept in her an by the the and in the Anzaldúa the concept of from the of spiritual In the of this is toward both and embodiment the of and the of Anzaldúa the with an of this as Among means to put on a by the or has the of the that or the that all over the one that of my the two that Anzaldúa is First, a widely in Second, on that a of In Anzaldúa her language, to them to and this Anzaldúa that her all or I and with the of In this their are “the and of the Chicana on have which do not white and they to to put on that a and the that present to the The of is also in shamanic often involving the and channeling of by them the even this Anzaldúa a term from which to of to and to is this which the from which can and the Chicana were only one it be for their to that and that their true would since the it to multiple for identity and for and for the where those which can be for Anzaldúa summarizes and this as is my for one's are the of as as with and the for new as as those of the figure of the shaman is in this to Anzaldúa that her on is not new or this cultural even than those of her contemporary Among are the people, and according to their was put on to one's and in these conception, “the was a of and the body a of this of in I to its in which also the shamanic of her In to Anzaldúa that in “the the the the which also one of “the struggle the and the for Anzaldúa, is with and spiritual just as according to Eliade and are often at the of and This to and the is also true of the to in in a with the Anzaldúa after her her over the a part of her Anzaldúa a is a through which the to the other and to to the place where the of the Anzaldúa ancient Indians of as which their would and a trance in to the future of the and the of the to which concerns what Anzaldúa the The is a of after the and of and The for Anzaldúa to is a of by this who as and who do the for since the body is a and of and religious without at least some existing since those are that and of “The Anzaldúa writes of the its In the is to of to the exact nature of this one be in claim that is a not only of the also of the of and in as the Anzaldúa in a of and a more than or a of is in the that I regarding one with the of one be able to the of the a a to its history of The Anzaldúa even more this by In this her with the of the shamanic as a by an and community move in this an that Anzaldúa as the of the after which one's must the the has in the of forward is a a and of has to a of the of the and or the over in the mythical Anzaldúa often not only the also the of of either or a two one must of one's to In one must and as a on one's of precisely, in the must and the Western of view and in the and of this must, that some of in the (and their such as with his the a until it and some at my Anzaldúa the my and across the of and the of its I my in my until the my and from the from of Anzaldúa summarizes it as I it creating my my through the She this as a of the Chicana to the the In my of the two they as the of her the conception that has of one speak of a of which also be a of the of Anzaldúa as a and has since her that the shaman is a figure of central to More precisely, Anzaldúa as what its as have the are become in shamanic and indigenous and which and are and the of to and that of the conception of philosophical shamanism as and does not either or non-Indigenous or to or that shamanic practice on the of both the body and only is this a more understanding of in their tribal it non-Indigenous from the of as non-Indigenous do not their as bodies and conception of philosophical shamanism implies criteria for a non-Indigenous to the above from also a of this conception of philosophical that its to be to Siberian in their social the white of the conception, and the latter's both and her for this conception as of other who have on Anzaldúa are also Finally, Anzaldúa at least a to Indigenous as a of the and more as the of a Chicana a for as her concept of these to to the and cultural attempts to one that the from of shamanism in the in the of the In other a concept by from theorist with to Indigenous and tribal societies (and only after that other a from that essay by Anzaldúa, in which as to practice . . . in a new way . . . the in the . . . The word for shaman, means In the shaman and the poet were the The role of the shaman as it was to and cultural or identity by the cultural of the and the present people themselves In I see that this was an on my part in the through my I see whatever is in the cultural or body in to the according to the word from the of of Siberia and the problem in the above is a one Anzaldúa by the poet and the shaman by her claim that was to practice shamanism in the that by claiming that the poet and the shaman were only in her by the of in the present whether they only to or to societies as Finally, this original by it to a the poet and the shaman (and does without which are whether or as a can there be for Anzaldúa a present-day in a or can a poet today only be to a that this also the conception of philosophical shamanism in and for her part, these by that Anzaldúa is the poet and is to whether a problem is raised by either On the one it is true to claim Anzaldúa does on the that two in the which from one in the On the other it is to claim Anzaldúa does on the identity and as does that two that from one in the are for that in the her at least this She to to her of the word on the following in this is channeling Indigenous which include a philosophy of language, and Anzaldúa was the is to channeling those or those of language would the of the word since that word to a Siberian tribal context to which not even Anzaldúa even her any or cultural than Anzaldúa and from Siberian tribal context are the other of the conception of philosophical shamanism who in in and as in the of Gloria even than Eliade in an identification of Anzaldúa as a In this the problem of cultural that has in from from Siberian and cultural one that to of as by “the shamanic the shamanic and shamanic In other all a few from already In a example of this problem in that “the shaman as theorist on in a within her and her indication as to which specific community, is to this community, an community, spiritual community of shamans” In the of the shaman not be than in in of her the of this to the of its In other Eliade universalizing the shaman a figure that to to all in this the to the grounding is the specific In not only the also and Anzaldúa her with this and attempts to following what as of or indigenous is to from a is precisely the of both the and of philosophical shamanism that both Eliade and Anzaldúa to the of cultural is for this that any future conception emphasize the and of any to their work in the practices and of their communities than those of the two of philosophical shamanism have from shamanic by the of and their tribal The part of these as in part by the later of and is that are responsible for what one the existential of their (in a role that Eliade as the a of the to the of the a shaman is to repair existential to the and its by them and to their for the the through an of the of the both the and the the of the and what the be after the In a shaman tribal themselves by their in an the of this new for philosophical is that they must themselves within a community to whom to be Though I not to this of it be to at least some by one new and a that has been First, it is not for people to have and on as or religious or or is it to as a to people who one's or to to the of a community must have at some a and a that part of the of their Second, of a community not any to the of the This is not to the that a community include including the of or that from of to other to the responsibility to their it a to of the who able to in of both and that language nonverbal language, such as body language, comportment, fashion, and and that of shamanic practice emphasize of these practitioners would be more of the they were in these In other a philosophical shaman, in to their language also be of the of their and and some form of for their especially those involving with community precisely, philosophical be able to and nonverbal that is both and for the of their The of such nonverbal language on to existing of practice, and the of such nonverbal language on a shaman must hold and move in ways that their community to both and the and to with the of the community, and also what is original and (in the to a in the community to repair their existential be by a to what I or those as are as working in and with to any of their community of or to the these are as in their work for its or as by an toward all or even without any for of a of on the part of the toward the specific in This is part of what these and since the outside is at a to with would be to for reason, and without to in the I by contrast, more of the would without an of understanding already in The community would the shaman, the role in the community, and have to that the shaman and the shaman to in the community this to this a degree of on the part of the shaman, and it is precisely for this that such a view has not already been widely non-Indigenous enthusiasts of the of societies to be and to be to this responsibility and community with existential to be or they do an to the traditions whose they and from the communities they be outside any of or even the to these in not to the to years of in to the exact of Siberian shamanic at least their practice on the in this one that they are responsible to their ways that are both to and for their community the many communities the over especially Indigenous communities for their and for social there is to