Dramaturgical Applications of Shamanic Healing for Social Change
John Brunner
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key points | Argues that shamanic ritual, a foundational source of theatre and performance, has been neglected in contemporary arts practice and education, and proposes that its social healing functions can serve as a social, ethical, and artistic blueprint for reforming the post-COVID-19 theatre industry into a more socially efficacious institution. |
Abstract
Religious and spiritual traditions, including shamanism, have long been understood as the origins of theatre and the performing arts. While these practices are fundamental to understanding the instinctual, human act of communal storytelling, this history is too often brushed aside in modern artistic practice and arts education. As the theatre industry aims to reform and reorient itself in the post-COVID-19 era, however, shamanism can provide a social, ethical, and artistic blueprint for approaching artistic creation. By better understanding the social healing functions of shamanic ritual, modern theatre-makers can work towards establishing a more socially efficacious institution.
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 |