Tessellation, shamanism, and being alive to things
Ricardo Nemirovsky, Don Duprez
Oxford Review of Education July 4, 2023 DOI: 10.1080/03054985.2023.2225851 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Microethnographic analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | A small number of children and a teacher on a school field trip visiting the 'Hmong House' exhibit at a science museum |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key findings | Argues that microethnographic analysis of a brief video recording reveals an affective journey in which mathematical tessellation and Hmong shamanism became interwoven in visitors' experience of the 'Hmong House' exhibit. Suggests such episodes can inspire activities where students or visitors with life trajectories partly rooted in Indigenous cultures share practices foreign to others, with respectful dignity and freedom for interdisciplinary, improvisational journeys. |
Abstract
This study examines the entanglement of affects that occurred during a short episode at a science museum. The episode involved a small number of children and a teacher who had come to the museum in the context of a school field trip. It took place inside an exhibit called ‘Hmong House’, which reproduced various components of a traditional house of the Hmong people. A key aim of this paper is to trace, via the microethnographic analysis of a brief video recording, an affective journey meshing mathematical tessellation and Hmong shamanism. In addition, we elaborate on ways in which disparate themes, such as tessellation and shamanism, became interwoven in the life of those visiting the Hmong House at the time. The episode of the Hmong House may inspire other activities in which students or visitors, with life trajectories partially rooted in Indigenous cultures, can share practices that are foreign to other students. The most important qualities of these activities, we suggest, are the respectful dignity with which they are demonstrated and engaged with, and the freedom to undertake interdisciplinary journeys – without subjection to artificial disciplinary boundaries – in which improvisation and surprising turns are expected and ever-present.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Plantas con madre": plants that teach and guide in the shamanic initiation process in the East-Central Peruvian Amazon. Curanderos, apprentices, and herbalists in East-Central Peru, including Mestizo,... | 2011 | Qualitative study | n = 36 |
| Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca Healers and participants in shamanic tourism contexts of the Peruvian Amazon and... | 2019 | Ethnography with literature review | n = 227 |
| The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism Western tourists and indigenous peoples in Iquitos, Peru | 2016 | Ethnography | |
| Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America Historic hunter-gatherer cultures of California and the Great Basin | 1992 | Ethnographic review and analysis | |
| Working with “La Medicina”: Elements of Healing in Contemporary Ayahuasca Rituals Ayahuasqueros and Western participants in shamanic tourism in Iquitos, Peru | 2012 | Ethnography |