White Sangomas: the manifestation of Bantu forms of shamanic calling among whites in South Africa
Ullrich Relebogilwe Kleinhempel
REVER - Revista de Estudos da Religião May 17, 2018 DOI: 10.23925/1677-1222.2018vol18i1a8 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that the appearance of Sangoma-style shamanic "calling" among white South Africans, which the author says has not occurred mainly through cultural learning, is better explained by Rupert Sheldrake's theory of "morphogenetic fields" than by conventional cultural transmission, and considers the implications of that explanation. |
Abstract
South Africa is one of some few countries where sizeable communities of black and white people live together which have preserved their distinct cultures. Other than in the Americas, South Africa has a black majority with the Bantu African languages and cultural institutions largely preserved – and it has the most marked history of segregation. Thus few elements of Bantu cultures have been adopted by white South Africans. Yet in recent years a core element of Bantu culture, the shamanism and mediumism of the “Sangomas”, has begun to manifest itself among whites in South Africa – in the characteristic forms of such “calling”. Interestingly this has not happened by “cultural learning” in significant cases. This requires a different model of explanation. In this essay Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of “morphogenetic fields” will be applied to this phenomenon and its implications considered.
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 |