The phenomenology of dreaming
Michael T. Heneise
Routledge eBooks August 6, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9781351065061-3 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Angami and broader Naga communities, particularly the Eastern Angami of Northeast India |
| Topics | Dreaming Philosophy of mind |
| Key findings | Argues that Angami understandings of the ruopfu—the capacity to appear as a tiger—reveal a "reversibility" in dreams tied to composite Angami "selves," and that these dream beliefs and practices are consonant with shamanism. The author notes the phenomenon has been recorded among large indigenous groups and sub-groups in Northeast India, including Khasis, Garos, Chins, and Nagas. |
Abstract
This chapter explores the polymorphic capacities of ruopfu by examining Angami and broader Naga understandings of the tekhumiavi – &s;man in the shape of a tiger&s; – that still exist among the Eastern Angami. Thus, in addition to elucidating dream &s;reversibility&s; in relation to the composite &s;selves&s; of Angami personhood, ruopfu as a disembodied subject can also reveal the ways in which dreams and dreaming are consonant with practices and beliefs generally associated with shamanism. In Northeast India, the phenomenon has been recorded among a variety of large indigenous groups and sub-groups including the Khasis, Garos, Chins and Nagas. The chapter begins with a short ethnographic illustration, which including some of the problems that can arise in dream interpretation and the different ways of conceptualising the &s;embodied&s; and &s;disembodied&s; ruopfu and the ensuing shift in perspectives of the person revealed in the dream.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Other as a Nightmare: The Israeli-Arab Encounter as Reflected in Children's Dreams in Israel and the West Bank Jewish and Arab fifth to seventh graders living in various settings in Israel and the... | 1989 | Qualitative content analysis | n = 212 |
| Nonwaking Responses to Waking Stressors: Dreams and Nightmares1 Men from the cohort eligible for military duty during the Vietnam Conflict, varying in... | 1990 | Survey interview study | n = 442 |
| Communing with the Gods: The Dreaming Brain in Cross-cultural Perspective | 2011 | Phenomenological study | |
| Partial memory reinstatement while (lucid) dreaming to change the dream environment. Lucid dreamers | 2020 | Qualitative study | |
| Strange themes in pandemic dreams: Insomnia was associated with more negative, anxious and death‐related dreams during the COVID‐19 pandemic Global survey participants | 2022 | Longitudinal mixed-methods study | n = 2,240 |