Shamanistic Journeys and Anthropological Travels
Janet Chernela, Eric J. Leed
Anthropological Quarterly July 1, 1996 DOI: 10.2307/3317982 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 9 |
| Key points | Argues that the anthropologist's role resembles the shaman's, based on two experienced instances of anthropologists engaging in local curing sequences. Contends this similarity derives from the power attributed to the foreign and apart and from shamanism as a universal 'specialty' of cures and packaged knowledge, concluding that identifying the anthropologist as shaman is not necessarily a misidentification. |
Abstract
This paper offers two experienced instances of the anthropologist's engagement in local curing sequences as examples of the agreement of identities between anthropologist and shaman. This similitude of culturally disparate roles is rooted, we believe, in the power generally derived from the foreign and apart. It also comes from the nature of shamanism as the world's only universal "specialty", a congery of cures, techniques, packaged knowledge. We conclude that the identification of the anthropologist as shaman is not necessarily a misidentification. In their travels both define and cross boundaries wielding a power that is essentially relational and communicational: derived from a manipulation of otherness, and from the use of words as things.