Shamanism in XXI Century China: Social Functions and Local Specifics
Maxim S. Mikhalev
MEΘEXIS Journal of Research in Values and Spirituality February 15, 2025 DOI: 10.71210/mjrvs.5.a.3 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Shenehen Buryats in northeastern China |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key findings | Argues that shamanism among Shenehen Buryats is reviving despite economic growth because it fills a niche as 'folk healers and psychologists,' helping individuals cope with everyday problems ignored by other institutions. Unlike in neighboring countries, these shamans avoid politics and limit their role to individual crisis management. Concludes that shamanism is almost impossible to eradicate completely, as it can survive at the fringes of society. |
Abstract
This paper elaborates on the phenomenon of shamanism revival in modern China based on the fieldwork data gathered among Shenehen Buryats living in the north-eastern part of the country. It discovers that traditional shamanism that was often labeled as pheudalistic superstition and has been long predicted to vanish, grows in popularity despite the current economic growth and the rise of living standards. Hidden and concealed, it remains an integral part of modern Chinese society as it helps people cope with the challenges of everyday life and pays attention to the needs of an individual that are often ignored by the other institutions. Unlike in the neighboring countries, shamans in China do not venture into the politics and limit their role to that of an individual crisis manager, occupying relatively small, but nevertheless an important niche of “folk healers and psychologists”. The recent growth of popularity of such sort of shamanism proves that modern society lacks this kind of service and modern shamans simply feel this gap. The paper concludes that shamanism is almost impossible to eradicate completely. Even suppressed and ousted, it can mimicry and find refuge at the fringes of social structure, from where it may still address the problems of common people.
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 |