January 18, 2018
Chongho Kim
Korean shamanism, subjected to control and persecution by state authorities for centuries, is experiencing a startling revival. It was also a moment when anthropology and shamanism gained public recognition in Korean society. In contemporary Korea, where the performing arts industry is large and well established, many people make their living in various areas such as dance, drama, movies,...
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
January 2018
Samuel G B Johnson
Professional money management appears to require little skill, yet its practitioners command astronomical salaries. Singh's theory of shamanism provides one possible explanation: Financial professionals are the shamans of the global economy. They cultivate the perception of superhuman traits, maintain grueling initiation rituals, and rely on esoteric divination rituals. An anthropological view...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
2018
A comparative survey of how near-death experiences (NDEs) intersected with afterlife myths and shamanic practices, as reported in the mid-19th to mid-20th century by missionaries, explorers, and ethnographers of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Australia, reveals various culturally distinct patterns. In Polynesia and Melanesia, documentary accounts of NDEs are found alongside myths and...
Journal of EMDR Practice and Research
2018
Irene R. Siegel
4 citations
This article introduces the integration of a transpersonal psychological approach into the standard eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) protocol. The history and philosophy of transpersonal psychology is explained as an expanded context for healing. The applications of a transpersonal context to EMDR therapy are discussed as it applies to taking the client from trauma to...
Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft
2018
Nima Jangouk
Reviewed by: Zar: Spirit Possession, Music, and Healing Rituals in Egypt by Hager El Hadidi Nima Jangouk KEY WORDS Nima Jangouk, Hager El Hadidi, Egytian magic, Egyptian music, healing magic, religious healing, Egyptian religion, spirit possession, African ritual, possession hager el hadidi. Zar: Spirit Possession, Music, and Healing Rituals in Egypt. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press,...
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
January 2018
Nick Haslam
Singh proposes that shamans violate notions of humanness in patterned ways that signal supernatural capacities. I argue that his account, based on a notion of humanness that contrasts humans with non-human animals, does not capture people's understandings of supernatural beings. Shamanic behavior may simply violate human norms in unstructured, improvised ways rather than contrast with a...
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
January 2018
Aiyana K Willard, Yo Nakawake, Jonathan Jong
A complete picture of shamanism's cultural evolution requires an understanding of how the professionalization of shamanism affects the distribution of knowledge within societies. We suggest that limiting knowledge to fewer people could impede the accumulation of functional knowledge within shamanism. On this basis, we make further predictions about how the domain of shamanism could change and...
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
January 2018
Pascal Boyer
Singh provides the skeletal elements of a possible account of shamanism-like beliefs in many human societies. To be developed into a proper theory, this model needs to be supplemented at several crucial points, in terms of anthropological evidence, psychological processes, and cultural transmission.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
January 2018
Nicholas Humphrey
Singh's analysis has much to be said for it. When considering the treatment of illness, however, he begins from a shaky premise about uncontrollability and, so, fails to make the most of what shamanic treatments - as placebos - can deliver.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
January 2018
Michael J Hove, Johannes Stelzer
Singh proposes a cultural evolutionary theory of shamanic practices, including trance. We argue that cultural factors are deeply intertwined with biological aspects in shaping shamanic practices, and the underlying biology is critical. We discuss the neural underpinnings of rhythm-induced trance, how they can facilitate insight, and how altered states can promote healing.