Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft
December 1, 2015
Silvia Tomášková
Reviewed by: The Ethnopoetics of Shamanism by Marcel De Lima Silvia Tomášková KEYWORDS Silvia Tomášková, Marcel De Lima, Shamanism, cultural anthropology, Lakota, Black Elk, John G. Neihardt, María Sabina, R. Gordon Wasson, Carlos Castaneda, Don Juan, ethnography Marcel De Lima. The Ethnopoetics of Shamanism. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Pp. 276. If only we could talk . ....
The University of Queensland
November 20, 2015
Alexander Gearin
6 citations
In this thesis, I examine how dividual and individual modes of personhood enable neoshamanic ayahuasca drinkers in Australia to reconfigure cultural ideals and everyday ethical practices. My ethnographic fieldwork allowed me to trace social conventions of drinking ayahuasca, participants’ techniques of the ecstatic body and senses, and narrative styles of codifying ecstatic trance, to determine...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
October 20, 2015
Veronika Kavenská, Hana Šimonová
109 citations
Ayahuasca continues to attract tourists to South America, where there has been a growth in the number of centers offering hallucinogenic ayahuasca experiences. The aims of this study were to (1) discover the reasons foreigners seek this type of experience; (2) define what an ayahuasca experience entails; (3) discover subjective perceptions of ayahuasca's benefits and risks; and (4) describe...
Ethos
September 1, 2015
Nofit Itzhak
20 citations
AbstractAnthropological accounts of healing tend to draw, either explicitly or implicitly, on the notion of “symbolic” healing initially developed in Lévi‐Strauss's seminal article, “The Effectiveness of Symbols.” Within this framework, therapeutic efficacy is understood as the result of a transformation of meaning or the manipulation of symbols. This article seeks to challenge and refine this...
Problems of Post-Communism
July 30, 2015
Justine Buck Quijada, Kathryn E. Graber, Eric Stephen
13 citations
The shamans working at the Tengeri Shamans’ Organization in Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia, claim that their work is devoted to reviving “traditional” Buryat culture, despite local criticism of the “nontraditional” institutional nature of their practices. Ethnographic and survey data collected in 2012 confirm that this is in fact the case for the urban Buryats who are drawn to the organization....
Asian Studies
July 24, 2015
Iva Lakić Parać
2 citations
This study deals with the phenomenon of shamanism in Japan with the emphasis on the female perspective and the fact that women, in the first place, have dealt with shamanistic practices in Japan since ancient times. Could we say that shamanism was a tool that women used in order to have a small part of their authority and power acknowledged? Have they managed to influence their marginal...
Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics
June 30, 2015
Tatiana Bulgakova
The tale motif of the shamanic tale competition is examined with due regard for the interpretation given by the Nanai storyteller-shamans from the standpoint of their personal spiritual experience. In shamanic practice it is not the personal ability (skill or physical power) that provides a challenger victory in conflict, but obtaining spirits-helpers more powerful than those of his or her...
Review of Religion and Chinese Society
May 6, 2015
巫術與中國現代性：有関性别與身體宗教性的初步探討 摘要 近期在溫州農村和小鎮的實地考察显示出巫術、巫醫和靈媒在後毛澤東時代再次出現，減緩了其經歷明清時期新儒學佔據統治地位，和毛澤東時代壓制形成的長期下降趨勢。與同時期台灣、福建和其他華裔生活的東南亞地區，以及我們所熟知的中華帝國晚期的巫術文化不同，如今在溫州大部分的靈媒都是女性，並且，她們沒有像男巫師一樣在她們主導的剬開宗教儀式裡進行血腥和暴力的禮儀行為。本篇論文探討了四個可能的原因，解釋當今中國官方和主流社會對巫術和靈媒的反感和憎惡。文章中提出的第四個原因，關於巫師儀式表演和巫師的性別問題，至今未在有關中國巫術的研究中被深入挖掘。因此，這個問題需要在今後研究現代中國的靈魂控制等相關課題時得到更多的重視，不應把中國巫術作為一個孤立的個案，而應該把中國巫術研究放在更大的全球環境中，共同探討其在全球現代化中身體構造的重新組合。
Social Anthropology
May 1, 2015
Charles Stépanoff
12 citations
In Tuva (Southern Siberia), people expect that each class of beings contains singular individuals that distinguish themselves by atypical bodily and behavioural features and capacities. Among humans, such beings are shamans, but Tuvans also identify shamans among animals and trees. Even in the landscape, some atypical places are strong personalities. I call ‘transsingularity’ the supposed...
The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality
April 20, 2015
Neil Price
Sexuality is one of the key arenas of social expression through which shamanic belief systems are articulated, in both spiritual ideas and physical practice. Elements of cross‐dressing and other sexually transgressive behaviors are found in almost all shamanic societies, building special gender identities unique to shamans. These are further manifested in an explicit sexual focus in the purpose...