Abstract In Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan, Bitans (shamans) continue to treat illnesses that biomedicine may diagnose yet appealingly leaves experientially unresolved: recurrent miscarriage, spirit possession, infant mortality, and mental condition often attributed to nazar (evil eye), jinn (supernatural beings), or pari (fairies). Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Karimabad and surrounding...
As a universal music form in the world, shamanic music not only retains its religious (divine) nature in the historical construction but also shows different national characteristics with the embedding of specific cultural scene patterns. Citing the perspective of ethnomusicology, the source of religious consciousness of the current shamanic music object form is explained with “music in...
Este artículo analiza la representación y reconfiguración de la ayahuasca en relatos polacos difundidos a través de YouTube. Mediante un análisis cualitativo de testi-monios publicados entre enero y abril de 2022, se contrastan las experiencias de ciudada-nos polacos participantes en ceremonias en América Latina y Europa con las descripciones etnográficas del uso indígena amazónico. El estudio...
Introducción y objetivos: La ayahuasca es una bebida tradicionalmente empleada con fines curativos, tanto físicos como espirituales. Su uso se ha popularizado globalmente, generando interés turístico y una creciente demanda. Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo documentar y analizar los conocimientos locales, las prácticas asociadas a la toma y los usos contemporáneos de la ayahuasca en el...
La aparición del «turismo chamánico» en algunas comunidades y zonas urbanas shipibo-konibo ha provocado un incremento de las prácticas brujeras vernáculas, ahora integradas en el nuevo contexto sociológico de la comercialización del chamanismo vegetalista local. Este clima provoca ataques de brujería tanto a los chamanes rivales como a los turistas que buscan una experiencia chamánica y...
Encounters with seemingly autonomous non-human entities are among the most striking and consistently reported phenomena associated with psychedelic states, particularly those induced by N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). In contemporary discourse, these encounters are frequently described through the archetype of the “machine elf,” a term popularized by ethnobotanist Terence McKenna in the late...
Scientific interest in psychedelics, documented since the nineteenth century, has recently resurged after decades of prohibition. Contemporary research highlights their therapeutic potential in treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders, alongside their heuristic value for studying brain networks and consciousness. This chapter reviews the historical trajectory, traditional uses, mechanisms of...
This article argues that Friel’s concern with paganism goes beyond his well-known play Dancing at Lughnasa: it actually extends to Faith Healer and Wonderful Tennesssee. Like Lughnasa festival, shamanic healing and the mythological Otherworld are also parts of Irish pagan traditions. By depicting the Irish people’s spiritual world of supernatural power, gods, and realms, Friel shows that pagan...
This article examines how contemporary performance artists in the Baltic-Nordic region reinterpret folklore through cultural memory, mythmaking, and embodied storytelling.It focuses on three case studies: Simona Orinska's Bearman (2018), Anna Maskava's Ancestral Body (2024)(2025), and the collaborative performances by Katri Kainulainen and Maximilian Latva (2018-ongoing).Drawing on approaches...
The purpose of the research is to study the formation of Evenk literature in China and to try to comprehend the religious picture of the Evenk world; to introduce into scientific circulation the texts of the Evenki and Chinese writers, reflecting the culture, beliefs, traditions and way of life of the Chinese Evenks. The author analyzes the traditional system of Evenk beliefs – shamanism, Evenk...