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An Introduction to Shamanism

Part of Introduction to Religion

Author: Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Date Published: May 2009
availability: Available
format: Paperback
isbn: 9780521695367

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About the Authors

Shamans are an integral part of communal religious traditions, professionals who make use of personal supernatural experiences, especially trance, as a resource for the wider community's physical and spiritual well-being. This Introduction surveys research on the topic of shamanism around the world, detailing the archaeology and earliest development of shamanic traditions as well as their scientific 'discovery' in the context of eighteenth and nineteenth century colonization in Siberia, the Americas, and Asia. It explores the beliefs and rituals typical of shamanic traditions, as well as the roles of shamans within their communities. It also surveys the variety of techniques used by shamans cross-culturally, including music, entheogens, material culture and verbal performance. The final chapters examine attempts to suppress or eradicate shamanic traditions, the revitalization of shamanism in postcolonial situations, and the development of new forms of shamanism within new cultural and social contexts.
- Includes contemporary topics such as cognitive perspectives, the politics of shamanism, and neoshamanism
- Discusses a wide range of shamanic traditions from various parts of the world allowing readers to appreciate both the common features and local or regional distinctiveness
- Encourages readers to appreciate the range of research perspectives brought to bear on the topic in past and present scholarship
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Reviews & endorsements
'… the book stands out overall as one of the best of its kind.' Robert Wallis, Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture

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Product details
- Date Published: May 2009
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521695367
- length: 330 pages
- dimensions: 228 x 154 x 15 mm
- weight: 0.53kg
- contains: 13 b/w illus.
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Preface
Part I. Introductions:
1. Shamanism and the issue of religion
2. A history of shamanic encounters
3. Shamanism in archaeological evidence
Part II. Shamanic Soteriology and Ritual:
4. Cosmology and the work of the shaman
5. The call and initiation
6. Mediating the spirit world: shamanic roles and careers
Part III. Examining Ritual Effectiveness:
7. Séance, trance and the shamanic mind
8. Shamans, clients, and healing
Part IV. The Shamanic Arsenal:
9. Music and entheogens: pathways to ecstasy
10. The material culture of shamanism
11. Shamanic verbal art
Part V. Shamanic Politics in a Changing World:
12. Shamanism under attack
13. Shamanic revitalizations
14. Neoshamanism
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index.
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Author
Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Thomas A. DuBois is the Birgit Baldwin Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he teaches in the fields of Scandinavian Studies, Folklore Studies and Religious Studies. He is author and editor of five books including Nordic Religions in the Viking Age (1999) and Sanctity in the North: Saints, Lives and Cults in Medieval Scandinavia (2008).