An Introduction to Shamanism (Introduction to Religion) - Softcover

DuBois, Thomas A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521695368 ISBN 13: 9780521695367

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Book Description:

Shamans are professionals who make use of personal supernatural experiences as a resource for the wider community's physical and spiritual well-being. This book introduces the beliefs and rituals typical of shamanic traditions around the world and the techniques used by shamans including music, entheogens, material culture and verbal performance.

About the Author:

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).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0521695368
• ISBN 13: 9780521695367
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 330