Journeys into the Invisible (Paperback)

Charles Stepanoff

ISBN 10: 1912808900 / ISBN 13: 9781912808908

Published by HAU Society Of Ethnographic Theory, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. A lively exploration of the Indigenous traditions of shamanism in the Far North of Eurasia and North America. In this book, Charles Stepanoff draws on ethnographic literature and his fieldwork in Siberia to reveal the immense contribution to human imagination made by shamans and the cognitive techniques they developed over the centuries. Indigenous shamans are certain men and women who are able to travel in spirit in ways that appear mysterious to Westerners but which rely on the human capacity of imagination. They perceive themselves simultaneously in two types of spaceone visible, the other virtualputting them in contact and establishing links with nonhuman beings in their surroundings. Shamans share their experience of spirit travel with their patients, families, or the wider community, allowing them to experience this odyssey through the invisible together. This work will appeal to anthropologists and to anyone with an interest in learning about the power of imagination from the masters of the invisible, the shamans of the Far North. Shamanic Techniques of Imagination. A lively exploration of the Indigenous traditions of shamanism in the Far North of Eurasia and North America. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781912808908

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Journeys into the Invisible (Paperback)
• Publisher: HAU Society Of Ethnographic Theory
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1912808900
• ISBN 13: 9781912808908
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A lively exploration of the Indigenous traditions of shamanism in the Far North of Eurasia and North America.

Charles Stépanoff draws on ethnographic literature and his fieldwork in Siberia to reveal the immense contribution to the scope of human imagination made by shamans and the cognitive techniques they developed over the centuries.

Northern Shamans travel in mind in ways that appear mysterious to Westerners, but which rely on the human capacity of imagination. They perceive themselves simultaneously in two types of space—one visible, the other invisible—putting them in contact and establishing links with non-human beings in their surroundings. Shamans share their experience of mind travel with their patients, families, or the wider community, allowing them to participate in their odyssey through the invisible. Stépanoff offers an anthropological reflection on the relationships between our uses of the imagination, our relationships with the environment, and the emergence of social hierarchies.

This work will appeal to anthropologists as well as to anyone interested in learning about the power of imagination from the masters of the invisible, the shamans of the Far North.

About the Authors

Charles Stépanoff is director of studies in the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Stépanoff is the author of Journeys into the Invisible, also published by HAU.

Matthew H. Evans is a writer, translator, and educator living in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. He is also the translator of Charles Stépanoff’s Journeys into the Invisible (HAU Books).