Overview

Shamanism has always been of great interest to anthropologists. More recently it has been discovered by westerners, especially New Age followers. This book breaks new ground byexamining pristine shamanism in Greenland, among people contacted late by Western missionaries and settlers. On the basis of material only available in Danish, and presented herein English for the first time, the author questions Mircea Eliade's well-known definition of the shaman as the master of ecstasy and suggests that his role has to be seen as that of a master of spirits. The ambivalent nature of the shaman and the spirit world in the tough Arctic environment is then contrasted with the more benign attitude to shamanism in the New Age movement. After presenting descriptions of their organizations and accounts by participants, the author critically analyses the role of neo-shamanic courses and concludes that it is doubtful to consider what isoffered as shamanism.

Full Product Details

9781800735422

Table of Contents

Reviews

The book is clearly written, and contains some wonderfully vivid quotations from texts that have never previously appeared in English ... Much valuable and suggestive material ... of value to scholars and students. Ethnos This is a most useful book in the present discourse on shamanism, for it is one in which a specialist in traditional or classical shamanism who is also familiar with New Age shamanism compares the two complexes ... highly recommendable Shamanism The volume is highly to be recommended tot he specialist and to the interested layperson alike. Religious Studies Review Valuable ... worth reading. American Anthropologist

Author Information

Merete Demant Jakobsen (1952-2017) taught in Denmark, Britain, and Alaska. Having worked on shamanism in ethnography and literature for her Danish degrees, she completed her doctorate at the University of Oxford in anthropology. She was researching negative spiritual experiences at the Religious Experience Research Centre, Westminster College, Oxford.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available