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Guenther's Theory Of Shamanism

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Such limitations, which constrain the range of possibilities for interpreting SDFs, can be argued to be the result of a sense of inertia having developed in the field. Those working within the purely shamanistic paradigm tended to build from one attitude or theoretical standpoint to another, working on the same emic principles. Following Guenther's discussion of hierarchy amongst the Ghanzi San of the Kalahari, Campbell, Dowson and finally Blundell seem to have followed suit, although employing altered theoretical lenses. Consequently, there developed a linear progression not only in scholarship (from Guenther to Blundell) but also in the interpretation of SDFs themselves. If we remove the linear progression and view SDFs in the context of …show more content…

The term 'shamanism' was first made popular is cultural anthropology by Mircea Eliad (1972), from the Tungusic śaman denoting a "technique of ecstasy" (Eliad 1972: 4), achieved by specialists within magico-religious contexts. The term has been widely applied to other non-Western societies that contain within their communities people with the ability to transcend the boundary between the 'real' and 'spiritual' worlds. Shamans are distinguished from 'magicians' or healers by his/her ability to engage in specific 'magical' pursuits such as flight, or control of resources (Eliad 1972: 5). Importantly, a shaman is also distinguished by his or her ability to achieve a form of trance state in which his or her soul exits the body to ascend (or descend) into another world (Eliad …show more content…

Shamanism is then a cultural construct, or cosmology of certain non-Western societies. Dowson's definition appears to be in line with that of Eliad but the context in which he uses it is to subvert its applicability to San rock art interpretation. Dowson (2007, 2009) argues that shamanism is not an appropriate interpretative lens through which to view San rock art as it denies the role of non-shamans (human and non-human) in reproduction of society. I fundamentally disagree with Dowson's position; it appears to be a political statement rather than a theory based on extensive consideration of interplay between shamanism and animism. I shall return to this further into the

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In the book Cave Rock: Climbers, Courts, and A Washoe Indian Sacred Place, the authors Matthew S. Makley and Michael J. Makley describe the history of legal dispute between a small Nevada Native American tribe, called Washoe, and non-Native climbers, over the use of Cave Rock. For a countless generation of Washoes, Cave Rock was the center of a great spiritual significance. The site use was strictly restricted to the Shamans, the most powerful traditional Indian doctors. The doctors do not explain what they do in the rock, but the Washoes claim that what the Shamans do up in the rock has “something to do with power involving extremely secretive and sacred rites” (10). While the rest of Washoe tribes have avoided trespassing the site, the Native doctors used the Cave to connect with powerful forces (11).

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The movie Smoke Signals is a great representation of Durkheim’s theory of religion and the sacred as being social and serving society. As well as a culture’s sacred beliefs and rituals being a symbolic way of a person aligning themselves with their society. Smoke Signals focuses on two individuals, both of whom are Indians of the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, on a journey where they struggle to hold on to the beliefs and traditions that have enabled them to cope with their difficult pasts. The first part of this essay will provide evidence from the movie to explain how the first individual, Victor Joseph, holds to the belief that an Indian must act like a warrior to receive any respect. Second, this essay will then provide evidence to explain

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They offer an explanation when presented with the death of a young adult, or when someone who seems to be of relatively good health becomes ill (Barker 2008:129). For example, the death of a young woman named Mona was blamed on sorcery in order to provide an explanation to the villagers since there were given no medical reason (Barker 2008:125). Barker concluded that although Christianity does not believe in sorcery, and both methods of understanding have different views, they can and do coexist in harmony within the Maisin people (Barker 2008:134). Hedican’s textbook “Social Anthropology” discusses the coexistence of Christianity and traditional beliefs among the Mi’Kmaq.

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In the documentary, “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America,” portrays the journey of an immigrant Hmong family battling to maintain their cultural traditions alive in the United States. In the Hmong culture, it is believed that every individual has seven souls and if they have an illness, for example sickness, it means that their soul has departed or taken by evil spirits. Hmong people believe in Shamans, who are gifted and respected people who can make contact with their ancestors and return the lost souls of people. In this documentary, the main character Paja Thao is a shaman who is challenged by American customs to keep his cultural Hmong traditions alive and pass it down to his children. Paja becomes sick because he feels like his children don’t care about the Hmong tradition anymore because they don’t participate in his rituals and realizes his children have assimilated to the American culture.

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Durkheim possets that there exists a distinct division between the sanctity of religious life and the secularism of the profane (Durkheim 13). However, the “sacred” and the profane” become enmeshed together, completely entrenched in religious belief and social expression. Moreover, the individualistic nature of magical gift is utilized by shamans in a manifestation of what Durkheim refers to as the “communal character” of shared religion (Durkheim 12). Magical ability and ritual knowledge might be traits and abilities available to a select few enlightened individuals, but the rituals they perform affect and benefit the surrounding family and social circles directly.

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Smoke Signals is one of the most touching films of the 1990’s, based on Sherman Alexie’s short story, This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona. Although it is not a standard Western film, but one can learn much about American Indians’ life as it is a film created and acted by them. The indigenous characters of the film are not represented as the typical Western film’s American Indians, but the story represents indigenous life in a natural way, and gives a contemporary image to the viewer of them as the new generation American Indians, who grew up in Native American boarding schools, speak the English language well, and white people started to convert them into the Christian religion. The well-known stereotypes about their roots and lifestyle appear in a hidden, humorous way with the help of symbols that usually refers to their past; and do not appear in an easy, clear way, as it is hard to understand without any background information about Native Americans. In this paper I would like to search for the symbols of the film, analyse them, and try to understand the historical or even political background of these motifs, which pervades American Indian’s life, and can help us understand their spirituality that is deeply rooted in their culture.

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• This book is about finding medicinal plants in the Amazon Rainforest to cure common diseases. • Sometimes, Western medicines cannot cure the common diseases. • This book was written by Mark Plotkin and it was published in 1993. • Mark Plotkin travels to different parts of the rainforest and collect several medicinal plants for a research experiment. •

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A person’s culture is their way of life. From a young age, we learn to act within the norms of our culture and to be truly ethnocentric. What if one day someone came into your life and told you everything you were doing your entire life was wrong and stupid? Brian Moore’s Black Robe, tells the story of Laforgue, a Jesuit priest from 17th Century Québec who travels to an unfamiliar land called New France. Laforgue’s goal is to convert Algonquin Native Americans into God fearing Christians. Laforgue faces many cultural misunderstandings with the Natives along his journey; he finds the most difficulties understanding the native’s concept of death, why they value dreams, and overcoming ethnocentrism.

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Horace Miner, a American Anthropologist wrote an academic essay titled “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” In this article Miner described some of the bizarre rituals and practices of the “Nacirema” which the reader comes to find out that he is talking about North Americans. The way Miner goes into detail about how these people live makes them seem foreign. Thus making the norm for an American lifestyle seem odd because the certain type of lingo Miner uses to make this “tribe” more exotic then the actually are. His point in doing this is to show the reader how obnoxious anthropologist can be when they are explain a different culture.

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It is apparent that Niska realizes she has the ability to overcome the wemistikoshiw and their assimilation. Nonetheless, Niska’s ability to preserve her spirituality is crucial in allowing herself to remain resolute to her values and beliefs. As identified by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, spirituality provides “a lens through which to make sense of one’s suffering, as well as the strength to overcome its destructive power, these beliefs foster a sense of peace in individuals arising from their feelings of connectedness with a force more powerful than themselves” (Stout 50). Consequently, Niska’s resilience to assimilation arises also from her relationship with her native spirituality; “I thank Gitchi Manitou for Nephew’s return. I sit and breathe the steam, open myself to the manitous” (Boyden 347).

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In order to discredit this opinion religion focuses primarily on things that are hidden, emphasising the idea of faith, and believing in something, not necessarily proven to be empirically valid. Religion acts as a personal connection to something bigger therefore, Esotericism compliments the idea efficiently. This is supported by the evidence that traditionally many religions have been seen to have mystical elements. There is a significant prominence of the connection between religion and culture. In order to support this idea, in early primordial beliefs according to Freud as presented by Anthony Storr (1989), through the concept of Totemism we see supernatural belief defining “ritual” and “social relationships” showing prominent ideas of attachment catalysed by esoteric beliefs ultimately emphasising religious

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This reading is talking about shamanism. Shamanism is a religion practiced in the Paleolithic period. Shaman is a person who is the leader of the religion shamanism. It could be healer, magician, or a person who has knowledge and could travel around the world. A shaman can be a male or female however, not everyone can become a shaman.

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Skinwalkers are said to be Native American witchdoctors or medicine men that obtained the ability to

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Historically, the use of consciousness-altering drugs has been used in most cultures for the purposes of medicine, religious rituals, celebration, and recreation. Shamanism is just one example of this use. Shamanism is a philosophy and practice of healing done by a shaman in which diagnosis and treatments are based on trance. These diagnosis and treatments are done either on part of the healer which is the shaman or the patient. The shaman is able to conduct these trances to get the diagnosis or conduct treatment by using hallucinogenic drugs.

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In Edward Tylor’s monumental proto-anthropology (1871), “animism” is defined as “a belief in souls or spirits” and is used as a synonym of “religion”. Tylor had considered labelling his theory “spiritualism”, but that was already strongly associated with a particular religious movement. (It might be significant that Spiritualism was gaining popularity in the late nineteenth century, contrary to the decline of religion that Tylor anticipated.) The term animism, however, carried associations with the “souls” and “spirits” that Tylor saw as central, definitive matters of religious belief in all religions. It had been previously used by Georg Stahl (1708) in a failed attempt to define the difference between living bodies and dead matter as the

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