ANTH 1120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Yangtze, Robert Monroe, Naturopathy
ANTH 1120
February 12, 2018
Medical Systems I: Shamanism
Who are shamans and what role do they play in society?
What would you consider to be the limits of appropriate medical care in a hospital setting?
Shamanism
● An alternative healing modality, for understanding health, and the understanding of
spiritual world
● Personalistic healing system
● Exist in nomadic foraging, simple horticulture, sedentary forager and intensive
horticultural societies (chiefdoms)
○ Not necessarily complex urban societies
● What happens in the physical world is due to metaphysical reasons
Origin of the term
● From the Tungus, a reindeer herding group in Siberia
● A label for a religious healer who is in direct contact with the supernatural realm
Where is Shamanism Practiced?
● Practiced by culture groups in diverse parts of the world
● North America (Cree)
● Siberia (Chuckee)
● Asia (Hmong)
● Africa (!Kung San of the Kalahari Desert)
● South America (Jivaro of Bolivia)
● How social fragmentation or conflict can lead to illness
● Shaman plays role of healer, and of mediator between individuals in his social circle
How does a person become a Shaman?
● Varies among cultures
● Hereditary lines
○ If you father/mother was a shaman or medicine woman
○ You would have opportunity to carry that role
● Dreams or natural phenomena
○ Gaining signs from the supernatural
○ Dreams are seen as a time when the body at rest allows the spirit to travel
○ You can get signs or messages from the divine while sleeping
○ Message of a call to become a shaman
○ May themselves have to go to a shaman to interpret signs and symbols from
dreams
● Physical illness and/or psychological crisis
○ “The wounded healer”
○ Might believe that they survived that episode because they must fulfill some
role or responsibility
Document Summary
An alternative healing modality, for understanding health, and the understanding of spiritual world. Exist in nomadic foraging, simple horticulture, sedentary forager and intensive horticultural societies (chiefdoms) What happens in the physical world is due to metaphysical reasons. From the tungus, a reindeer herding group in siberia. A label for a religious healer who is in direct contact with the supernatural realm. Practiced by culture groups in diverse parts of the world. Africa (!kung san of the kalahari desert) How social fragmentation or conflict can lead to illness. Shaman plays role of healer, and of mediator between individuals in his social circle. If you father/mother was a shaman or medicine woman. You would have opportunity to carry that role. Dreams are seen as a time when the body at rest allows the spirit to travel. You can get signs or messages from the divine while sleeping. Message of a call to become a shaman.