Shamans and Religion : An Anthropological Exploration in Critical Thinking

Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1(6) Real Shamans 7(14) Siberian Shamans, Then and Now 14(2) Siberian History and Shamans 16(5) Understanding Religion from an Anthropological Perspective 21(16) An Anthropological Perspective on Religion 21(4) ``Religion'' from a Non-Western Perspective 25(2) An Anthropological View of Shamans 27(2) New Age Religions from an Anthropological View 29(5) Summary: What--in this context--is Religion? 34(3) The Idea of the Shaman 37(10) Armchair Scholars versus Field Researchers 40(7) Religion or Genes? 47(10) Shamans Everywhere? 57(14) Trance and Mysticism 58(2) Healing with Spirits 60(2) The King's Touch 62(2) Use of Drugs 64(2) Circumboreal (Northern Forests) Elements 66(2) Charisma 68(1) The Particular and the General 69(2) Shaman Painters? 71(10) Territorial Markers 75(2) Cave Art 77(2) Overview 79(2) Selling ``Shamanic Journeys'' 81(10) Michael Harner's ``Way of the Shaman'' 82(3) Neo-shamanism 85(3) The Problem with Selling Non-Western Spirituality 88(3) Deafening Silence 91(12) Civilization and Its Other 93(5) Finding Healing 98(2) Conclusion 100(3) Sources 103(2) References 105(8) Additional Readings 113(4) Index 117