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Historical Dictionary of Shamanism: 77
Author(s): Graham Harvey (Author), Robert J. Wallis (Author)
- Publisher: Scarecrow Press
- Publication Date: 5 Feb. 2007
- Language: English
- Print length: 328 pages
- ISBN-10: 0810857987
- ISBN-13: 9780810857988
Book Description
Few religious traditions have generated such diversity and stirred imaginations as shamanism. In their engagements with other worlds, shamans have conversed with animals and ancestors and have been empowered with the knowledge to heal patients, advise hunters, and curse enemies. Still other shamans, aided by rhythmic music or powerful plant helpers, undertake journeys into different realities where their actions negotiate harmony between human and other than human communities. Once relegated to paintings on cave walls, today Shamanism can be seen in performances at rave clubs and psychotherapeutic clinics. The Historical Dictionary of Shamanism has the duel task of exploring the common ground of shamanic traditions and evaluating the diversity of both traditional indigenous communities and individual Western seekers. This is done in an introduction, a bibliography, a chronology, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries, which explore the consistent features of a variety of shamans, the purposes shamanism serves, the function and activities of the shaman, and the cultural contexts in which they make sense.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This book is an excellent reference resource… American Reference Books Annual, March 2008 Harvey (religious studies, Open U., Britain) and Wallis (visual culture and art history, Richmond U., London) encompass broad chronological and geographical scopes, but tend to focus on cultures and places in which shamanism has been and often continues to be particularly prevalent. Their topics include shamans and scholars of shamanism, places, totems and other artifacts, concepts, methods, peoples and cultures, and other aspects…well cross-referenced. Reference and Research Book News, May 2007
About the Author
Graham Harvey is Lecturer in Religious Studies at the Open University, UK. Robert J. Wallis is Associate professor of Visual Culture and Associate Director of the MA in Art History at Richmond University (London), as well as an Associate Lecturer with the Open University.
