2011

Summary

The chapter examines the concept of white shamans, often associated with charlatanism and cultural appropriation, starting with Carlos Castaneda. It argues that rather than dismissing these figures outright, their practices should be understood within a historical context of non-indigenous interest in peyote. While some may be hucksters, many white shamans reflect a complex relationship with indigeneity that challenges traditional distinctions between authentic indigenous practices and inauthentic white interpretations.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter turns to the white shamans. This is not a term of endearment, as it is often linked to notions of charlatanism, foolishness, and more lately, cultural appropriation. Beginning with Carlos Castaneda, several generations of white shamans have deployed images tied to Wixárika peyotism in order to authorize their special wisdom. Resisting the temptation to dismiss them in a wholesale fashion, the chapter explores these figures in the context of the long history of non-indigenous interest in peyote and endeavors to reconsider their practices in that light. If viewed as part of long-standing historical phenomena, the white shamans can represent something more than what is allowed by contemporary binaries (i.e., authentic indigenous mysticism versus an inauthentic white shamanism). While some are, indeed, quite clearly hucksters, as a whole, the white shamans can be read as figures whose attractions to indigeneity speak to a long history in which Western notions of rationality and observable reality have not always been broadly embraced, even within the West. They become fascinating figures who at once reinforce the distinction between the West and the Other (through their embrace of the romance of indigeneity) and destabilize that distinction (by seeking to transcend its categories).