Bōlērākō-cu! / “Speak, I’m Talking to You!” Reconstructing the Self in Tamang Shamanism
Martor. The Museum of the Romanian Peasant Anthropology Review November 15, 2023 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.57225/martor.2023.28.11 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Initiation rituals in Tamang shamanism in Nepal help individuals with biopsychological disorders transform their sense of self. Suffering causes fragmentation and disconnection from the body and world, which disrupts the self. By internalizing the ritual's preconfigured structure, people reshape their self-narratives to align with the role and expectations of a shaman in their society, revealing psychological and neural mechanisms behind this cultural practice.
Study at a glance
| Design | qualitative study |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Internalizing the structure of Tamang shamanic initiation rituals enables individuals with biopsychological disorders to reshape their self-narratives and align with the shaman role. |
Abstract
The social functions of ritual are well studied in anthropology, but their psychological and neural basis for reconfiguring the individual self remains less explored. This study focuses on the initiation ritual in Tamang shamanism in Nepal, demonstrating how cultural tools help transform the cognitive and embodied self-narratives of individuals experiencing various biopsychological disorders who engage in this ritual. Fragmentation, instability, and inconsistency create a separation between us and the world around us, as well as a disconnection from our own bodies. All of these are consequences of mental and physical suffering, and the central place where they manifests is the self. Through the process of internalizing the preconfigured structure or framework embedded within the initiation ritual in Tamang shamanism, individuals reshape their own sense of self to align with the role and expectations of a shaman within their society.