Shamanism Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Journal of Cognitive Historiography January 6, 2022 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1558/jch.21151 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
This commentary reviews two recent books on shamanism: Homayun Sidky's neurocognitive account and Sergio Botta's poststructural historiographical analysis. It provides historical context for shamanic studies in anthropology and the history of religions, describing major trends and approaches. The author concludes that integrating both perspectives is necessary and urges cognitive historians to collaborate with anthropologists to advance the study of shamanism and prevent the field from being dominated by paranormal and postmodern approaches.
Study at a glance
| Design | review |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Integrating neurocognitive and poststructural historiographical perspectives is necessary for advancing the study of shamanism. |
Abstract
The present contribution offers a descriptive account of two recent books concerning shamanism, Homayun Sidky’s The Origins of Shamanism, Spirit Beliefs, and Religiosity: A Cognitive Anthropological Perspective (2017) and Sergio Botta’s Dagli sciamani allo sciamanesimo. Discorsi, credenze, pratiche (2018). The commentary starts by supplying a brief historical contextualization of the subfield of shamanic studies in both Anthropology and the History of Religions, highlighting the main trends and widespread approaches. Sidky’s neurocognitive account and Botta’s poststructural historiographical walk-through are then taken into consideration and reviewed. The conclusions under-score the need for an integration between these two perspectives and urge cognitive historians to collaborate with like-minded anthropologists in order to further the study of shamanism and prevent the subfield from becoming de novo monopolized by paranormal and postmodern anthropology.