Reassessing Shamanism and Animism in the Art and Archaeology of Ancient Mesoamerica
Religions May 28, 2021 Eleanor Harrison-Buck, D. Freidel 33 citations
Shamanism and animism, though useful cross-cultural tools in anthropology and religious studies, are rooted in reductionist social evolutionary theory and have been criticized for homogenizing nonwestern peoples and for an overly romanticized idealism. A secular view favoring rationalization and disenchantment has often been the alternative. These terms are informative only when explicitly defined in local contexts. Examining ethnographic and archaeological evidence from Mesoamerica, the authors trace the intellectual history of these concepts and reassess them from a relational or ontological perspective, concluding they are best understood as distinct ways of knowing the world. Specific examples include masked spirit impersonations and mirrors used in divination, highlighting both productive and dangerous aspects of enchanted materials.