2011

The chapter examines 'white shamans,' a term often associated with charlatanism and cultural appropriation, focusing on figures like Carlos Castaneda who have used Wixárika peyotism to claim special wisdom. Rather than dismissing them outright, the chapter situates them within the long history of non-indigenous interest in peyote. It argues that, viewed historically, white shamans represent more than a simple binary of authentic indigenous mysticism versus inauthentic imitation. While some are hucksters, as a whole they reveal a Western history where rationality has not always been universally embraced. They become figures who both reinforce the West-Other distinction through romanticizing indigeneity and destabilize it by seeking to transcend those categories.

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).