Review: Shamanism and Vulnerability on the North and South American Great Plains, by Kathleen Bolling Lowrey

A book review describes Kathleen Bolling Lowrey's work, which uses disability theory and feminist scholarship to reinterpret shamanism across the North and South American Great Plains. Lowrey applies Eva Feder Kittay's concept of 'dependency work' to frame vulnerability as a universal moral relation, illuminating indigenous revitalization movements and ethnogenesis. The book counters a prior emphasis on masculinity in shamanism studies by highlighting feminist allyship and long-term solidarity with community members in difficulty.

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Book Review| May 01 2022 Review: Shamanism and Vulnerability on the North and South American Great Plains, by Kathleen Bolling Lowrey Shamanism and Vulnerability on the North and South American Great Plains. By Kathleen Bolling Lowrey. University Press of Colorado, 2020. 238 pages. $77.00 hardcover; $27.95 softcover; ebook available. Tarryl Janik Tarryl Janik University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2022) 25 (4): 137–139. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2022.25.4.137 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Tarryl Janik; Review: Shamanism and Vulnerability on the North and South American Great Plains, by Kathleen Bolling Lowrey. Nova Religio 1 May 2022; 25 (4): 137–139. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2022.25.4.137 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentNova Religio Search The anthropology of shamanism is vast and has a long-storied history. It is a robust literature that is deeply entangled in colonialism and the inception of anthropology as a discipline. What makes Shamanism and Vulnerability such a refreshing and remarkable contribution is not only Kathleen Bolling Lowrey's use of disability theory and feminist scholarship, but her critical and candid examination of parallel historiographies within the North and South American heartlands. By using disability theory, Lowrey both interprets field data and reads North and South American literature through the framework of Eva Feder Kittay's "dependency work," referencing debility and vulnerability as a "paradigmatic moral relation," a universal claim that in the context of shamanism illuminates indigenous revitalization movements and ethnogenesis. Lowrey also counters a previous emphasis on masculinity in shamanism studies with that of feminist allyship, "in which shamans commit to long-term solidarity with fellow community members in difficulty, relationships in... You do not currently have access to this content.