Shamanism Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

A review of two recent books on shamanism argues that the field needs to integrate neurocognitive and historical approaches. One book, by Homayun Sidky, offers a cognitive anthropological perspective on shamanism's origins, while the other, by Sergio Botta, provides a poststructural historiographical analysis. The commentary traces the history of shamanic studies in anthropology and the history of religions, then concludes that cognitive historians should collaborate with anthropologists to advance research and prevent the subfield from being taken over by paranormal or postmodern anthropology.

Study at a glance

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.