Shamans/Neo-Shamans: Ecstasies, Alternative Archaeologies and Contemporary Pagans

by Wallis,Robert J.

• ISBN13: 9780415302036
• ISBN10: 041530203X
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-04-18
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Pagan rituals at Stonehenge. Modern day druids and witches. White Americans who claim to be healers in the Native American spiritual tradition. Are these legitimate manifestations of ancient religious practice, or simply a sham? Shamans and Neo-Shamans turns a critical eye to the shamanistic tradition in both antiquity and the modern world, and assesses the interface between the two. Robert J. Wallis does not denounce neo-Shamanistic practitioners outright. Rather, he produces a well-rounded assessment by drawing attention to important issues such as cultural appropriation, historical precedent, and engagement with archaeological monuments. This experiential anthropology, which rejects the colonialist ethnographer's fear of "going native," will answer the question "What has neo-Shamanism have to do with me?"

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix
Preface -- autoarchaeology: what have neo-Shamanisms got to do with me?	xi
Acknowledgements	xvii
Introduction: a native at home -- producing ethnographic fragments of neo-Shamanisms	1	(1)
Towards an `autoarchaeology'	2	(2)
Challenging the insider--outsider divide	4	(5)
`Alternative' archaeologies and anthropologies	9	(3)
Queering theory	12	(2)
Autoarchaeology and post-processualism	14	(2)
Post-colonial/neo-colonial concerns	16	(2)
Autoarchaeological `ethnographic fragments'	18	(4)
Multi-sited ethnography and neo-Shamanist pluralities	22	(2)
`White shamans': sources for neo-Shamanisms	24	(25)
`forefather' of neo-Shamanisms	35	(4)
Mircea Eliade
literal or literary shaman?	39	(6)
Carlos Castaneda
disseminating `core-shamanism'	45	(4)
Michael Harner
Plastic medicine men? Appraising the `Great Pretenders'	49	(30)
Decontextualising and universalising	50	(8)
Individualising and psychologising	58	(3)
Cultural primitivism and archaism	61	(3)
Romanticism	64	(3)
A ``Humpty Dumpty word'': seeing to `extra pay'	67	(12)
Taliesin's trip, Wyrd Woden: Druid and Heathen neo-Shamans	79	(28)
Celtic shamanism and Druidic shamans	81	(4)
Ethnographic fragments: Philip `Greywolf Shallcrass, a Druid shaman	85	(5)
Heathenry and seidr	90	(3)
Ethnographic fragments: Hrafnar community (San Francisco) seidr and possession	93	(4)
Comments on the ethnographic fragments	97	(10)
`Celtic' and `Northern' shamanisms? Contesting the past	107	(35)
Celtic shamanisms	107	(2)
Academic approaches to Celtic shamanisms	109	(4)
Neo-Shamanic interpretations of Celtic shamanisms	113	(11)
Northern shamanisms	124	(13)
Did Celtic and Northern shamanisms exist?	137	(5)
`Sacred' sites? Neo-Shamans and prehistoric heritage	142	(26)
Problematising the `sacred'	143	(3)
Neo-Shamanic engagements with `sacred' sites	146	(3)
Neo-Shamanic interpretations of `sacred' sites	149	(4)
`The temple of the nation' aka `that site': Stonehenge	153	(15)
Waking Neolithic ancestors: further controversies and `reburial'	168	(27)
`Desecration' at Avebury	168	(4)
Hands-on resolutions	172	(3)
Unpacking the preservation ethic	175	(4)
Contests to the preservation ethic	179	(1)
Buster and bulldozers: `Seahenge'	180	(8)
A British reburial issue?	188	(7)
Invading Anthros, thieving Archos, Wannabe Indians: academics, neo-Shamans and indigenous communities	195	(32)
An `Anthros' dilemma	198	(2)
The `Wannabes'	200	(6)
Neo-Shamans and the capitalist ethic	206	(2)
Native Americans, `Anthros' and `Archos'	208	(6)
Ancient Pueblos and neo-Shamans	214	(4)
Neo-Shamanic neo-colonialism?	218	(9)
Conclusion: neo-Shamanisms in post-modernity	227	(8)
Appendix: Resolution of the 5th Annual meeting of the Tradition Elders Circle and AIM resolution	235	(4)
Notes	239	(14)
Bibliography	253	(42)
Index	295