In summary, then, a majority of the urban population continue to use forest remedies in addition to pharmaceuticals and to incorporate, within their everyday healthcare, aspects of the diet set out in the oral tradition that is vegetalismo. This knowledge is so widespread that it can be called `common knowledge''. A belief in maladies which fall within the category of `magical illness'' is a common feature of urban mestizo society, in spite of the regional predominance of Christian religions with doctrines which refute these beliefs and the role in society of shamanic practitioners. These practitioners, meanwhile, often incorporate elements of Christianity in their rituals (prayers, crosses etc.), a syncretism which reflects their own upbringing (usually as Catholics) and responds to the expectations and societal norms of a professedly Christian community. This can be seen as legitimating and perpetuating the dualism of beliefs (monotheism and animism) which has existed in this region since the Conquest (Cervantes 1994). Many inhabitants of a city such as Tarapoto own a piece of land (chacra) outside the city where they practice traditional forms of agriculture in an environment which is still the domain of forest spirits and where medicine comes in the form of a vegetal. Therefore it is perhaps not surprising to observe this dualism between traditional and modern (or introduced) beliefs, in the fields of medicine and religion.
On the other hand, Shamanism refers to a range of traditional beliefs and practices similar to Animism that claim the ability to diagnose and cure human suffering and, in some societies, the ability to cause suffering. This is believed to be accomplished by traversing the axis mundi and forming a special relationship with, or gaining control over, spirits. Shamans have been credited with the ability to control the weather, divination, the interpretation of dreams, astral projection, and traveling to upper and lower worlds. Shamanistic traditions have existed throughout the world since prehistoric times.
Some anthropologists and religion scholars define a shaman as an intermediary between the natural and spiritual world, who travels between worlds in a trance state. Once in the spirit world, the shaman would commune with the spirits for assistance in healing, hunting or weather management. Ripinsky-Naxon describes shamans as, “People who have a strong interest in their surrounding environment and the society of which they are a part.”
Other anthropologists critique the term "shamanism", arguing that it is a culturally specific word and institution and that by expanding it to fit any healer from any traditional society it produces a false unity between these cultures and creates a false idea of an initial human religion predating all others. However, others say that these anthropologists simply fail to recognize the commonalities between otherwise diverse traditional societies.
Shamanism is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces or spirits that affect the lives of the living. In contrast to animism and animatism, which any and usually all members of a society practice, shamanism requires specialized knowledge or abilities. It could be said that shamans are the experts employed by animists or animist communities. Shamans are not, however, often organized into full-time ritual or spiritual associations, as are priests.
Shaman originally referred to the traditional healers of Turkic-Mongol areas such as Northern Asia (Siberia) and Mongolia, a "shaman" being the Turkic-Tungus word for such a practitioner and literally meaning "he (or she) who knows." In Turkic shamans were called mostly Kam and sometimes Baksı.
The Tungusic word šamán is from Chinese sha men "Buddhist monk," borrowed from Pali śamana, ultimately from Sanskrit śramana "ascetic," from śramati "he fatigues" (see shramana). The word passed through Russian and German before it was adopted into English.
Another explanation analyzes this Tungusic word as containing root “sa-”, this means “to know”. “Shaman” is “he/she who knows” [1] [2]: a person who is an expert in keeping together the multiple codes through which this complex belief system appears, and has a comprehensive view on it in his/her mind with certainty of knowledge [3]. The shaman uses (and the audience understands) multiple codes: he/she expresses meanings in many ways (in musical, verbal, choreographic forms, and meanings are manifested also in objects, e.g. amulets). The shaman knows the culture of the community (he/she lives in) well, and acts accordingly. Thus his/her audience knows the used symbols and meanings — that's why shamanism can be efficient: people (in the community) trust it [4]. Such belief system can appear to its members with certainty of knowledge — this explains the above described etymology for the word “shaman” [5].
Accordingly, the only proper plural form of the word is shamans and not shamen, as it is unrelated to the English word "man". In its common usage, it has replaced the older English language term witch doctor, a term which unites the two stereotypical functions of the shaman: knowledge of magical and other lore, and the ability to cure a person and mend a situation. However, this term is generally considered to be pejorative and anthropologically inaccurate. Objections to the use of shaman as a generic term have been raised as well, by both academics and traditional healers themselves, given that the word comes from a specific place, people, and set of practices. Certain anthropologists, most notably Alice Kehoe in her book "Shamans and Religion: An Anthropological Exploration in Critical Thinking", are highly critical of the term. Part of this criticism involves the notion of cultural appropriation. This includes criticism of New Age and modern Western forms of Shamanism, which may not only misrepresent or 'dilute' genuine indigenous practices but do so in a way that, according to Kehoe, reinforces subtly racist ideas such as the Noble Savage.
Kehoe is highly critical of Mircea Eliade's work. Eliade, being a historian rather than an anthropologist, had never done any field work or made any direct contact with 'shamans' or cultures practicing 'shamanism'. According to Kehoe, Eliade's 'shamanism' is an invention synthesized from various sources unsupported by more direct research. To Kehoe, what Eliade and other scholars of shamanism treat as being definitive of shamanism, most notably drumming, trance, chanting, entheogens and hallucinogenics, spirit communication and healing, are practices that exist outside of what is defined as shamanism and play similar roles even in non-shamanic cultures (such as the role of chanting in Judeo-Christian rituals)
in their expression is unique to each culture that uses them and cannot be generalized easily, accurately or usefully into a global ‘religion’ such as shamanism. Because of this, Kehoe is also highly critical of the notion that shamanism is an ancient, unchanged, and surviving religion from the Paleolithic period.
Also Hoppál discusses, whether the term “shamanism” is appropriate. He recommends using term “shamanhood” for stressing the diversity, the specific features of the discussed cultures. This is a term used in old Russian and German ethnographic reports at the beginning of the 20th century (p. 15, par. 3 of [6]). This term may suggest generalizations less and stress the local variations more. He mentions similar thoughts on ISSR, 2001 Summer, he conjectures also a contemporary paradigm shift.
Conclusion
We have observed the important place of the traditional use of psychotropic plants within Peruvian culture, noting how this use has not led to dependency but instead represents a dynamic set of interdependencies between man and environment. In contrast, non-traditional cultivation of coca and measures introduced to control it have brought production and consumption of manufactured drugs into communities very distant from the urban centres formerly associated with drug abuse.
Notes
Blain, Jenny, Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism. 2002. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25651-8
Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology. 1959; reprint, New York and London: Penguin Books, 1976. ISBN 0-14-019443-6
Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. 1964; reprint, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-691-11942-2
Michael Harner: The Way of the Shaman. 1980, new edition, HarperSanFrancisco, 1990, ISBN 0-06-250373-1
Åke Hultkrantz (Honorary Editor in Chief): Shaman. Journal of the International Society for Shamanistic Research
Joan Halifax, ed. Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives. 1979; reprint, New York and London: Penguin, 1991. ISBN 0-14-019348-0
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