Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1:: Enlightenment and Romantic Writers Look at Shamans
Chapter 2:: From Siberia to North America: Regionalists, Anthropologists and "Exiled" Ethnographers
Chapter 3:: Neurotics to Tribal Psychoanalysts: Shamans through the Eyes of Psychology
Chapter 4:: Power Plants: Psychedelic Scholarship Meets "Tribal" Spirituality
Chapter 5:: Shamanism Goes Global: Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda
Chapter 6:: Castaneda's Lessons, Anthropology, and "Tales of Power"
Chapter 7:: Toward the Ancient Future: Shamanism in the Modern West
Chapter 8:: Sources of Inspiration: from Native Americana to European Pagan Folklore
Chapter 9:: Back to Siberia: Adventures of the Metaphor in Its Motherland
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliographical Essay

About the Author

Andrei A. Znamenski is Associate Professor of History, Alabama State University

Reviews

"This is simply the best book on modern shamanisms ever written, largely because its author understands pre-modern shamanisms so well." Ronald Hutton, Author of Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination
"The Beauty of the Primitive is an admirable piece of scholarship. Erudite and shrewdly observed, it tells the fascinating tale of the interaction between scholarly anthropology and popular culture, as optimistic Westerners created their idealized stereotypes of shamans and shamanic practice. The book confirms yet again the observation that "we see things not as they are, we see things as we are." It is also a treasure trove of memorable
stories."--Philip Jenkins, Author of Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality
"Andrei Znamenski, well known as a critical scholar of shamanism in various contexts, has written an extremely readable, erudite, and nuanced analysis of contemporary forms of shamanism. Znamenski bases his analysis on an impressive acquaintance with ethnographic and anthropological literature from the eighteenth century onward, an intensive reading of contemporary western shamanic literature, and his own research-including not only fieldwork in traditional
shamanic contexts but also interviews with western shamanic practitioners. The Beauty of the Primitive will rank among the most important publications in shamanism research for years to come."--Kocku von
Stuckrad, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam
"Travelling through time and space, The Beauty of the Primitive traces the growing appreciation of shamanism in the West as part of a growing anti-modernism. Andrei Znamenski digs deep into Russian, German, Finnish, and American sources to reveal the Western imagination of ancient and modern medicine-men, sorcerers, conjurers, magicians and spiritualists. Freud, Jung, Bogoras, Eliade, Castaneda, and Harner are but a few of the many scholars, writers,
explorers, and spiritual seekers awaiting the reader in this brilliant exposé of the intellectual history of shamanic and neo-shamanic practices." --Christer Lindberg, Professor of Social Anthropology, Lund
University
"Znamenski...illuminates how scientists, governments, spiritual seekers, and the general public have interacted with, interpreted, and appropriated indigenous belief systems. ...This is a valuable book that can stand beside such works as Ronald Hutton's Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination. ...Highly recommended." --Choice