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