Book Fail Helpline

[Swatopluk]

Actually I shall probably be writing about shamanism in my essay, so it may have been of interest to me -

This book could then be of interest to you:
Shamans and Cultures (1993) edited by Mihály Hoppál and Keith D.Howard
it contains selected papers of the 1st conference od the International Society for Shamanistic Research 27-28 July 1991 in Seoul.
I concentrates on East and North Asian shamanism and has a chapter on North America. Africa and Europe seem to be missing.

[Griffin NoName]

Africa and Europe seem to be missing.

How odd. Unless it is taboo to write about them 

[The Meromorph]

I would draw your attention to Spider Robinson, Elizabeth Moon, and Sherri S Tepper.

Mero, I didn't know you read Sherri Tepper! I discovered a first edition -- in pristine condition -- of The Gate to Women's Country in a remainder bin back in college.  (I re-read it every couple years, enjoying my own changing reactions, much like the actresses performing Iphigenia!)  Thereafter, I found first editions of subsequent works at regular intervals under the same circumstances, until I finally decided that I *owed* her purchasing them properly, in appreciation. 

Although, by the time I got to The Fresco, I thought her pet theme was becoming a teensy bit repetitive and redundant...   

A favorite quote: a deity character is talking with a female protagonist, answering her peeve at [his] failure to be OOO per her expectations, specifically notknowing her name. [He] responds that of course he knows her -- he made her and has always known her, but then admits, "I didn't know you call yourself Margery."

I had the honor to turn our beloved Sibling Chatty on to Sherri's writing (I sent her one or two), and she was an immediate fan...   

[Swatopluk]

Africa and Europe seem to be missing.

How odd. Unless it is taboo to write about them 

Well, there is far less of it in Europe (exceptions: the Northernmost parts of Scandinavia and tiny remnants in Hungary). North America and Asia are connected on this (although loosely since the last Ice Aged ended) while Africa can be considred a spehere of its own religiously. Since the conference took place in Korea it's not that surprising either that shamanism in that region takes center stage.
Until the late 1990ies European shamanism got more or less ignored by the mainstream. There was another conference about this in Hungary iirc in 1999 but I only got an introductory paper about that. Ironically, European shamans (typically male) were strictly anti-witch but the churches did not appreciate their free-lancing and threw them together with their (typically female) opponents.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

.... Ironically, European shamans (typically male) were strictly anti-witch but the churches did not appreciate their free-lancing and threw them together with their (typically female) opponents.

Just as the church has got much of history wrong, in it's drive to become the dominant power on earth...

... meh.

[Aggie]

Well, there is far less of it in Europe (exceptions: the Northernmost parts of Scandinavia and tiny remnants in Hungary). North America and Asia are connected on this (although loosely since the last Ice Aged ended) while Africa can be considred a spehere of its own religiously. Since the conference took place in Korea it's not that surprising either that shamanism in that region takes center stage.

Korean shamanism still holds some currency today, so it was a good place to hold the conference.  Shamans are almost always female there, as far as I know.  Korean women in general are...  formidable, and have sculpted the culture at many levels.

[Swatopluk]

The editor of the above mentioned book, Mihály Hoppál, also seems to have produced a two-volume book specifically on Shamanism in Eurasia. But that's from 1984 and there has been a lot of new research since the late 1990ies. In particular there is now a split between those that consider trance to be essential for shamanism and those that consider it just one tool in the box or one aspect that is not mandatory. Sami shamans usually do without (despite the use of a drum) and so those of the first group consider excluding them from 'proper' shamanism. Same is true for the Hungarian shamanism where reports of trance are all based on hearsay or otherwise unreliable information.