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From a brilliant, young, Harvard-trained anthropologist and contributor to The New Yorker comes a fascinating investigation into the spiritual practice of shamanism from its beginnings through to the present day, for readers disaffected with organized religion who seek a more personal approach to spirituality.
"Shamanism" is broadly defined as a religious practice of spiritual transformation wherein a specialist (a shaman) uses initiations, drug-induced altered states, and deprivation to heal, divine, and otherwise tame life's uncertainties. Might shamanism-a centuries-old phenomenon-be a reservoir of ancient knowledge, an embodiment of our once-true spirituality and connection to nature, or is it a relic of a backwards era, mere "superstitious savagery" produced by crafty showmen to exploit naïve credulity?
Informed by the latest developments in cognitive science, evolutionary biology and anthropology-and relying on field research in remote Indonesia, the Amazon and the South Pacific-Manvir Singh holds a magnifying glass to the practice of shamanism, examining its long history, its pitfalls, and its potential benefits to today's society. At its core, this is a book about faith and healing and the universal hunger for god. Shamanism is a deep dive into archaic wisdom that feels uniquely relevant in a moment of specious modern religiosity. MANVIR SINGH is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis. He holds a bachelor's degree in human biology from Brown University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and his writings have also appeared in Wired, Vice, Aeon, and The Guardian, as well as leading academic journals, including Science, Nature Human Behaviour, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. He has studied Indigenous psychedelics use in the Orinoco river basin of Colombia and, since 2014, has conducted ethnographic fieldwork with Mentawai communities on Siberut Island, Indonesia, focusing on shamanism and justice. He lives with his wife and baby daughter in Davis, CA.
"Shamanism" is broadly defined as a religious practice of spiritual transformation wherein a specialist (a shaman) uses initiations, drug-induced altered states, and deprivation to heal, divine, and otherwise tame life's uncertainties. Might shamanism-a centuries-old phenomenon-be a reservoir of ancient knowledge, an embodiment of our once-true spirituality and connection to nature, or is it a relic of a backwards era, mere "superstitious savagery" produced by crafty showmen to exploit naïve credulity?
Informed by the latest developments in cognitive science, evolutionary biology and anthropology-and relying on field research in remote Indonesia, the Amazon and the South Pacific-Manvir Singh holds a magnifying glass to the practice of shamanism, examining its long history, its pitfalls, and its potential benefits to today's society. At its core, this is a book about faith and healing and the universal hunger for god. Shamanism is a deep dive into archaic wisdom that feels uniquely relevant in a moment of specious modern religiosity. MANVIR SINGH is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis. He holds a bachelor's degree in human biology from Brown University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and his writings have also appeared in Wired, Vice, Aeon, and The Guardian, as well as leading academic journals, including Science, Nature Human Behaviour, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. He has studied Indigenous psychedelics use in the Orinoco river basin of Colombia and, since 2014, has conducted ethnographic fieldwork with Mentawai communities on Siberut Island, Indonesia, focusing on shamanism and justice. He lives with his wife and baby daughter in Davis, CA.