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Identifying the nature of shamanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2018

Michael James Winkelman
Michael James Winkelman*
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281. [email protected]
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Abstract

Singh conflates diverse religious statuses into a single category that includes practitioners with roles that differ significantly from empirical characteristics of shamans. The rejection of biological models of trance and conspicuous display models misses the evolutionary roots of shamanism involving the social functions of ritual in producing psychological and social integration and ritual healing.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e90
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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