Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
4,109
result(s) for
"Shamans"
Sort by:
Healing the individual, healing the community : shamanic rituals and funerals of the Wana people of Morowali
This thesis offers an intricate analysis of three Wana rituals developed over a period of five years' research reflection, focusing in depth on two of the rituals, the momago (healing ceremony) and kayori (funeral). It posits that Wana shamanism provides opportunities for creating 'a sense of community' (kasintuwu) at the same time that it can address individual ills, by bringing people together on ritual occasions. This idea is developed into a concept of 'density', with rituals cast as 'rites of densification' that temporarily recreate the primordial unity of the community. These concepts are then related to a conceptualisation of space-time in which the Wana remain at the origin and centre of the world, while those who have been dispersed (including to the West) have thrived at the physical periphery. Scalici also describes a concept of power in which local and visible people are powerless while those who have dispersed and are invisible, including spirits, are more powerful: this also maps on to a gender division in which women remain at home while men, and especially shamans, wander. Music is interpreted as being essential to the rituals because of its ability to connect people to the invisible realm and enable the wandering of shamans, as well as to control emotions.
Dissertation
Oracles : a novel
\"In this futuristic novel, the wilderness is disappearing due to human incursion and urbanization. Small pockets of nature remain and are used for tourist visits and historical interpretations. Television broadcasts pictures, sounds, and smells, and space travel is commonplace. The Yantuck Indians must find a way to preserve the environment that survives on their eastern United States reservation and yet participate in a global economy. This dilemma creates factions within the tribe: those who believe in a traditional way of life and those who seek to enhance tribal finances by marketing and selling \"Indian-ness. \"Ashneon Quay, a young medicine-woman-in-training, is herself caught between two worlds. Growing up with elderly family members, both medicine people, she attends a local college where she studies anthropology. Quay struggles to find a balance between the traditional and the new and to identify a path that is right for her.\" -- Publisher website.
Book
Wayward shamans
Wayward Shamans tells the story of an idea that humanity’s first expression of art, religion and creativity found form in the figure of a proto-priest known as a shaman. Tracing this classic category of the history of anthropology back to the emergence of the term in Siberia, the work follows the trajectory of European knowledge about the continent’s eastern frontier. The ethnographic record left by German natural historians engaged in the Russian colonial expansion project in the 18th century includes a range of shamanic practitioners, varied by gender and age. Later accounts by exiled Russian revolutionaries noted transgendered shamans. This variation vanished, however, in the translation of shamanism into archaeology theory, where a male sorcerer emerged as the key agent of prehistoric art. More recent efforts to provide a universal shamanic explanation for rock art via South Africa and neurobiology likewise gloss over historical evidence of diversity. By contrast this book argues for recognizing indeterminacy in the categories we use, and reopening them by recalling their complex history.
eBook
The poppy war
A war orphan rises from her humble beginnings to become a powerful military commander, and perhaps her country's only hope for survival.
BOOK
To Come to a Better Understanding
To Come to a Better Understanding analyzes the cultural encounters of the medicine men and clergy meetings held on Rosebud Reservation in St. Francis, South Dakota, from 1973 through 1978. Organized by Father Stolzman, a Catholic priest studying Lakota religious practice, the meetings fit the goal of the recently formed Medicine Men's Association to share its members' knowledge about Lakota thought and ritual. Both groups stated that the purpose of the historic theological discussions was \"to come to a better understanding.\" Though the groups ended their formal discussions after eighty-four meetings, Sandra L. Garner shows how this cultural exchange reflects a rich Native intellectual tradition and articulates the multiple meanings of \"understanding\" that necessarily characterize intercultural encounters. Garner examines the exchanges of these two very different cultures, which share a history of inequitable power relationships, to explore questions of cultural ownership and activism. These meetings were another form of activism, a \"quiet side\" without the militancy of the American Indian Movement. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival analysis, this volume focuses on the medicine men participants—who served as translators, interpreters, and cultural mediators—to explore how modern political, social, and religious issues were negotiated from an indigenous perspective that valued experience as critical to understanding.
eBook
The dragon republic
Rin's story continues in this acclaimed sequel to The poppy war--an epic fantasy combining the history of 20th-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters. Nikan is on the run from the murderous commands of the fiery Phoenix--the vengeful god who has blessed Rin with her fearsome power. Though she does not want to live, she refuses to die until she avenges the traitorous Empress who betrayed Rin's homeland to its enemies.
Book
Bridging Spiritual Healing with Occupational Identity: Perspectives of Hmong Shamans
Occupational Therapy Practitioners (OTPs) can serve as a bridge between Western medicine and traditional healing by educating health professionals about the role of Hmong shamans. This qualitative study explored the occupational identity and lived experiences of 10 Hmong shamans in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN, through an occupational therapy lens. Guided by Wilcock and Hocking’s (2015) concepts of doing, being, becoming, and belonging, the research gained a deeper understanding of participants’ beliefs, culture, and spiritual values. The findings revealed that daily routines, spiritual guidance, emotional resilience, and community support shape a shaman’s identity. This study offers valuable insight into how Hmong shamans navigate their healing roles and highlights the importance of culturally competent care.
Journal Article