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SHAMANS, PRIESTS AND WITCHES:
A Cross-Cultural Study of
Magico-Religious Practitioners
Book Details
By Michael Winkelman. Anthropological Research Papers, No. 44. Published by Arizona
State University. Tempe, Ariz. 1992. 191 pages. Includes bibliographical references and
index. LC 91-78334. ISBN 0-936249-10-2. ISSN 0271-0641. Paperback, $27.50.
Quotes/Reviews
"A seminal piece of cross-cultural research that will be of interest to all of
those interested in native healing... because of its empirically derived classification
system and its provocative examples." --Dr. Stanley Krippner, Distinguished Professor
of Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies
"A careful comparative delineation of the types of magico-religious practitioners... their
practices, and of the societal conditions in which the practitioners and features of
their practice occur. This comparative research is superb." --Dr. Douglas White,
Professor of Anthropology, University of California-Irvine
Abstract
This book integrates the findings of a cross-cultural study on types of
magico-religious practitioners and shamanistic healers within the context of anthropological
and sociological studies. The study provides a general framework for explaining
magico-religious and shamanistic phenomena through statistical analysis of data from a
formal cross-cultural sample. This provides a typology of magico-religious practitioners
with universal applicability, distinguishing the shaman from other types of healers. The
analysis reveals an empirical structure related to the institutional bases of these
practices--altered states of consciousness (ASC), political control, and social conflict.
The correlation between types of practitioners and socioeconomic conditions provides the
basis for a general theory of magico-religious phenomena, the origins of shamanism, and
its transformation under socioeconomic change. These findings are integrated with other
studies on magic and religion to provide a general organizational framework for
understanding diverse magico-religious phenomena and traditional healing practices.
The biological basis in ASC are shown to provide the origins of shamanism and the
therapeutic mechanisms of shamanistic healing.
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