Editing Shamanism (section)

==Academic study==
[[File:Shaman.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sámi people|Sámi]] ''[[noaidi]] with his drum]]

=== Cognitive and evolutionary approaches ===
There are two major frameworks among cognitive and evolutionary scientists for explaining shamanism. The first, proposed by anthropologist Michael Winkelman, is known as the "neurotheological theory".{{sfn|Winkelman|2000}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Winkelman|first=Michael|title=Shamanism and cognitive evolution|journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal|volume=12|issue=1|pages=71–101|doi=10.1017/S0959774302000045|s2cid=162355879}}</ref> According to Winkelman, shamanism develops reliably in human societies because it provides valuable benefits to the practitioner, their group, and individual clients. In particular, the trance states induced by dancing, hallucinogens, and other triggers are hypothesized to have an "integrative" effect on cognition, allowing communication among mental systems that specialize in [[theory of mind]], social intelligence, and natural history.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Winkelman|first=Michael|title=Trance states: A theoretical model and cross-cultural analysis|journal=Ethos|volume=14|issue=2|pages=174–203|doi=10.1525/eth.1986.14.2.02a00040|year=1986}}</ref> With this cognitive integration, the shaman can better predict the movement of animals, resolve group conflicts, plan migrations, and provide other useful services.

{{magic sidebar|Forms}}

The neurotheological theory contrasts with the "by-product" or "subjective" model of shamanism developed by Harvard anthropologist Manvir Singh.{{sfn|Singh|2018}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/12/study-suggests-shamans-acted-as-the-first-professional-class-in-human-society/|title=The mystery of the medicine man|last=Reuell|first=Peter|date=2018|website=Harvard Gazette}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Singh|first=Manvir|date=2018b|title=Why is there shamanism? Developing the cultural evolutionary theory and addressing alternative accounts|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324252150|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=41|pages=e92|doi=10.1017/S0140525X17002230|pmid=31064458|s2cid=147706275}}</ref> According to Singh, shamanism is a cultural technology that adapts to (or hacks) our psychological biases to convince us that a specialist can influence important but uncontrollable outcomes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/modern-shamans-financial-managers-political-pundits-and-others-who-help-tame-lifes-uncertainty-113302|title=Modern shamans: Financial managers, political pundits and others who help tame life's uncertainty|last=Singh|first=Manvir|website=The Conversation|date=May 2, 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-05-02}}</ref> Citing work on [[Psychological theories of magic|the psychology of magic]] and [[Superstition#Superstition and psychology|superstition]], Singh argues that humans search for ways of influencing uncertain events, such as healing illness, controlling rain, or attracting animals. As specialists compete to help their clients control these outcomes, they drive the evolution of psychologically compelling magic, producing traditions adapted to people's cognitive biases. Shamanism, Singh argues, is the culmination of this cultural evolutionary process—a psychologically appealing method for controlling uncertainty. For example, some shamanic practices exploit our intuitions about humanness: Practitioners use trance and dramatic initiations to seemingly become entities distinct from normal humans and thus more apparently capable of interacting with the invisible forces believed to oversee important outcomes. Influential cognitive and anthropological scientists, such as [[Pascal Boyer]] and [[Nicholas Humphrey]], have endorsed Singh's approach,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Boyer|first=Pascal|title=Missing links: The psychology and epidemiology of shamanistic beliefs|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=41|pages=e71|pmid=31064451|year=2018|doi=10.1017/S0140525X17002023|s2cid=147706563}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Humphrey|first=Nicholas|title=Shamans as healers: When magical structure becomes practical function|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=41|pages=e77|pmid=31064454|year=2018|doi=10.1017/S0140525X17002084|s2cid=147706046}}</ref> although other researchers have criticized Singh's dismissal of individual- and group-level benefits.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Watson-Jones|first1=Rachel E.|last2=Legare|title=The social functions of shamanism|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=41|pages=e88|pmid=31064460|year=2018|doi=10.1017/S0140525X17002199|s2cid=147706978|pmc=10401513}}</ref>

===Ecological approaches and systems theory===
[[Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff]] relates these concepts to developments in the ways that modern science (systems theory, ecology, new approaches in anthropology and archeology) treats [[causality]] in a less linear fashion.{{sfn|Reichel-Dolmatoff|1999}} He also suggests a cooperation of modern science and Indigenous lore.{{sfn|Reichel-Dolmatoff|1999}}

===Historical origins===
Shamanic practices may originate as early as the [[Paleolithic]], predating all organized religions,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |title=Shamanism in Prehistory |author=Jean Clottes |access-date=2008-03-11 |work=Bradshaw foundation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430093540/http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |archive-date=2008-04-30 }}</ref><ref name=Narr>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409074119/http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-04-09 |author=Karl J. Narr |title=Prehistoric religion |access-date=2008-03-28 |encyclopedia=Britannica online encyclopedia 2008 }}</ref> and certainly as early as the [[Neolithic]] period.<ref name=Narr/> The earliest known undisputed burial of a shaman (and by extension the earliest undisputed evidence of shamans and shamanic practices) dates back to the early [[Upper Paleolithic|Upper Paleolithic era]] (c. 30,000 BP) in what is now the Czech Republic.<ref>Tedlock, Barbara. 2005. The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine. New York: Bantam</ref>

Sanskrit scholar and comparative mythologist [[Michael Witzel]] proposes that all of the world's mythologies, and also the concepts and practices of shamans, can be traced to the migrations of two prehistoric populations: the "[[Gondwana]]" type (of circa 65,000 years ago) and the "[[Laurasia]]n" type (of circa 40,000 years ago).{{sfn|Witzel|2011}}

In November 2008, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced the discovery of a 12,000-year-old site in [[Pre-history of the Southern Levant|Israel]] that is perceived as one of the earliest-known shaman burials. The elderly woman had been arranged on her side, with her legs apart and folded inward at the knee. Ten large stones were placed on the head, pelvis, and arms. Among her unusual [[grave goods]] were 50 complete tortoise shells, a human foot, and certain body parts from animals such as a cow tail and eagle wings. Other animal remains came from a boar, leopard, and two martens. "It seems that the woman … was perceived as being in a close relationship with these animal spirits", researchers noted. The grave was one of at least 28 graves at the site, located in a cave in lower [[Galilee]] and belonging to the [[Natufian culture]], but is said to be unlike any other among the Epipaleolithic Natufians or in the Paleolithic period.<ref>"Earliest known shaman grave site found: study", reported by [[Reuters]] via [[Yahoo! News]], November 4, 2008, [https://archive.today/20191216202317/https://www.webcitation.org/5c5MCHK7R?url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081104/sc_nm/us_shaman_israel/print archived.] see ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences''.</ref>

===Semiotic and hermeneutic approaches===
A debated etymology of the word "shaman" is "one who knows",{{sfn|Diószegi|1962|p=13}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=14}} implying, among other things, that the shaman is an expert in keeping together the multiple [[code]]s of the society, and that to be effective, shamans must maintain a comprehensive view in their mind which gives them certainty of [[knowledge]].{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=15}} According to this view, the shaman uses (and the audience understands) multiple codes, expressing meanings in many ways: verbally, musically, artistically, and in dance. Meanings may be manifested in objects such as [[amulet]]s.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=14}} If the shaman knows the culture of their community well,{{sfn|Boglár|2001|p=24}}{{sfn|Pentikäinen|1995|p=270}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=25–26, 43}} and acts accordingly, their audience will know the used symbols and meanings and therefore trust the shamanic worker.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=25–26, 43}}

There are also [[Semiotics|semiotic]], theoretical approaches to shamanism,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=13–15, 58, 197}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2006a|p=11}} and examples of "mutually opposing symbols" in academic studies of Siberian lore, distinguishing a "white" shaman who contacts sky spirits for good aims by day, from a "black" shaman who contacts evil spirits for bad aims by night.{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|pp=24–25}} (Series of such opposing symbols referred to a world-view behind them. Analogously to the way grammar arranges words to express meanings and convey a world, also this formed a cognitive map).{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=15}}<ref name="Hoppál">Hoppál, Mihály: [http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol4/hoppal.htm Nature worship in Siberian shamanism]</ref> Shaman's lore is rooted in the folklore of the community, which provides a "mythological mental map".{{sfn|Hoppál|2007b|pp=12–13}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|p=25}} [[Juha Pentikäinen]] uses the concept "grammar of mind".{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|p=25}}{{sfn|Pentikäinen|1995|pp=270–71}}

Armin Geertz coined and introduced the [[hermeneutics]],{{sfn|Merkur|1985|p=v}} or "ethnohermeneutics",<ref name="Hoppál" /> interpretation. Hoppál extended the term to include not only the interpretation of oral and written texts, but that of "visual texts as well (including motions, gestures and more complex rituals, and ceremonies performed, for instance, by shamans)".{{sfn|Hoppál|2007b|p=13}} Revealing the [[Animism|animistic]] views in shamanism, but also their relevance to the contemporary world, where ecological problems have validated paradigms of balance and protection.{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|p=25}}

=== Medical anthropology approaches ===
In many societies where shamanism is practiced, the understanding and treatment of illness are closely tied to social and cultural processes. Disease is often seen not just as a biological condition but as a disruption in the balance of spiritual and social relationships. The concept of the body in these contexts is multifaceted, encompassing physical, social, and cultural dimensions.<ref name="Joralemon-2017">{{Cite book |last=Joralemon |first=Donald |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315470603 |title=Exploring Medical Anthropology |date=2017-03-16 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-47061-0 |edition=4 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315470610}}</ref> Anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock expand on this by introducing the idea of "the three bodies": the "individual body," relating to personal health experiences; the "social body," connecting health to social and cultural values; and the "body politic," reflecting the influence of power structures on health outcomes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Scheper-Hughes |first1=Nancy |last2=Lock |first2=Margaret M. |date=1987 |title=The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology |url=https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/maq.1987.1.1.02a00020 |journal=Medical Anthropology Quarterly |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=6–41 |doi=10.1525/maq.1987.1.1.02a00020 |issn=0745-5194}}</ref>

According to anthropologist Donald Joralemon, the practice of medicine is inherently a social process, both in shamanistic societies and contemporary biomedicine.<ref name="Joralemon-2017" /> Joralemon argues that healing rituals, diagnoses, and treatments are deeply embedded in the cultural norms and social expectations of a community. This is particularly evident in shamanism, where the shaman addresses not only physical symptoms but also the spiritual and communal aspects of illness. The shaman's role is to restore harmony within the individual and the community, reinforcing the social bonds believed to influence health. Joralemon emphasizes that in both traditional and modern medical practices, disease is not merely a biological fact but a social phenomenon, shaped by the cultural and societal contexts in which it occurs .<ref name="Joralemon-2017" />

Where a Shaman is present within a community - the group determines whether an individual is true Shaman or not. The group also determines whether an individual is sick and doomed by sorcery, this is where a Shaman is given the role to dispel an illness. The Shaman does not become a great Shaman because they cure a person, it is because they are known by the group as great Shamans. Community members known as dreamers also listen in on private conversations to convey an individual’s known sickness.{{sfn|Lévi-Strauss|2016}}