Journeys into the Invisible: Shamanic Technologies of the Imagination
About this ebook
Northern Shamans travel in mind in ways that appear mysterious to Westerners, but which rely on the human capacity of imagination. They perceive themselves simultaneously in two types of space—one visible, the other invisible—putting them in contact and establishing links with non-human beings in their surroundings. Shamans share their experience of mind travel with their patients, families, or the wider community, allowing them to participate in their odyssey through the invisible. Stépanoff offers an anthropological reflection on the relationships between our uses of the imagination, our relationships with the environment, and the emergence of social hierarchies.
This work will appeal to anthropologists as well as to anyone interested in learning about the power of imagination from the masters of the invisible, the shamans of the Far North.
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About the author
Charles Stépanoff is an anthropologist, director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and member of the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale of the Collège de France (Paris). He is currently studying domestication and attachment.
Philippe Descola, emeritus professor at the Collège de France (Paris), has become one of the most important anthropologists working today and has had a major influence in European intellectual life since the publication of Beyond Nature and Culture (2005).
Matthew H. Evans is a writer and educator living in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
