Call For Papers - „Ethnography. Practices, Theories, Experiences” (no. 10/2024)

The upcoming issue of the journal will focus on the subject of shamanism as a socio-cultural phenomenon in diverse research contexts.  

Conceptualising shamanism in the human sciences is difficult both because of the diversity and universality of its occurrence. In studies of shamanism, the object of study has been framed according to the prevailing scientific paradigms of the historical moment: from animistic interpretation to the portrayal of the shaman figure as a fraud, mentally ill or as a person influenced by psychoactive drugs. As part of the postmodern critique in the human sciences, some researchers question the very term 'shamanism' as a construct of the European model of knowledge production. They call for the use of more appropriate terms such as shamanisms, shamanary or shamanizing. Anthropologists have legitimised the narratives of shamans, their visions, and cosmologies when postcolonial critique has begun to contest the practice of speaking on behalf of the 'researched'. How, then, should the narratives of shaman as a subject be interpreted? Are there legitimate criteria of credibility, and what are they?

As an ethnographic journal, we give special importance to the 'field'. We aim to look at different forms of shamanism from an empirical and theoretical perspective, set in the context of social interactions and the transformations that take place in the sphere of their belief-ritual practices. Our interest is both in issues that can be classified in the area of 'traditional shamanism' (e.g. in Asia or the Americas) as well as in contemporary forms and related phenomena within the context of increasing globalisation and the spread of new media (e.g., neo-shamanism). Also invited are contributions concerning narratives of individual experiences of altered states of consciousness, as well as approaches to the phenomenon of shamanism in terms of relational epistemology (with human and non-human entities) or new animism.

We offer these thematic areas without treating them as exhaustive:  

• History of the study of shamanism
• Theories of shamanism
• Shamanism as seen from different scientific disciplines "traditional" shamanism
• Neo-shamanism and other forms of adaptation of shamanism to new socio-cultural contexts (e.g. ayahuasca tourism)   
• Urban shamanism
• Shamanism and religions
• Relationality of human and non-human entities in shamanism and animism

For this issue, we also accept submissions not related to shamanism.

Editor of the issue:  Oyungerel Tangad 
Deadline for submissions: 30.04.2024