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Do shamans violate notions of humanness?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2018

Nick Haslam
Nick Haslam*
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia. nhaslam@unimelb.edu.auhttps://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person6837
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Abstract

Singh proposes that shamans violate notions of humanness in patterned ways that signal supernatural capacities. I argue that his account, based on a notion of humanness that contrasts humans with non-human animals, does not capture people's understandings of supernatural beings. Shamanic behavior may simply violate human norms in unstructured, improvised ways rather than contrast with a coherent concept of humanness.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e75
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

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