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Shamanism in Contemporary Society

Author(s): Justin WoodmanSource: Anthropology Today, Vol. 14, No. 6 (Dec., 1998), pp. 23-24Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2783241.

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THE HMONG/MIAO IN ASIASince internationalmono-ethnicconferencesare becoming ncreasinglycommon,therecent gathering f kindredspiritsat theCentredes Archivesd Outre-Mer,Aix-en-Provence,France,on 11-13September, nder he auspicesof theEuropean cience Foundationand CNRS atthe Universityof Provence,was of interestin being an academicconferenceof adifferentype to those the Hmonghaverecentlyorganized or themselves. TheHmong are traditional hifting cultivatorsofSouthEast Asia and southernChina,whosediasporao the West afterthe VietnamWarhas resulted n new forms of transnationalidentity,and a veritableexplosion ofpublications.1Hmongassociations havebeen formedandmeetingsheld acrossFrance,Australiaandthe US; there areHmonge-mail networks,newslettersandincreasingly rading inks.In the calmatmosphere f the Indochinaarchives,theintentionhere was to hold a moreseriousinternationalmeetingof Hmong scholars, ofa typetherehas not been since the early1980s.2

An Orientalistdiscourse n which thenames of 19thcenturyCornishpastorsandearlyFrench ndochinacolonial officialsfigure argehas succeededin imagingtheHmongas a proud, free, independentpeople,fiercely opposedto the hierarchicalstructures f Asian despotismscondemnedby missionariesandearly explorers.Andduring histhree-dayconference, organisedby JeanMichaudof the Centre orSouth-EastAsian Studies at Hull andChristianCulas of the Institutde Recherchesur le Sud-EstAsiatiquein Aix, there wasmuch discussion of the tribal,segmentarynatureof Hmongsocial organizationn theirtraditional ife as shiftingcultivatorswhich,JacquesLemoine (CNRS)maintained,hassurvivedtheir ransition o urban ife.3Certainlyattemptsby the Hmongtoorganizethemselves as a politicalbloc seemoften to have failed, and some of thisatomismmayhave rubbedoff on those whohave workedwith them. There was talk ofsetting up an InternationalHmongStudiesAssociation,or startinga Newsletter, but we

settled for an electronic mailbox and afurthermeetingin Chiangmai n 2000. Abook of the proceedings s planned.4Alison Lewis spoke interestinglyon theimpact of Protestantmissions on the AHmao ( Flowery Miao ) in Yunnan aroundthe turnof the century.Michaud spoke ofhis work on Hmong identity in thelittle-studiednorthof Vietnam, and Lemoinedelivered a compelling lecture on thenon-religiousnatureof Hmong shamanism.There were linguistic contributions Ratcliff,Niederer),and more applied considerationsby Hmong researchers rom ThailandandVietnam(Leepreecha,Vuong). My owncontribution ttempteda criticalbibliographyof works in Hmong studies .

Hmong identity s not so unproblematic smany ethnographers, nd the refugees, haveassumed. Stories were told at the conferenceof how Hmong fromthe US, recentlyvisiting theiroriginalhomelands n China nsearchof their roots , wereastonished o begreeted by groupsof people called Miaospeaking unfamiliar anguages.Indeed therewas a problemto knowjust what to call thisconference;the derogatory Miao isresentedby all the Hmong outside China,while inside Chinathey areofficially knownas Miao along with distantlyrelatedgroupslike the A Hmao of Yunnan,the Hmu ofGuizhou,andthe Kho Xiong of Hunan,whom several attendeeshadstudied.Hencethe double title.

And many papers addressedmoreconstructivistnotions of Hmong identity.SimonCheungexamined textualized dentityformationsof the Miao , arisingfrom hiswork with the Ge in China,a group resistingtheir official classification as Miao ; LouisaScheindealtwith issues of transnationalidentity exchange in her account of relationsbetween the AmericanHmongand Miao inChina. Some of the currentchangesinHmong society were also covered.BobCooper s paperdealt with notions of rape ,of topicalconcern after a series of teenagegang rapesin Minnesota,while PatriciaSymonds gave a harrowingaccountof theimpactof HIV/AIDSon ThaiHmongpopulations.5The overseasHmong refugee community

remainsdeeply divided between those whostill supportcovert armedresistance n Laosand Vietnam, and those who do not. Theformerhave their own campaignsandagendas on behalf of what are seen asHmong interests,and it was not likely theywould attendsuch a meeting. However, theconference was fortunate o securepresentationson the Hmong diasporaby twoleaders of the Hmong liberal community(and the firsttwo Hmong to obtaindoctorates);GarryLee, and Yang Dao, whodeliveredclosing papers.Thereseemed almostto be two languagestalked at this conference;an older languageconcernedwithidentificationandclassification,and the newer languageofculturalproductionandidentity exchangewhich Schein and Cheung spoke particularlywell; an approach akingfull accountof thedislocated positions from whichethnographers ave for some time nowconducted heir researchon fixed ethnicgroups.Not that the Hmong, traditionally,were ever thatspatially fixed ; as shiftingcultivators, hey were used to takingtheirkinship relations with them, and recreatingtheirsociety wherever hey went, asLemoine remindedus. But there did seem tobe a disjunction,on the one hand a concernwiththe rapid oss of traditional culture ,and on the other,a feeling thatwhat wewere doing was also a partof Hmongculturalproduction;will a Hmong StudiesDepartmentbe the next step? E]Nicholas TappUniversityof Edinburgh1. Onebibliography umbers ver1,000 entries,althoughmissingmany mportant nes andheavilybiased owardsEnglish-languagendNorthAmericanpublications; A Bibliography of the Hmong (Miao),1983, compiledby DouglasOlney SoutheastAsianRefugeeStudiesOccasionalPapersNo.1); Center orUrban ndRegionalAffairs,University f Minnesota2. The SecondHmongResearchConference,University f Minnesota, 7-19 November1983.

3. Lemoine s ethnography, Un Village Hmong Vertdu HautLaos, was published y CNRS n 1972.4. SadlyProfessorGordonDownerof Leeds,apioneerof Miao-Yao inguistic tudies,was unable ojoin us, havingpassedawayvery recently; eeObituary y HughBaker,TheGuardian,Monday14September.5. Beth Hawkins,TheCountry ,City Pages(Minn.),12August1998.

SHAMANISM IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETYShamanismn Contemporary ociety , an

international onference,was hostedbetween 23 and 26 Juneby the University ofNewcastle upon Tyne s Department fReligious Studies. During the initial session,organizersCharlotteHardman nd GrahamHarvey outlinedthe raisond e^tref theconferenceas providinga forum for thejointexplorationof the perspectiveof academicsand contemporarywestern shamanicpractitioners like. In the spiritof this goal,the usualconference formatof paperpresentationswas broadened o include

several workshopsexploring the experientialdimension of a variety of shamanisms.Similarly, he conference was opened notwith a traditionaladdress,but with ashamanicceremony ed by GordonSharpe,where delegates were invited to enter into asacred circle and explore theirsense ofconnectionto the earth andto each other.Thiswas followed by a participatoryshamanicdrumming ession led by CarolYoungsonand the Deer Tribe.

Papers were a vibrantmixtureofexperientialandtheoreticalanalyses,

encompassing such topics as the role ofteacherplants in shamanicexperience,cyborgs, shamanismand postmodernism,shamanism n the corporate ector,shamanism n the Old Testament,soul-lossand spirit-possession, hamanicpower andthe collective unconscious, and theshamanismsof Mexico and CentralAsia;workshopsvariously explored Incashamanism,past-lifejourneying,Romanishamanism,and included a healingceremony (the delegate being healed laterreporteda cessation of the symptoms of her

ANTHROPOLOGYTODAY Vol 14 No 6, December 1998 23

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ailment).The overarching heme runningthroughoutmost papersand workshopswasthe importance f experiential ngagementin the understandingf shamanicpraxis.Given this thematic ontext, he generalmoodof theconferencewas markedby acall for there-evaluation f rationalistepistemologicalrameworksnvariablecalled upon by academics n theirencounterswith the otherworldly. pecifically, henotion that the spiritworld maintained nexperiential xistence beyondthescopeofscientific-reductivistropeswas advocated nnumerouspapersand workshops.This wasperhapsmoststronglyunderscored yneurochemistElaine Perry,who bravelyofferedan alternative iew of theneuroscientific erspective, uggesting hatthe neurological ffectsproducedbypsychotropicplantsmayin fact facilitategenuineexperiencesof theotherworldly.Perrypresenteda number f anomalouscasesdrawn rom the medicalandpsychiatriciterature o supporthisview.Notably, henumbers f academicspresentwho werealready nvolved n some form ofshamanicpractice uggeststhata shifttowardsa moretotalizingapproachomagico-religious henomenons well underway within the academic phere.MichaelYork and NatalieTobert haredthe view thatwesternperspectiveswere toodeeplyembedded n a psychopathologywhichmarginalizedhosesuffering rompsychic disorders.Tobert ubsequentlyargued hat t mightbe moremeaningfulandbeneficial o approach ilments uchasschizophreniandmultiplepersonalitydisorderas incursionsof theotherworldly,rather hancompartmentalizehem as formsof mental llness.Likewise,Alan Bleakleyreconsidered reud sclassic ratman nd

wolfman analyses n the lightof theshamanic diomof the poweranimal ,suggesting hatsimilarcases wouldreachamorepositive resolution f viewed not as thesymptomsof sexualneurosis,but asvisionary,nitiatory xperiences.Both RobertWallis andPiers Vitebskywere, however,careful o problematizecontemporary estern hamanisms,critiquingheco-optionanddecontextualizationf indigenous hamanicpraxisby New Age shamans,and theresultant eo-colonialistovertures pparentin theprivilegingof westernconceptsofspirituality verthoseof indigenouspeoples.This point was aptly underscored y the factthata number f delegateswereperturbedby an instance n Mihaly Hoppal s ilmpresentation, epicting he sacrificeof ahorse as partof a Tungusicshamanicceremony.As an alternativeo theco-optionof traditionalhamanisms,DanielNoelsuggested hat he Jungian radition houldbe looked to as the indigenous hamanismof the west. However,duringa paneldiscussion ocusingon his recentbook TheSoulof Shamanism,Noel was criticized orover-emphasizinghe literary riginsofwesternneo-shamanismn the worksofEliadeand Casteneda.Thepanelsuggestedthatcontemporaryeo-shamanismwas amoredynamic,grass-rootsphenomenonhathad arisenout of the dialoguebetweenindigenous hamanisms ndwesternpractitioners.Manypapersconsideredcontemporary estern hamanisms nrelation o theirroots within ndigenouspraxis,yet, giventhe conference s itle,surprisinglyew papersexplicitlyexaminedthepractical oleof shamanic tatesofconsciousness n everyday ife in a modern,urban ontext.Thisissue was,however,

exploredexperientiallyn mostof theworkshops whichwasperhapsmoreappropriate,iven the experiential ocus ofthe conference).The conferenceevidenceda distinctpostmodernistlavour,most notably n itsfocus upontheauthority f individualexperience.As a consequence, felt that hegeneral hrustof the debatewas sometimesin dangerof accentuating xperientialnarratives vera more objectivemethodology,mirroringwhatseemed to meto be an implicitassumptionhatscientific-rationalist pistemologieswereoflimitedapplication o this subjectarea.However, hisapparent symmetryarticulated muchneededdeconstructionandre-evaluation f thetendencywithin hesocial sciencesto marginalizeshamanicstatesof consciousness hrougha focus uponstructuralnd socio-political ontexts.In thisrespect, he conferencealso successfullyavoided he academicelitism oftenvisible inmore traditionalonferenceagendas,wherescholastic/theoreticaliscoursesarefrequentlyprivilegedoverandabove thevoices and experienceof practitioners.Furthermore,he inclusionof experientialworkshopsaddeda welcomeparticipatorydimension o the proceedings, ircumventingthedrynesssometimesencounterednsimilaracademiccontexts.I left theconference eeling that t hadbeen anenlightening nd nformative xperience;butabove all else, it had been fun.A selectionof thepaperspresentedwillappearn a volume with theprovision itleShamanismn Contemporaryociety,whichis to be publishedn 1999.a JustinWoodmanDepartmentf Anthropology,GoldsmithsCollege,London

OLLUI LF ______CARLOS CASTANEDA

CarlosCesarAranaCastaneda, heself-proclaimed sorcerer nd best sellingauthor,died of liver canceron 27 April1998at his home in Westwood,Californiaapparently ged 72. Apparently ecauseCastanedawas an inveterate nd unrepentantliar about he statisticaldetailsof his life;even his given name s in some doubt.According o DeborahDrooz, a friendandexecutorof the estate, Castaneda idn t ikeattention,makingcertainnot to have hispicture akenor his voice recorded.He died,as he lived, secretlyand mysteriously: ofuneralor public servicewas held and hiscremated shes wereapparently piritedawayto Mexico.

Despite,or perhapsbecause,of hiscultivationof mystery,Castaneda sales of

drug-inducedmentaladventureswith aYaquiIndian hamannamedDon Juanoncefascinated he world andhis ten bookscontinue o sell in 17 languages.The bookwhichlaunchedhis reputationwitha strangemixtureof anthropology, llegory,parapsychology,thnography, uddhismand perhaps iction, was The TeachingsofDon Juan, basedupon a master s hesiswrittenas an anthropology raduate tudentat UCLA. He saidhe stopped n an Arizonaborder own wherehe met an old YaquiIndian rom Sonora,Mexico, namedJuanMatus, a brujo - a sorcerer or shaman - whoused powerfulhallucinogenso initiate hestudent.UnderDon Juan sstrenuousutelage,which lasted severalyears,Castaneda

experimentedwithpeyote, imsonweed anddriedmushrooms,undergoingmomentsofecstasy andpanic,all in an effort to achievevaryingstatesof nonordinary eality.Castanedaaid he sawgiantinsects,learnt ofly, grew a beak,becamea crowandultimately eacheda plateauof higherconsciousness,a hard-wonwisdomthatmadehim a manof knowledge ike DonJuan.AlthoughCastaneda s eathcertificatelistshim as never married, e was marriedfrom 1960-1973 to MargaretRunyanCastaneda f Charleston,WestVirginia.(Source:AnthropologyNewsletter39:6) El

24 ANTHROPOLOGY ODAYVol 14 No 6, December 1998

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