TALKING ABOUT SHAMANS

Shaman ' is a term, like 'totem ' or Itaboo l, which has been taken from a particular ethnographic context and applied more widely. It is now part of the common parlance of anthropologists, particularly those working on societies in Asia, the Arctic, Oceania and the Americ~J, The shaman is considered a specialist, a person set apart by his or her ability to make controlled contact with spirits and so influence the course of events. of'ben shamanism depends on the possession of spcci"l L:'i:·'··~r'::':·l · n and on the dramatic use of trance. These seem to reflect and emphasise the distinction between shamans and laymen and, indeed, experientially, for the observer, to give the separate status of the shaman the power of a self-evident reality. certainly, from a cursory review of the litera-ture on shamanism- in ethnographies, in typologies of religion, and in general accounts- it is striking how many proceed by primary reference to a separable body of specialists. Research in'bo medico-religiou.s practices is framed by this image and normally it is expected tha