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Book: Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes

Chapter: 32. Do Native peoples have shamans?

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.43147

Blurb:

Using examples from various Mesoamerican communities this chapter explores the appropriateness of the term "shaman" in Turtle Island and Abya Yala. Using the term Shaman for Native practitioners in what is today Mexico or other parts of the "Americas" can conceal and distort the nuances of local practices. Here we see that it is best to use local Indigenous terms.

Chapter Contributors

  • Edward Anthony Polanco (polanco@vt.edu - eapolanco) 'Virginia Tech'