Week3：xinyu yang

ASA189
Week3

In fact, the early shaman affected the structure of their cultural knowledge. they should know all subjects such as astronomy, geography, history, medicine. It is not pure witchcraft, nor purely medical. Based on the shaman's intermediary function of communicating with the gods, it is to exorcise evils. Some scholars call such treatment "Socio-Cultural therapy" or "Ethon-Psychiatry".

I think the treatment of shaman is a positive psychological suggestion. As the author mentioned, "A Sacred Ritual Approach to Mental Illness." A Sacred Ritual can increase the credibility of the shaman in the patient's mind. Such super-physical spiritual communication may not be explained by modern science. But like Alex's experience, such shaman treatment is shown the real treatment effect. Should we pay more attention to shaman treatment?

Another problem is that the premise of shaman treatment is that the person being treated should believe in shamanism and shaman. Otherwise, the treatment is invalid. So is this a conflict for some other religions?

The documentary "ex-shaman" is a description of the contradiction between Brazilian traditional culture and Western white culture.

Q：For the Western world, will the existence of shaman contradict local religion?