This Element takes its starting point in shamanism in the Nordic countries and explores expressions and the lives of shamanic materialities in contemporary Finland and Norway. Shamans interact with spiritual powers and beings, but their religious practices unfold in a material reality. In this Element, then, we begin with the materiality of shamanism and focus on how the drum, the sacrificial site, the power animal, and a mushroom bridge the gap between the profane and the divine and create networks and dynamics in a shamanic worldview as well as in the wider society. Throughout its sections, the authors inquire into the ways the construction of the category shamanism makes shamanic materialities come to life. And, in contrast, how shamanic materialities form shamanism and facilitate constantly formative exchanges and dynamics between the local and global, past and present, secular and spiritual, time and space.

This Element explores expressions and the lives of shamanic materialities in contemporary Finland and Norway.

Book Information
ISBN 9781009376402
Author Trude Fonneland
Format Paperback
Page Count 75
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 147g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 5mm