Contemporary Shamanisms in Norway: Religion, Entrepreneurship, and Politics

ISBN-13: 9780190678821 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 248 str.

Trude Fonneland

Opis

One of the fastest growing religious movements in the Western world, neo-shamanism embraces notions and techniques borrowed from various tribal peoples and adapted to the life of contemporary urban dwellers. Until the twenty-first century, the neo-shamanism found in northern Europe differed little from neo-shamanism elsewhere in the Western world. In the new millennium, a Sami and Nordic version of neo-shamanism came into being, along with a new focus on the uniqueness of the arctic north, expressed through New Age courses and events. The Norwegian New Age scene is increasingly overrun with Sami and Nordic shamans, symbols, and traditions. Contemporary Shamanisms in Norway examines the construction of this Sami neo-shamanistic movement and argues that it fits into the broader ethno-political search for a Sami identity.

Drawing on ten years of ethnographic research, Trude Fonneland highlights the values important to neo-shamans' self-development and their marketing of shamanistic products and services. She explores Saami and Nordic neo-shamans' promotion of Arctic nature, their negotiations of gender in neo-shamanism, and their ritual inventions. Focusing on contemporary shamanism in Norway and Nordic contexts, Fonneland argues that the spiritual quest in Nordic countries has developed surprising and innovative forms of spirituality that call for a reevaluation of the relationship between religion and the secular world.

Recenzje

Whether it is a modern manifestation of an old religion or it was invented on the basis of the theories of Michael Harner, certainly neo-shamanism seems to "work" both for its practitioners and devotees and for promoting reconciliation between S'ami and other Norwegians after centuries of discrimination and mistrust. This certainly makes the academic study of contemporary Norwegian shamanism a worthy enterprise, and Fonneland's well-written and fascinating book a welcome addition to a growing literature on Nordic new religious movements and global neo-shamanism.

O autorze

Trude Fonneland is currently professor at the Department of Culture studies at Tromsø University Museum, UiT, the Arctic University in Tromsø. Her research interests revolve around contemporary religion in society, particularly Sami shamanism, tourism, popular culture as well as research on Sami cultures and histories.