Friday, May 15, 2009

Feminist psychonauts?

In my fantasy world, everyone would be a feminist psychonaut. But in reality, I think there are probably very few people who would describe themselves as such. So to discover a book about the uniquely feminine aspects of shamanism was an extremely pleasant surprise.

In The Woman in the Shaman's Body, Barbara Tedlock skillfully weaves extensive anthropological research together with stories about her own experiences studying shamanism around the world and becoming initiated by a traditional Guatemalan shaman. Tedlock is uniquely qualified to speak on this subject, and she does a phenomenal job of uncovering the role of women in traditional shamanism, as well as holding other scholars accountable for their failure to include women in their own shamanic research. This is an incredibly fascinating book. It's much better than I expected it to be, and I highly recommend it. It's far more accessible and entertaining than the cover might lead you to believe.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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