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Complexity and possession: Gender and social structure in the variability of shamanic traits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2018

Connor P. Wood  and
Kate J. Stockly
Connor P. Wood
Affiliation:
Center for Mind and Culture, Boston, MA 02215. [email protected]://bu.academia.edu/ConnorWood
Kate J. Stockly
Affiliation:
Center for Mind and Culture, Boston, MA 02215. [email protected]://bu.academia.edu/ConnorWood Graduate Division of Religious Studies, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215. [email protected]
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Abstract

Singh deploys cultural evolution to explain recurrent features of shamanistic trance forms, but fails to substantively address important distinctions between these forms. Possession trance (vs. trance without possession) is disproportionately female-dominated and found in complex societies. The effects of cultural conditions on shamanism thus extend beyond its presence or absence and are vital for modeling its professionalization and spread.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e91
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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