STUDENTS:
YOUR FINAL REFLECTION PAPERS ARE "DUE BY EMAIL (rowrightrobin@yahoo.com) on MAY 04, FINAL DAY OF EXAMS.""TOPICS ARE THE FOLLOWING:"
1. WHAT DOES HARNER MEAN BY 'CORE SHAMANISM' AND HOW IS IT TO BE PRACTICED IN WESTERN SOCIETY ? HOW IS 'CORE SHAMANISM' DISTINCT FROM THE 'ANIMISM' AND TRIBAL SHAMANISM WE HAVE BEEN STUDYING ALL THROUGH THIS COURSE ? WHAT DOES CORE SHAMANISM KEEP FROM INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS, WHAT DOES IT SELECT OUT, AND WHAT ARE POTENTIAL PROBLEMS IN THE WAY SELECTIONS ARE MADE ?
2. WHAT VALUES DO YOU THINK NEO-SHAMANISM EXPRESSES THAT HAVE DEEP ROOTS IN WESTERN SOCIETY ? WHY DO YOU THINK WESTERN SOCIETY HAS EMBRACED THE NEO-SHAMANIC MOVEMENT WITH SUCH ENTHUSIASM ? WHAT DOES THAT REFLECT OF THE STATE OF WESTERN RELIGIOSITY - GENERALLY SPEAKING ?
3. ACCORDING TO STUCKRAD, THE CURRENT MOVEMENT HAS ITS ROOTS IN WESTERN ROMANTICISM. HOW SO ? WHAT ROMANTICIST AUTHORS DOES HE REFER TO AS ANTECEDENTS OF THE NEO-SHAMANIC MOVEMENT ? IS THERE MORE TO THE STORY OF THE HISTORY OF ROMANTICISM THAN WHAT STUCKRAD INCLUDES ?
4. FROM ALL THAT WE'VE READ IN THIS COURSE, WHAT ASPECTS OF SHAMANISM (BROAD SENSE OF THE ' NEXUS OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE AND POWER') ARE OF FUNDAMENTAL UTILITY IN REFORMULATING AND HEALING OUR RELATION TO THE NATURAL WORLD ? AND, HOW DOES THIS NEW ACCEPTANCE OF SHAMANISM REFLECT OUR SOCIETY'S DISENCHANTMENT WITH SCIENCE ?
5. IN ZNAMEMSKI'S CHAPTERS, HE ATTRIBUTES THE ORIGIN OF NEO-SHAMANISM TO THE POSTMODERNIST WRITINGS OF CASTANEDA. IF YOU HAVE READ ANY OF CASTANEDA'S WORKS, HOW DO YOU SEE THIS CLAIM ? HARNER STATES HE WAS DIRECTLY INFLUENCED BY CASTANEDA; DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE WORK OF THE FOUNDATION OR 'THE WAY OF THE SHAMAN' CAN BE ACCUSED OF THE SAME ERRORS AND ETHICAL INFRINGEMENTS THAT CASTANEDA WAS ACCUSED OF ?
6. "THE TERMS 'SHAMAN' AND 'SHAMANISM' DO NOT CEASE TO BE, ON THE PART OF THE WEST, THE OBJECT OF INTERPRETATIONS RESPONDING TO ITS INTERESTS OF THE MOMENT. THESE INTERPRETATIONS REVEAL THE ATTITUDES OF THE WEST VIS-A-VIS THE 'OTHER': THE SAVAGE OTHER THAT IT FEARS, THE EXOTIC OTHER THAT FASCINATES THE WEST. THE INFERIOR OTHER TO DOMINATE AND CIVILIZE. THE SICK OTHER TO HEAL. THE OTHER TO REDISCOVER IN ONESELF BY HELPING ONESELF TO CHANGE. AFTER THE DECLINE OF THE GREAT COLLECTIVE IDEOLOGIES, THE CLOSING OF THE COLONIAL EMPIRES, THE WEST HAS SEEN THE BIRTH OF AN UNPRECEDENTED VOGUE THE NEW PRACTICES OF WHICH HAVE COME TO BE RE-GROUPED UNDER THE EXPRESSION OF 'NEO-SHAMANISM'.
