LALS 166 Shamanism and Healing

Shamanism is a dynamic cultural institution that approaches non-ordinary or alternate states of consciousness as meaningful sites of knowledge. Course focuses on shamanism as practiced in indigenous and mestizo cultures across western Amazonia, where shamanic healing is most frequently accompanied with the ritual use of hallucinogenic brews. Topics covered include the diagnostic, curative, trance, and medical aspects of shamanism; shamanism as an anticolonial expression of political power and agency; and shamanism in Latin American expressive and visual cultures.