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Talk:Shamanism among Eskimo peoples/Examples of using term shamanism among Eskimos in recent scientific literature

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Latest comment: 17 years ago by Physis in topic Term “Eskimo” can be justified

“Similarities and differences” can address key concerns

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You have noticed, as I can see, that the section says general nothings.

Yes, it is a very unmature section. But it was not intended as a place-filling-stuff, it had a specific goal. As also Shamanism article mentions, it is a very important question whether the mere concept of “shamanism” is justified. Can we declare a set of key fetures which could be used as underlying concepts for joining the various cultures termed as “shamanistic”? I thought there are debates in such questions. Also in the case of Eskimos, it may be the most important to illustrate to the reader that there are things which join the Eskimo cultures to other shamanistic ones, but the careful examination of details is needed.

The main question which can be asked by the reader if he/she begins sees the title of the article:

And the other side of the same coin (the “internal” view): do Eskimo groups have enough common fetures in their various belief systems, that would justify talking about “the Eskimo” shamanism, “the Eskimo” soul concept, etc… What I really do not know: is the culture of Asian Eskimos similar to other Eskimo groups? As far as I read the literature [1] [2] in this question, the answer is yes: also the Siberian Eskimos know an inua-concept, have a mediator figure etc. thus have several important similarities to other Eskimo groups. But I know only few on Asian Eskios yet.

The main thing I wanted express is an approach that, we always reassemble our notions piece by piece from a muddling mass of phenomes observed during the fieldwork. I read it in [3], I try to cite it as precisely as possible (I had to return the book to the library, I have only a Hungarian-language translation at hand, but I try to translate it back again):

Recently I read Emic and etic article. If I understand it well, it is the main question whether we can use our etic notions (e.g. the mere concept “shamanism”), while the indigenous people use their emic notions, which rarely extend a smaller community. Yes, Eskimo use terms like angakoq or /aˈliɣnalʁi/, but can we label them as "shaman" — a term used for lumping together various distinct cultures. What we see on the field is a muddling mass of phenomes — how should we grasp them?

Texts like “Differences and similarities” must be simply worked out supported massively with notable references. The main function of the lead text is to illustrate that

and I intended “Differences and similarities”-like parts to be a kernel/embryo for this. You can see my beginning work-out on Shamanism#Is term “Eskimo shamanism” justified at all?, but a more readable version is already incorporated into Eskimo shamanism.

Inanity

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Yes, long part of the article sound inane. But the various Eskimo belief systems embrace a huge and sophistcated material. To write a good article about it, it does not go in one turn. It is not easy

  • to keep the article well-structured,
  • but also at the same time avoid oversimplification.

It is not easy to write interesting (eye-catching) things, but at the same time also warn the reader against too categorical statements on indigenous belief systems (which are very sophisticated and show many faces).

Now I think I wrote the inane parts because I wanted to address the questions above, but I simply do not have the knowledge to answer them. I have just noticed this situaton while reading Your concerns. The complexity and variability of the Eskimo belief systems (and their place among other cultures) is far larger than I thought. I think now I should have to wait some more years with writing this article.

Is term “Eskimo shamanism” used at all?

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Also You raised similar questions:

But the mere title of [4] is “Becoming Half Hidden / Shamanism and Initiation among the Inuit”, it has been listed since the third stub version of Notes section of the Eskimo shamanism article, right after few minutes of its birth!

Most recent and notable online available

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The most recent and notable, also online available material I could find is the abstract of

Similar remarks apply for

A not online (but I think easily available) recent book is [5]. It does use terms “shaman”, “shamanism”, “shamanistic” for Innu people.

Grouped by language and relevance

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Now let us restrict us to those English-language (and other) academic (and popular) books mentioning “shamanism” among Eskimos, which I have read and thus I can provide context, discuss content, cite details'! (I stress “shamanism” here. I shall address the other terminology problem “Eskimo vs Inuit“ independently in #Term “Eskimo” can be justified).


Term “shamanism” used for Eskimos
Academic Popular
English [6] [4] [7]
Russian [2]
Russian translated into English [1]

Examining titles in bibliographies

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Or let us see some bibliographies about the topic: online available Shamanism in North America -- A Comprehensive Bibliography on the Use of the Term by Peter N. Jones. May 2004, Bauu Institute. If we search in it, we can find some titles showing that both terms “Eskimo” and “shaman” are used (in relation to each other) in English-language academic literature. And not all of them are old papers:

  • Turner, Edith (1989). From shamans to healers: the survival of an Inupiaq Eskimo skill. Anthropologica, 31(1), 3-24. (It is cited also in [1].) I could not avail it yet, so I have not the right yet to say that this book supports any of my opinions in any way.
  • Fienup Riordan, A. (1997). Present Yup'ik recollections of past shamans. Etudes/Inuit/Studies, 21(1-2), 229-244. I could not avail it yet, so I have not the right yet to say that this book supports any of my opinions in any way.

Or let us examine the bibliography provided in [6]:

  • Oosten, J.G: The Structure of the Shamanistic Complex among the Netsilik and Iglulik. Etudes Inuit Studies vol. 5 no.1, Québec 1981. I could not avail it yet, so I have not the right yet to say that this book supports any of my opinions in any way.
  • National Museums of Canada: Shamans and Spirits, Myth and Magical Symbolism in Eskimo Art. The Inuit Print/L'estampe inuit, Ottawa, 1977. I could not avail it yet, so I have not the right yet to say that this book supports any of my opinions in any way.

Times of publication

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Now, let us return to books which I have read (which I can talk about). Let us examine the literature cited in Eskimo shamanism, in reversed time order:

Recent
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As for recent notable anthropologists writing on shamanism, let us mention Piers Vitebsky's The Shaman [7]. It presents many examples with Eskimos, especally with some Alaskan Eskimos.

Near past
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English literature
Eskimo shaman [8] [6]; Inuit shaman [9] [4]. And [4] was republished in 1992 with the same title in New York, thus it is not so marginal or old.
Russian literature
Rubcova's ethnographical work on Asian Yupik Eskimos (containing tales in original Ungazik language) [2] translates the Ungazik Eskimo term /aˈliɣnalʁi/ as шаман (which is shaman in Russian).
Russian literature for which English translation exists
Menovshchikov's summary article on Asian Eskimo beliefs [1] also translates /aˈliɣnalʁi/ as “shaman”, mentioning also that /aˈliɣnalʁi/ fills in a mediator role. I mention that a general introductory book on shamanism [10] (although not discussing Eskimo materials and written in Hungarian) emphasizes the function of mediation as a very important function of the shaman.
Classicals
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I do not know now whether the great classical anthropologists doing fieldworks among Eskimos (Knud Rasmussen, Peter Freuchen, Franz Boas, Vladimir Bogoraz) used term “shamanism” for Eskimo belief systems. I do not have their works in original (just some Hungarian translations).

Knud Rasmussen
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Although the Hungarian translation of Knud Rasmussen's Thulefahrt (Thule Travel) [11] does use the term shaman (e.g. for Aua, an important informant and friend of Rassmusen), but I must admit that the original works of Rasmussen, and also the English translations may avoid term shaman. I suppose that from the following online available, English-language Rasmussen-books: Eskimo Folk-Tales [12] this book really avoids term “shaman”, it says “wizard” or “angakoq” instead (p. 100, tale “The soul that lived in the bodies of all beasts”). The same can be said about his Across Arctic America (also online available [13]).

A possible case study: Asian Eskimos (compared to others)

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Having thought much on Your concerns, I have rewritten the intro text of the “entry point” (I mean, the text introducing the reader from Shamanism article to Eskimo shamanism article). The new parts are contained in Shamanism#Is term “Eskimo shamanism” justified at all?. I have replaced the too general parts with concrete data, mainly about Asian Eskimos. I tried to achive that generalities are conveyed by concrete data themselves.

I mentioned all this because perhaps some of Your concerns may be answered if we examine how similar/different Asian Eskimos are from other Eskimo groups. Maybe many concerns can be grasped centered around this possible case study.

I have rewritten also Eskimo shamanism accordingly.

“Alien” is a terminus technicus, no connotations

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You mentioned a section header suggests as if these Eskimo groups believed in a childish cult:

But the idea of grasping the phenomens around the notion of alien beings comes from [6]. It is an academic paper, not a popular album. I have not rephrased it in an unfair way. To prove that, now I cite literarily the contents that I used, together with their entire context:

Thus, I simply used a terminus technicus, far from any emotional connotations, judgement, etc. I do not really see why this terminology of the academic paper would suggest any connotations unrelated to the topic.

Of course, the reader can always debate, whether the authors are right at all, as they introduce the notion of alien beings for grasping many phenomes of the Eskimo belief systems around this notion. (Emic and etic? Let us remember again the “muddling mass” analogy). But the athors have some very good arguments that support their approach. Let us see the following phenomen: people use a special distinct language (inside the community). What examples can be shown?

  • The shaman (contacting spirits) [6] [4].
  • But also the mother (while performing eating ritual towards her baby) [6].

What different examples for a similar phenomenon! And in both cases, this second language of the community is constructed the similar way, using linguistical tools like archaisms and metaphors.

If

  • the mother really talks to her baby using a special language that consists of archaisms and metaphors
  • also the shaman's laguage consists of archaisms and metaphors while talking to helping spirits (this statement is supported also by other authors, see [6])
  • the above two are the same or very similar (I cannot prove that, because I could not find such details in the sources till now)

then it is a rather convincing argument.

I found this and other examples convincing enough to allow the authors' approach mentioned in Wikipedia, I found the authors' introduction of the notion “alien” being is justified, because it is covered by various examples and have explanatory power.

Emotional

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What I really did not understand: You mentioned somethings like presenting these cultures as childish (instead of their nuancedness) and You wrote also some sort of feelings of native peoples against terming their belief systems as shamanism. I simply do not understand: Eskimo belief systems have a huge literature and is itself a very sophisticated and complex material, and as I cited, contemporary English literature does use “shamanism” (thus, not only Russian and Hungarian literature does so). I knew that the term “Eskimo” is higly debated (although was used at least in the past few decades in English literature), but any presenting of native belief systems as simple (either under the term of shamanism or not) really surprises me. I have never heard of any assumptions that animistic belif systems may be simple (except for historical missionary literature, or other literature only of historical relevance)

Soul dualism

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As You wrote

yes, this section was almost unintellegible, and (although I extended it since then), even now it is unmature.

The reason is simple: as I wrote above, cultures of Eskimo groups embrace a huge material. Besides small mentionings of soul dualism [6], I could study a detailed treatment in [4]. I suppose also [14] provides profound details, but I have not read it yet, I have just seen it in the bibliography which I found for answering You.

Term “soul dualism” is justified to be usable for Eskimos, it is not a poularizing overgeneralization, let alone original research: this terminus technicus is used literarily in academic source (p. 222 of [4]).

This is really an important section in the topic, and should be worked out. It will be a huge work.

I have begun already to work this topic out, see it in Shamanism#Soul concept, spirits.

Of course I rewrote also Eskimo shamanism#Soul dualism accordingly.

But everything is more difficult than summarized here. * Animals may have shared souls (shared across their species) [4].

  • Humans may have a distinct soul resposible for dreams [15],
  • other one responsible for body functions [15] [6],
  • another one consists of our name, which we inherited from a dead relative [15] [6] [4]. The latter concept of inheriting name-souls can amount to a kind of reincarnation at some groups (Caribu Eskimos) [6].

Term “Eskimo” can be justified

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Latest comment: 17 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Pros for term “Eskimo” exist also in the English-speaking word, not only in Hungary.

Wikipedia

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Threads of debates on talk pages

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Reasons for using term “Eskimo” (both in the scientific literature and in a lexicon for common readers) are discussed in Talk:Eskimo in threads

Wikipedia's naming conventions

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As for Wikipedia conventions, the followings may apply:

use the most common name
Wikipedia:Naming conventions
precision
Wikipedia:Naming conventions (precision)
avoid offensive names if offensiveness is verified
Wikipedia:Naming conventions (common names)#Do not overdo it

The situation is funny, beacuse:

Pro
In generally, “use the most common name” contradicts Wikipedia:Naming conventions (precision). But not here! Here, both guidelines vote for “Eskimo”
Contra
Here, the contra vota is conveyed by Wikipedia:Naming conventions (common names)#Do not overdo it, which warns against names that are offensive. (But the same text also mentions that the offensiveness must be proven by verifyable resources.) The main problem is that maybe also the “Inuit” label can be felt as (at least) strange for a Yupik. But do we need a common name for Yupiks and Inuits at all? Yes, because linguistical comparisons make it necessary. Until now this is “Eskimo”, and any other term (known by me) would hurt both principles precision and “use the most common name”

Non-Aleut branch of the Eskimo-Aleut language family

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From the above threads I took that despite of the contras, there is no real alternative scientific term for the non-Aleut branch of the Eskimo-Aleut language family.

Of course it can be questioned: why we should split off the Eskimo branch from the Eskimo-Aleut family at all, and contrast the Eskimo branch them with the Aleut branch? Because there are good comparative linguistical arguments for it: Aleut language#Comparison to Eskimo grammar asserts that such important features of Eskimo languages as incorporation and ergativity and are less present in Aleut.

In fact, in many cases Eskimo languages consist dialect continuums (as stated in: online [16]). I have mentioned above a metaphor of an anthropologist: we reassamble our notion (“social structure”) from a muddling mass of phenomens [3]. I thought of a similar analogy here: we cut out the classification of Eskimo languages from a muddling mass of language chains.

All that lead me to think

  • a good comprehensive name over Inuit versus Yupik
  • which (at the same time) contrasts them to Aleuts

is justified.

Humanistic arguments

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As for the more humanistic arguments against term Eskimo: I took from the threads that

  • although several Inuits dislike term Eskimo,
  • but the same time, also some Asian Eskimos dislike the term Inuit.

I cannot verify if this is true at all, but I regarded it as an argument for using the scientific term in a rigid way, and bother less with feelings until a consensus is reached among the Eskimo people.

An anthropologist (who writes about herself that she belongs to the humanistic anthropology approach) also uses the term Eskimo in the title of her paper

  • Turner, Edith (1989). From shamans to healers: the survival of an Inupiaq Eskimo skill. Anthropologica, 31(1), 3-24. (It is cited also in [2].) I could not avail it yet, so I have not the right yet to say that this book supports any of my opinions in any way. Because I do not know the context how she uses the words.

Modernity of used literature

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Although I do not know the most recent publications in English-language anthropological literature, but term “Eskimo” was used yet in the last few decades. Let us examinine the years of publication among the English-language literature mentioned in the article:

Pro (Eskimo is used)
1985 [6]
1988 [8]
Contra (Eskimo is avoided in favor of Inuit)
1985 [4]
1998 [9]
2000 [5] (admitting “In Alaska, the parallel term Inupiaq is used, although there has been a much stronger tendency to hold on to the word Eskimo”, p. 317 of Canadian publication)

Burch&Froman and Hessel&Hessel wrote popular albums, but Kleivan&Sonne is an academic paper. Also the more recent

  • Edith Turner (1990) - "The Whale Decides: Eskimos' and Ethnographer's Shared Consciousness on the Ice." Études/Inuit/Studies 14(1-2):39-54.

is an academic paper, but I could not avail it yet, so I cannot say more about it than its title says.

Caption of the image

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Of course, it can be expected, that I should prefer terms “Inuit” and “Yupik” to “Eskimo”, but only in cases where we can know exactly this detail. But in many cases, we simply do knot know that. Let us see for example the caption of the image. Seeing the information provided on the Wikicommons place of the image, is an Alaskan shaman. But in Alaska, many groups exist which should not termed as Inuit (online [17]). If I do not know the details of the image (and that is the case), I have not the right to label it as an Inuit shaman.

Let us see a counterexample for contrast. In the case of Vision quest article, I did not mind that someone has renamed all “Eskimo” occurrences to “Inuit”. Because really, the majority of the examples cited in the article were really Inuit ones (cited from [4]). But we cannot say the same in the case of Eskimo shamanism.

I think I must be as specific as possible — but no more as possible!

not too general
when we know more details, e.g. not saying e.g. “Arctic” shaman, when we know that he is an Eskimo one
nor to too specific
to the amount that the provided information may turn to be false, e.g. not to say “Inuit” shaman about an Alaskan one, if it may turn out later that he is a Yupik one.

Expression tricks like “Inuit or Yupik”

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Saying “Inuit or Yupik” in all aoccurrences instead of Eskimo is

Have a very happy Easter,

Physis 20:25, 7 April 2007 (UTC)Reply

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Menovščikov, G.A. (the same author as Г.А. Меновщиков, but transliterated): Popular Conceptions, Religious Beliefs and Rites of the Asiatic Eskimoes. Translated to English and published in edition by Diószegi, Vilmos and Hoppál, Mihály: Folk Beliefs and Shamanistic Traditions in Siberia. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1968, 1996.
  2. ^ a b c Rubcova, E.S.: Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimoes, Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect. Academy of Sciences of the USSR • Leningrad, 1954. Original data: Е.С. Рубцова: Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект). Академия Наук СССР. Москва • Ленинград, 1954.
  3. ^ a b Christine Hugh-Jones: From the Milk River: Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest Amazonia (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology). Cambridge University Press, 1980.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merkur, Daniel: Becoming Half Hidden / Shamanism and Initiation among the Inuit. (Series: Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis / Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion). Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, 1985.
  5. ^ a b Brody, Hugh: The other Side of the Eden / Hunter-gatherers, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World. Douglas & McIntyre Publishing Group, Vancouver, 2000 • Faber and Faber Limited, London, 2001
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kleivan, I. and Sonne, B.: Eskimos / Greenland and Canada. (Series: Iconography of religions, section VIII /Artic Peoples/, fascicle 2). Institute of Religious Iconography • State University Groningen. E.J. Brill, Leiden (The Netherland), 1985. ISBN: 90 04 07160 1.
  7. ^ a b Vitebsky, Piers: A sámán. Magyar Könyvklub • Helikon Kiadó, Budapest, 1996. On pp 106. Original data: Piers Vitebsy: The Shaman (Living Wisdom). Duncan Baird Publishers, 1995.
  8. ^ a b Burch, Ernest Jr. és Forman, Werner: The Eskimos. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1988, Macdonald/Orbis, London 1988. ISBN 0-8061-2126-2
  9. ^ a b Inuit art / an introduction. Wirtten by Hessel, Ingo; photographed by Dieter Hessel ; with a foreword by George Swinton. British Museum Press, London, 1998.
  10. ^ Hoppál, Mihály: Sámánok Eurázsiában. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2005. ISBN 963-05-8295-3. (The title means “Shamans in Eurasia”, the book is written in Hungarian, but it is published also in German, Estonian and Finnish.) Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian)
  11. ^ Rasmussen, Knud: Thulei utazás. Godolat, Budapst, 1965. Original data: Knud Rasmussen: Thulefahrt. Frankurter Societăts-Druckerei, Frankfurt am Main, 1926.
  12. ^ Eskimo Folk-Tales. Collected by Knud Rasmussen, edited and rendered into English by W. Worster, with illustrations by native Eskimo artists. Gyldendal, London • Copenhagen, 1921. Online available, view it with Microsoft Live or download as pdf.
  13. ^ Rasmussen, Knud: Across Arctic America. G.P. Putnams sons, 1927. Online available
  14. ^ Merkur, D. (1983). Breath-soul and wind owner: the many and the one in Inuit religion. American Indian Quarterly, 7(3), 23-39.
  15. ^ a b c Gabus, Jean: A karibu eszkimók. Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 1970. (Hungarian translation of the original: Vie et coutumes des Esquimaux Caribous, Libraire Payot Lausanne, 1944.) It desribes the life of Caribou Eskimo groups.
  16. ^ Lawrence Kaplan: Inuit or Eskimo: Which names to use?
  17. ^ Linguist List's description about Nikolai Vakhtin's book: The Old Sirinek Language: Texts, Lexicon, Grammatical Notes. The author's untransliterated (original) name is “Н.Б. Вахтин”.
  18. ^ Representing genealogical relations of (among others) Eskimo-Aleut languages by tree: Alaska Native Languages (found on the site of Alaska Native Language Center)
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