Shamanic Gift in the Global Village: Spiritual Energy and Biomedicine
Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology December 1, 2019 T. Bužeková 10 citations
Neo-shamanic healers in Slovakia legitimize their practices by framing them as compatible with biomedicine, the dominant medical authority in Europe. Ethnographic research on two neo-shamanic groups shows that charismatic healers represent their abilities either as learned skills or as a special spiritual gift. Both healers studied argue that shamanic practices align with biomedicine, but they do so using different rhetorical strategies. The concept of energy serves as a bridge between spiritual healing and natural sciences. The rhetoric used to legitimate the shamanic gift reflects the healer's particular social setting and cultural background.