Before and After Psychopathology: A Foucault- Inspired Perspective on Western Knowledge Concerning the Shaman

This paper outlines key stages in how Western academia has constructed the figure of the shaman and the concept of shamanism, and it identifies factors that have shaped those constructions. Drawing on Michel Foucault's ideas of episteme, knowledge, and power, the author argues that a Foucault-inspired analysis—though not a rigid methodology—offers a powerful lens for revealing hidden agendas, power dynamics, and priorities in the Western portrayal of shamans. The analysis is open-ended and makes no claim to absolute truth, which aligns with postmodern views of knowledge. The paper notes that despite Foucault's influence on postcolonial studies, his thought has been underused in examining Western-indigenous relations, and it suggests that further engagement with his work would benefit postcolonial scholarship.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This paper attempts to characterize the key stages in the evolution of Western academia’s construction of shamans and shamanism as well as elucidate those factors that have underpinned particular constructions. In doing so, it draws on the writings of the late French philosopher Michel Foucault, and particularly on such Foucauldian motifs as episteme, knowledge, and power. A central argument advanced in this paper is that even though Foucault’s ideas resist encrustation into a prescriptive methodology, they constitute a potentially powerful theoretical lens through which to gain a better understanding of often undisclosed agendas, power dynamics, and priorities that have been operant in the Western construction of the shaman. The open-ended and potentially contestable nature of the understandings delivered by a Foucault-inspired analysis constitutes a strength rather than a weakness, and the absence in this sort of analysis of any claim to a final, absolute truth is consonant with postmodern conceptualizations of the nature of knowledge. Despite Foucault’s influence on what is often considered the inaugural text in the field of postcolonial studies: Edward Said’s Orientalism, one finds a lack of attention in the academic literature to examining the relevance of Foucault’s thought to understanding the relationship between the Western and indigenous world. Postcolonial scholarship in general is likely to profit from further engagement with Foucault’s thought.