A lively exploration of the Indigenous traditions of shamanism in the Far North of Eurasia and North America.
In this book, Charles Stépanoff draws on ethnographic literature and his fieldwork in Siberia to reveal the immense contribution to human imagination made by shamans and the cognitive techniques they developed over the centuries.
Indigenous shamans are certain men and women who can travel in spirit in ways that appear mysterious to Westerners but rely on the human capacity of imagination. They perceive themselves simultaneously in two types of space—one visible, the other virtual—putting them in contact and establishing links with nonhuman beings in their surroundings. Shamans share their experience of spirit travel with their patients, families, or the wider community, allowing them to experience this odyssey through the invisible together.
This work will appeal to anthropologists and to anyone with an interest in learning about the power of imagination from the masters of the invisible, the shamans of the Far North.
In this book, Charles Stépanoff draws on ethnographic literature and his fieldwork in Siberia to reveal the immense contribution to human imagination made by shamans and the cognitive techniques they developed over the centuries.
Indigenous shamans are certain men and women who can travel in spirit in ways that appear mysterious to Westerners but rely on the human capacity of imagination. They perceive themselves simultaneously in two types of space—one visible, the other virtual—putting them in contact and establishing links with nonhuman beings in their surroundings. Shamans share their experience of spirit travel with their patients, families, or the wider community, allowing them to experience this odyssey through the invisible together.
This work will appeal to anthropologists and to anyone with an interest in learning about the power of imagination from the masters of the invisible, the shamans of the Far North.
400 pages | 58 halftones, 47 line drawings, 4 maps | 6 x 9 | © 2025
Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology, Physical Anthropology
Religion: Religion and Society
Sociology: Social Institutions
Table of Contents
Foreword – Nomads of the Imaginary, by Philippe Descola
Introduction
Part One – Traveling by Spirit
Chapter 1. Imagination and Mental Travel
Chapter 2. Argonauts of the Invisible
Chapter 3. The Dark Tent and the Light Tent
Chapter 4. The Two Shamanisms
Part Two – Technologies of the Imagination and Hierarchy
Chapter 5. The Celestials Roads of the Ket
Chapter 6. A Drum to Find Your Way in the Dark
Chapter 7. A Cosmic Journey From Home
Chapter 8. The Costume: A Cosmic Body
Chapter 9. Yakut Technologies of Virtual Space
Chapter 10. The Bear: From One Ontology to Another
Part Three – The Great Expanse of Hierarchy
Chapter 11. A Continental Expansion
Chapter 12. Why Hierarchy?
Chapter 13. Conclusion: the invisible, the image, and hierarchy
Introduction
Part One – Traveling by Spirit
Chapter 1. Imagination and Mental Travel
Chapter 2. Argonauts of the Invisible
Chapter 3. The Dark Tent and the Light Tent
Chapter 4. The Two Shamanisms
Part Two – Technologies of the Imagination and Hierarchy
Chapter 5. The Celestials Roads of the Ket
Chapter 6. A Drum to Find Your Way in the Dark
Chapter 7. A Cosmic Journey From Home
Chapter 8. The Costume: A Cosmic Body
Chapter 9. Yakut Technologies of Virtual Space
Chapter 10. The Bear: From One Ontology to Another
Part Three – The Great Expanse of Hierarchy
Chapter 11. A Continental Expansion
Chapter 12. Why Hierarchy?
Chapter 13. Conclusion: the invisible, the image, and hierarchy