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Shamanism: A Reader. Edited by Graham Harvey. London: Routledge, 2003. 461 + xvpp. £18.99 (pbk), £63.00 (hbk). ISBN 0-415-25330-6 (pbk), 0-415-25329-2 (hbk)
Until recently, the name of Mircea Eliade hung over all studies of shamanism. His 1951 text Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaïques de l'extase was sacrosanct, defining a tradition in which ritual specialists embarked on an ecstatic journey to the spirit realm. The tradition, Eliade told us, was no longer found in pristine form, but from roots in Siberia through diffusion over many centuries manifested itself in derivations across broad territories. Eliade's typology separated shamans from priests-the latter indulged in "plagiaristic aping" of the original-and, as has often been argued since, claimed that shamanism had no place in Africa. He promoted a model of the spiritual realm divided into seven levels. The concept of diffusionism, however, and the idea of a historical archetype discernable from distinct and different contemporary practices are increasingly distrusted. Dissenting voices question whether shamanic and priestly behaviour really can be separated; it has become relatively commonplace for ethnographers to note a continuum of, or at least an overlap between, different ritual practice, and to question terms such as "ecstasy" and "trance," or the need for ritualists to embark on spiritual journeys.
To Harvey, Eliade is no longer central. Eliade is not among the twenty-five distinguished contributors chosen to convey the reality of a very diverse and contested ritual practice. His ideas, however, are mentioned. In the introduction they appear with telling asides: "We need not follow Eliade's...