Shamanism and gender (in)equality in South and South-East Asia

This chapter aims to discuss the role of female shamanism in so-called egalitarian societies. The main question which will be raised is if shamanism reinforces/empowers perceptions about egalitarianism or not among female and male members belonging to the same community. In anthropological literature, egalitarian societies are mostly described as groups either still following a hunting and gathering lifestyle or former hunter-gatherer societies – nowadays sedentary or semi-sedentary – practicing a mixed economy. In both cases, the groups are acephalous, and the social order is regulated by moral and ethical rules (as sharing). Although the idea of a perfect egalitarianism – originated mostly in an Eurocentric scholarly environment – is probably questionable, undoubtedly hunter-gatherer social organization is consistently based on principles of equality among all the members, and therefore also gender equality (or at least a certain amount of it) is present. But are perceptions and regulations of gender equality consistent also in the shamanic context? According to many ethnographies, it would seem that in the majority of egalitarian societies, shamanism is mostly a male priority. This was often explained by the fact that hunting was or is mostly a male activity, given that shamans are also the religious specialists leading the hunting trips

Archaeology · China · East Asia · Geography · Shamanism · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology

• From Equality to Inequality

  Csilla Dallos•From Equality to Inequality•2011

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