IDEAS ABOUT THE PAST AND TRADITION IN THE DISCOURSE ABOUT NEO-SHAMANISM IN A NORWEGIAN CONTEXT
IDEAS ABOUT THE PAST AND TRADITION IN THE DISCOURSE ABOUT NEO-SHAMANISM IN A NORWEGIAN CONTEXT

Summary/Abstract: This paper concerns the idea of neo-shamanism within modern popular religion. Within new religious movements, new religiosity or New Age, the interest in what has been perceived of as old religions is growing steadily. One of these old religions is shamanism, often called neo-shamanism in its modern shaping. This interest in shamanism has been met with considerable ciriticism from without, using arguments that says that new shamanism has nothing to do with “real” shamanism, it is being misunderstood, distorted, etc. This criticism has been met with the “tradition” as an argument, and the “new” shamanism is from “within” being understood in terms of unbroken traditions in certain places in the world. The value of tradition and traditional thoughts are being highlighted in these arguments.

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