国外北美印第安人萨满教研究述评

目前,国际学术界普遍认同的萨满教研究的起点为欧洲民族学者于17世纪下半叶对西伯利亚地区萨满教所进行的调查和研究。随着萨满教研究向纵深展开,来自世界各地的民族志材料证明萨满教是一种普遍存在的宗教现象,并不局限于西伯利亚。居于北美的土著民族亦有着古老的萨满教传统,且积淀丰厚,与西伯利亚地区典型的萨满教既有相似之处也存在显著差别,丰富了萨满教的研究对象且扩大了其研究范围。就学界对北美萨满教的研究情况来看,国内国外差距明显,少有中国学者涉足这一领域,而来自美国、加拿大、法国和瑞典等国学者都进行过相关研究并取得了丰硕的成果。

A Review on the Research of Shamanism among North American Indians

It has been generally accepted by the academia that shamanism research begins with European scholars' investigations among Siberian peoples in the latter half of the 17th century.With the further development of shamanism,more and more ethnographic materials collected from the world illustrate that shamanism,as an universal religious phenomenon,not only exists within Siberian areas,but other parts of the world,such as among North American Indians.As their traditional religious form,shamanism there has a long...