Research Catalog
Microbes and other shamanic beings
- Title
- Microbes and other shamanic beings / César E. Giraldo Herrera.
- Author
- Giraldo Herrera, César Enrique
- Publication
- [Cham, Switzerland] : Palgrave Macmillan, [2018]
- ©2018
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFD 18-4327 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xx, 274 pages : illustrations; 22 cm
- Summary
- Shamanism is commonly understood through reference to spirits and souls. However, these terms were introduced by Christian missionaries as part of the colonial effort of conversion. So, rather than trying to comprehend shamanism through medieval European concepts, this book examines it through ideas that started developing in the West after encountering Amerindian shamans. Microbes and Other Shamanic Beings develops three major arguments: First, since their earliest accounts Amerindian shamanic notions have had more in common with current microbial ecology than with Christian religious beliefs. Second, the human senses allow the unaided perception of the microbial world; for example, entoptic vision allows one to see microscopic objects flowing through the retina and shamans employ techniques that enhance precisely these kinds of perception. Lastly, the theory that some diseases are produced by living agents acquired through contagion was proposed right after Contact in relation to syphilis, an important subject of pre-Contact Amerindian medicine and mythology, which was treasured and translated by European physicians. Despite these early translations, the West took four centuries to rediscover germs and bring microbiology into mainstream science. Giraldo Herrera reclaims this knowledge and lays the fundaments for an ethnomicrobiology. It will appeal to anyone curious about shamanism and willing to take it seriously and to those enquiring about the microbiome, our relations with microbes and the long history behind them.
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-256) and index.
- Call Number
- JFD 18-4327
- ISBN
- 3319713175
- 9783319713175
- LCCN
- 2017961840
- OCLC
- 1007058276
- Author
- Giraldo Herrera, César Enrique, author.
- Title
- Microbes and other shamanic beings / César E. Giraldo Herrera.
- Publisher
- [Cham, Switzerland] : Palgrave Macmillan, [2018]
- Copyright Date
- ©2018
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-256) and index.
- Research Call Number
- JFD 18-4327