Abstract
Shamanic rituals have long been a subject of curiosity among researchers and tourists. While tourist motivations from a Western perspective and issues of authenticity have been explored in shamanic tourism literature, the interaction between the shaman and the tourist during a ritual and the power relations between the two have rarely been discussed. In this paper, I investigate the roles of, and the interaction between, the shaman and a tourist in a place called Mayong in India. Throughout the years, Mayong has become famous not only as the ‘land of black magic’ and its shamans (locally known as bej) but also a place surrounded by an aura of mystery, myth and topophobia. I employ Althusser’s theory of ideology, in particular, the concepts of Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) and interpellation to analyse the interpersonal relationships in shamanic tourism based on an analysis of tourist narratives and interviews with the shamans. The findings reveal a suspension of ideological discourse and a transfer of power between the tourist and the shaman during a ritual along with a generation or affirmation of belief immediately after this transfer of power.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alper, H. P. (2002). Introduction-understanding mantras (Harvey P. Alper, Ed. 1989). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, pp. 1–14.
Althusser, L., (1969). Lenin and philosophy (B. Brewster, Trans.). New York: Monthly Review Press.
Althusser, L. (1984). Essays on ideology. New York/Michigan: Verso Books/The University of Michigan.
Althusser, L. (2014). On the reproduction of capitalism: Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. London: Verso Books.
Bernstein, A. (2008). Remapping sacred landscapes: Shamanic tourism and cultural production on the Olkhon Island. Sibirica, 7(2), 23–46.
Boyd, J. R., Knudsen, D. C., Braverman, L. C., & Roland, M. (2014). Tourism, performance, and place: A geographic perspective (p. 180). Burlington/Farnham: Ashgate.
Brooks, D. R. (1990). The secret of the three cities: An introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Carnoy, M. (1986). The state and political theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cremers, G. (2010). Shaping the Sacred: Andean Shamanic Ritual, Mystical Tourism, and the Exploration of Authenticity in Pisaq, Peru. Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Utrecht.
Davidov, V. M. (2010). Shamans and shams: The discursive effects of ethnotourism in Ecuador. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 15(2), 387–410.
DeRios, M. D. (1994). Drug tourism in the Amazon. Anthropology of Consciousness, 5(1), 16–19.
DeRios, M. D. (2006). Mea culpa: Drug tourism and the anthropologist’s responsibility. Anthropology News, 47(7), 20.
Dijk, V. T. A. (1998). Ideology. London: Sage Publications.
Edson, G., 2008. Shamanism: A cross-cultural study of beliefs and practices. McFarland.
Eliade, M. (1964/2004). Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy. New York: Bollingen Foundation; Pantheon Books.
Fotiou. (2014). On the uneasiness of tourism. In B. C. Labate & C. Cavnar (Eds.), Ayahuasca shamanism in the amazon and beyond (pp. 159–181). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gokhale, J. B. (1971). Tantrism and political ideology a study of ninth century Angkor. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 32(3), 319–331.
Goswami, V. (1994). Potent words, potent objects: ‘doing mantras’ in Assamese everyday life. PhD thesis, Michigan State University, Department of Anthropology.
Goswami, V. (2013). Enigma of Mayong: From mystery to healing art-form. North-East Review. Blog post Available from https://northeastreview.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/enigma-of-mayong/. 12 Oct 2013.
Gray, D. B. (2016). Tantra and the tantric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion/Oxford University Press.
Gulia, K. S. (2005). Human ecology of Sikkim – A case study of upper Rangit Basin. Delhi: Kalpaz Publications.
Hammons, C. S. (2015). Shamanism, tourism, and secrecy: Revelation and concealment in Siberut, Western Indonesia. Ethnos, 80(4), 548–567.
Harner. (1982). The way of the shaman. New York: Bantam Books.
Kalita, D. K. (1992). A study of the magical beliefs and practices in Assam with special reference to magical Lore of Mayong. PhD thesis, Gauhati University.
Kehoe, A. (2000). Shamans and religion: An anthropological exploration in critical thinking. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press.
Krajick, K. (1992). Vision quest. Newsweek, June, 15(119), 24.
MacCannell, D. (1990). The tourist: A new theory of the leisure class. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Montero, P., & Colman, A. D. (1997). Beyond tourism: Travel with shamanic intent. In D. F. Sander & S. H. Wong (Eds.), The sacred heritage: The influence of shamanism on analytical psychology (pp. 227–238). New York: Routledge.
Morehead, J. (2014). Rituals of inversion. In S. Attardo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of humor studies (pp. 649–650). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Parmar, P. K. (2014). Mayong (Assam), famous for black magic. Available from: http://www.punamchand.com/2015/02/mating-assam-famous-for-black-magic.html. 10 Oct 2013.
Prudon, H. (2011). The ‘vines of the self’: An assessment of entheogenic shamanic tourism in light of modern identity. Social Cosmos, 2, 158–162.
Ray, A. (2013). A Journey to the land of black magic, travel and deal. Available from: http://travelanddeal.com/?p=577. 20 Jan 2015.
Redfoot, D. (1984). Touristic authenticity, touristic angst, and modern reality. Qualitative Sociology, 7(4), 291–309.
Sanderson, A. (1985). Purity and power among the Brahmans of Kashmir. In M. Carrithers, S. Collins, & S. Lukes (Eds.), The category of the person: Anthropology, philosophy, history (pp. 190–216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sharma, M. (2012). Spellbound: Occult a way of life in Assam’s Mayong. Available from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Spellbound-Occult-a-way-of-life-in-Assams-Mayong/articleshow/16896900.cms. 14 March 2014.
Skoll, G. (2014). How can we know about tourism? Turydes, 7(16), 1–6.
Taussig. (1998). Viscerality, faith, and skepticism: Another theory of magic. In N. B. Dirks (Ed.), Near ruins: Cultural theory at the end of the century (pp. 257–294). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Turner. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Chicago: Aldine Pub.
Urban, H. B. (2001). The path of powers impurity, kingship, and sacrifice in Assamese Tantra. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 69(4), 777–816.
Walker, B. (1968). Hindu world, an encyclopedic survey of Hinduism (Vol. 2 Vols). London: Allen & Unwin.
Walsh, R. (1989). What is a shaman? Definition, origin and distribution. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 21(1), 1–11.
Wilson, H. H. trans. 1972. The Vishnu Purana, a system of Hindu mythology and tradition. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sharma, N. (2018). Shamanic Rituals and South Asian Tourist Perceptions. In: Yang, E., Khoo-Lattimore, C. (eds) Asian Cultures and Contemporary Tourism. Perspectives on Asian Tourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7980-1_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7980-1_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-7979-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7980-1
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)