The Gift of Life: Female Spirituality and Healing in Northern Peru [Paperback]

Bonnie Glass-Coffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

In this uniquely personal account of the lives and healing arts of female shamans in northern Peru, the author alternates diaristic writings about her own experiences with ethnographic description. Her analytical essays explore the concepts of sorcery, shamanism, and witchcraft, case studies of Peruvian women and their ritual healing techniques, the healers' religious and symbolic space, and the healing attributes unique to women. They alternate with chapters in which Glass-Coffin describes her introduction to Peru as a high school student, the traditional roles she adopted in her host family, the crisis that rocked her identity, her first ritual contact with a female healer, and her own tumultuous but ultimately rewarding healing journey under two female shamans. Male shamans, she concludes, sally forth into the spirit world to do individual combat with the sources of spiritual illness, whereas female shamans try to involve their patients more directly in their own healing.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This remarkable work of anthropology breaks new ground in the study of Latin American female shamanism.

About the Author

Bonnie Glass-Coffin is an associate professor of anthropology and director of the anthropology program at Utah State University in Logan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826318932
• ISBN-13: 978-0826318930
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #557,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent contribution to the field of shamanic studies., July 8, 1999

By 

Ted Fortier ([e-mail]) (Seattle, WA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gift of Life: Female Spirituality and Healing in Northern Peru (Paperback)

What kind of world view requires shamans (curanderas)? How do we make sense out of such phenomena? Bonnie Glass-Coffin's very readable and enjoyable book introduces the reader to the pre-contact world of the Peruvian Indians, and links that reality to the post-contact trauma of the people today. Based on more than five years of field work, the "Gift of Life" is a true gift to anyone who is fascinated by different cultural ways of knowing, and the forms of cultural resistance and adaptation that enable a society to endure. This volume is a very important addition to the anthropology of religion and to the field of women's studies. The balance of research, first person accounts, and interviews provide a wonderful forum for understanding the function spirituality has in the lives of the oppressed and marginalized. Dr. Glass-Coffin understands the nuances of ritual, adding a richness to the manner in which she describes, evaluates, and analyzes the historical and social structures of contemporary Peruvian curanderas and their practices. The researcher, the scholar, the student, as well as the casual reader will find this attention to the lived reality of the people very valuable. The first part of the book introduces the reader to a variety of aspects relating to shamanism. These include issues of sorcery, dualism, world view, and healing traditions. This is followed by stories of five women healers, and descriptions of their social-cultural milieu and methods of healing. Glass-Coffin, in the best tradition of anthropological fieldwork, describes how she became an active participant observer to the rituals and lives of the curanderas. This leads the reader into a vibrant encounter with the cultural constructions and understandings of healing spirituality that is present in Northern Peru today. The final section of the "The Gift of Life" examines and discusses issues of patriarchy and gender, the use of symbols and religious experience, the feminine approach to God, and the role of transformation of self in shamanic healing. The use of Och's Five Part Model of Healing is particularly useful in summarizing the processes discussed in the book. Glass-Coffin's academic rigor makes this book an important tool for the classroom, as it opens up the complexity of social stratification, culture change, women's spheres of power, and issues of poverty. I use this book as a primary text in my own course on the Anthropology of Shamanism. It is a book that students enjoy and that avails itself to a variety of interpretations and discussions. While I also use Marjorie Balzer's book ("Shamanic Worlds") and Stacey Schaffer and Peter Furst's "People of the Peyote," I have found that "The Gift of Life: Female Spirituality and Healing in Northern Peru," is a text that incorporates the major themes and issues of shamanism into a forum that is accessible and extremely readable. Footnotes are well placed and concise, the Spanish-Indian glossary is very helpful, and the reference section is useful for further studies.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Contemporary Women Healers in Peru, October 17, 2001

By 

Cynthia Sue Larson "www.realityshifters.com" (San Francisco bay area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Gift of Life: Female Spirituality and Healing in Northern Peru (Paperback)

Prior to THE GIFT OF LIFE, little had been written about the role women play in healing and shamanism in Northern Peru. Part of the reason for this oversight had to do with the way European colonization brought the concept of "witchcraft" to Peru, and the fact that Peruvian women who practiced traditional healing arts were frequently beaten and tortured until they confessed to standard European-style "witchcraft" practices. Author Bonnie Glass-Coffin was trained as an anthropologist, so she knew that women have historically played a large part in shamanism from looking at the ancient sculptures of the Moche and Chimu, which both portray women involved in healing arts. With the intention to find and interview modern-day women shamans in Peru, Glass-Coffin set out to do exactly that.

Bonnie Glass-Coffin shares the stories from five female curanderas (shamans) she met with between April 1988 and September 1989. Her extraordinary book, THE GIFT OF LIFE, describes the daily life of these female curanderas and the story of how they became healers, and includes black and white photographs of their mesas (curing altars) and healing herbs (plants such as the San Pedro cactus). Glass-Coffin's background in anthropology and her accounts of her experiences living in Peru as she grew up give this book a unique feeling of personal relevance and social perspective.

I was impressed that THE GIFT OF LIFE does not shy away from describing the ways curanderas have used their spiritual powers on some occasions for sorcery. Glass-Coffin describes "dano" as intended harm by sorcery, and tells stories and includes pictures of how Peruvians have discovered and dealt with the harmful magic of others. She also describes some of the differences between male and female healers in Peru -- such as the way female curanderas tend to involve patients more directly in their healing. I was also impressed that Glass-Coffin described her own personal involvement being healed by curanderas, giving this book tremendous warmth. The first-hand accounts of what it feels like to suffer as the recipient of a dano help the reader better understand the way our thoughts and feelings affect one another.

I give this book my highest recommendation to anyone who is interested in ancient traditional ways of healing, wishes to know what is unique about women healers, and is intrigued by reading stories about how our thoughts and feelings affect others.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Miss this one!, June 18, 2000

By 

"mrneims" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gift of Life: Female Spirituality and Healing in Northern Peru (Paperback)

This most engaging book offers a first hand anthropological/sociological look at healing rituals as performed by several women healers in Northern Peru. The book is made richer and more compelling by Glass-Coffin's accounts of her personal growth as a result of her experiences with these gifted healers. This book is a a rich accounting of those experiences. It is not often that one finds such a blend of academic scholarship and personal sharing of self.