Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing [Paperback]

Michael Taussig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1991 | ISBN-10: 0226790134 | ISBN-13: 978-0226790138

Working with the image of the Indian shaman as Wild Man, Taussig reveals not the magic of the shaman but that of the politicizing fictions creating the effect of the real.

"This extraordinary book . . . will encourage ever more critical and creative explorations."—Fernando Coronil, [I]American Journal of Sociology[/I]

"Taussig has brought a formidable collection of data from arcane literary, journalistic, and biographical sources to bear on . . . questions of evil, torture, and politically institutionalized hatred and terror. His intent is laudable, and much of the book is brilliant, both in its discovery of how particular people perpetrated evil and others interpreted it."—Stehen G. Bunker, Social Science Quarterly

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Taussig is the Class of 1933 Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. He is the author of ten books, including What Color Is the Sacred?, Walter Benjamin’s Grave, and My Cocaine Museum, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 538 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (December 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226790134
• ISBN-13: 978-0226790138
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > History > Americas > South America > Colombia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than a simple ethnographic investigation..., January 28, 1998

By 

Henri Edward Dongieux - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing (Hardcover)

Arguably one of the most accomplished anthropologists working today, Michael Taussig provides an intensely individualistic bricolage of literary, historical, and ethnological interpretations of his many years of fieldwork in the Upper Amazon. One of the most detailed and poignant accounts of shamanism in its cultural context - will very soon be regarded as a classic.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taussig takes one on a terrifying, gut churning, horrifying, February 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing (Hardcover)

trip through the rubber boom of the 1800's in South America. From detailed historical survey to his first hand accounts of life around the Amazon, he never ceases to confront the reader with reality. His study is comprehensive in that he brings attention to all different aspects of the European, Indian and African people who live there. The study helps integrate the anthropological view of society to consider the religious, political, economic and moral as part of the collective consciousness of a community. Powerful book.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Difficult, but worth the effort., February 23, 2006

By 

Kevin Clark "anthrokev" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing (Paperback)

Michael Taussig takes a stance towards "terrorism" not common in today's world. By trying to trace the roots of this phenomenon, he brings to light many explanations and understandings many of us fail to realize, only because we have not come across them before. I give this book four stars instead of five simply because it is a difficult read, but if you are interested in what we, today, call "terrorism" and are willing to take the time to plunge into this book, then it will certainly be worth your while.