February 1, 2019

Early China Seminar Lecture Series

Title: “Approaching Chinese Shamanism through a Comparative Context, With Assistance from the Early Chinese Song Cycle called ‘The Nine Songs’”
Speaker: Thomas Michael, Beijing Normal University
Time: February 1, 2019 (4:30-6:30 PM)
Location: 403 Kent Hall

“The Nine Songs” are included in a Chinese collection called The Songs of Chu. They reflect a form of shamanism that was performed in early China that has its roots in the hoary past of ancient Chinese religion, and this form of shamanism also played a dominant role in the shamanic performances of traditional China as well as in some areas of the modern Chinese diaspora. In this presentation, Thomas Michael discusses the ways in which “The Nine Songs” can contribute to a more global recognition of different forms of shamanism in a comparative context based on concerns of economics, gender, and the cultural logics of shamanism as a complete symbolic system.