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  • Contemporary Shamanisms in Norway: Religion, Entrepreneurship, and Politics by Trude Fonneland
  • Lisbeth Mikaelsson
Trude Fonneland. Contemporary Shamanisms in Norway: Religion, Entrepreneurship, and Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. 234 pp.

Neoshamanism, or just shamanism, as Trude Fonneland prefers to call it, is a fast-growing, international movement. It is fueled by criticism of technology-dominated, modern Western societies, the Christian Church, and ethnic as well as religio-cultural repression of “others.” Ideals and directions for religious development are found in opposite, “peripheral” phenomena—indigenous religions, spiritual quests, folk traditions, nature, and wilderness. Contemporary Sámi neoshamanism, which gets most of the attention in this book, is part of the movement. The author locates its beginning in the international neoshamanism that originated in the United States, more specifically through the activities and influence of anthropologist Michael Harner. According to the book, however, the Norwegian context plays a pertinent role in the evolution of Sámi shamanism: Norway’s natural scenery in the North, the country’s history of ethnic repression of the Sámi people, its legal religious framework, and the national politics around religion are all factors. The ambition to find out how “a global culture of shamanism interacts with a specific local culture” (p. 4) permeates the study. Contemporary Shamanisms in Norway is an in-depth exploration of a limited but central number of topics elucidated by theoretical references and considerations; it is definitely not a textbook-style survey of a religious movement.

Having studied shamanism in Norway for 11 years, folklorist Trude Fonneland is an expert on the subject. As a professor in the Department of Culture Studies at the University of Tromsø, she is part of that university’s highly productive research milieu on indigenous religions and Sámi religion in the city of Tromsø in Northern Norway. Among her numerous publications is the edited volume Nordic Neoshamanism (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) with co-editors Siv Ellen Kraft and James R. Lewis.

In seven chapters, Contemporary Shamanisms in Norway analyzes views on nature and gender, the festival Isogaisa, the establishment of the organization Sjamanistisk forbund (the Shamanistic Association), and touristic aspects. The history of Sámi neoshamanism is assessed, with its rituals, sacred places, divinities, and key figures. Interviews with key practitioners as well as participant observation at ceremonies, rituals, and other occasions constitute the methodological basis of the study. The voices of the shamans are integrated in the shaping of the texts, and their views and experiences are respectfully given perspective by way of theory and relevant contextualization. [End Page 410]

As the plural “shamanisms” in the title indicates, shamanism in Norway is more than Sámi shamanism. Norwegian shamans may be organized into different national networks or may prefer to practice shamanistic rituals alone. The Shamanistic Association (SA), established in 2012, is a special case. It is financially supported by the state as a religious community, maintaining the right to perform baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and funerals. Fonneland delineates how the community came into being and explores challenges involved in SA’s conformity with the Christian model of a religious community. To present a full picture of shamanisms in Norway is not the author’s intention, however. As mentioned above, the main focus is on Sámi shamanism, with emphasis on its interrelationship with Sámi indigeneity and its embeddedness in Northern Norway. Given the book’s interesting explorations of such political and cultural aspects, this is a rewarding choice of focus.

When was the beginning of Sámi neoshamanism? Fonneland points to the Alta demonstrations of 1978–1981 as a crucial point of departure for a Sámi cultural revival with a focus on Sámi rights, traditions, and heritage (p. 22). The so-called “Alta affair” was a political protest against a decision by the Norwegian Parliament to develop hydroelectric power from the Alta-Kautokeino River in Finnmark, which lies in the heartland of the Sámi settlement. In contrast to former demonstrations against the damming up of waterfalls and rivers in Norway, the Alta demonstrations were not just motivated by environmental concerns but also by the negative effects of hydroelectric power for Sámi people practicing traditional reindeer herding. Reports of...

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