Interpretation of Interviews.

In order to write this dissertation I decided to do a few interviews. This is to enable me to understand more fully, the various viewpoints on what Shamanism is all about. I, myself follow a tradition of Shamanism and so am fortunate enough to have access to people who may have answers, as to what is Shamanism, and how does art relate to it. These interviews were either conducted in person and taped or took place over an Internet connection. Five people were chosen, a Reverend, a dancer, a schizophrenic, a mother and a technologist and each follows a different tradition of their own.
As to the question of what a shaman is, answers varied considerably, mostly, I think, due to the large multidimensional scope of the role itself. From the answers, Shamanism seems to be found in people who have a connection to the 'otherworld', a term describing an alternate reality which emerges from the consciousness of the beings (sentient and non-sentient on this planet. Shamen can, through what it thought of as movement, move into this reality through willpower, learn through trances, and affect both this world and the other.

Shamanic artwork helps both the Shaman, and any less shamanically inclined people. To the Shaman, it is almost like a recoding of a state, which can allow him to recapture that state. To the less shamanically inclined, it can offer trance like states which have power to affect their lives. There seems to be no consensus on what made artwork shamanic. Some thought artwork became Shamanic through intent, just as anything can be art, if it is intended as art, any art can be shamanic if it is intended as shamanic. Others believed that all artwork was inherently shamanic since art causes an emotional or psychological response, which is mirrored by movement in the other world essentiall a shamanic trait.

Modern Shamanism, in the opinion of most of those I interviewed, seems to be a very distant cousin of the Shamanism practiced before the time of modern man. Modern Shamanism is generally considered much weaker, confidence in it is less, to the point where only one person of those I interviewed believed in himself enough to say yes, he was a shaman, despite that fact that when reminded of their definitions of what a Shaman was, they all agreed that they fitted the bill. It was generally agreed that the problem with Shamanism was the lack of a role in society for them, and that they had to take on other roles in order to fit in.