Revision summary
A shaman uses trance and soul travel, as in Siberian cases Eliade used. A sorcerer harms by learned rite, as Azande sorcery shows. Witchcraft in Evans-Pritchard is a different, often inherited, accusation. A medicine man treats with herbs and ritual skill. Roles can overlap; the terms should not.
Model answer
Introduction
These three figures heal, harm, and mediate spirits, but they are not one office. Ethnography keeps the words apart.
Body
Shaman
- Mircea Eliade stressed ecstasy and a soul journey. Siberian Tungus cases named the type. Evans-Pritchard would have called this a specialist who travels, not only a priest who prays.
- Amazonian and Himalayan specialists, including some Bhotia and Naga ritualists, fit when trance and retrieval of soul are central.
Sorcerer
- A sorcerer uses techniques, medicines, and spells to injure. Evans-Pritchard’s Azande distinguished witchcraft as inherited substance from sorcery as learned rite.
- The sorcerer is often accused in feud, as in many Melanesian and African village studies.
Medicine man
- The medicine man or woman, in North American and African usage, diagnoses and treats with herbs, sucking, and song. Rivers already treated such healing as a social institution.
- One person may hold two roles. The analytic task is to name trance, malice, and therapy separately.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD SP[Spirit specialists] --> SH[Shaman journey] SP --> SO[Sorcerer technique] SP --> MD[Medicine man therapy]
Conclusion
The shaman journeys, the sorcerer attacks by art, and the medicine person treats. Azande and Siberian cases keep the triangle clear.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Household and domestic group.
Next question in the 2022 paper (Q5). View answer →
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Is every tribal healer a shaman?
No. Many priests sacrifice without trance. Reserve shaman for ecstatic mediation.
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Is sorcerer only a colonial insult?
The word is loaded, but the analytic contrast with inherited witchcraft remains useful if local terms are also given.
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