manvir singh
@manvir.bsky.social
anthropologist at uc davis.
contributing writer at the new yorker.
author of SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION (knopf + allen lane).
contributing writer at the new yorker.
author of SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION (knopf + allen lane).
Excited to speak with Prof. Charles Stang tomorrow (Wednesday, October 15th) about my new book, "Shamanism: The Timeless Religion"!
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
October 14, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Excited to speak with Prof. Charles Stang tomorrow (Wednesday, October 15th) about my new book, "Shamanism: The Timeless Religion"!
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
I'm giving a free book talk next Wednesday at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Come by if you're in the Boston area!
September 5, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I'm giving a free book talk next Wednesday at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Come by if you're in the Boston area!
Why do societies reliably develop strikingly similar traditions like dance songs, hero stories, shamanism & justice institutions?
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
August 25, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Why do societies reliably develop strikingly similar traditions like dance songs, hero stories, shamanism & justice institutions?
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
I'm speaking about my book, "Shamanism: The Timeless Religion," tomorrow in NYC at the Society for Ethical Culture. Come if you're around!
Details and free RSVP here: ethical.nyc/events/books...
Details and free RSVP here: ethical.nyc/events/books...
June 16, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I'm speaking about my book, "Shamanism: The Timeless Religion," tomorrow in NYC at the Society for Ethical Culture. Come if you're around!
Details and free RSVP here: ethical.nyc/events/books...
Details and free RSVP here: ethical.nyc/events/books...
Honored that SHAMANISM is one of @newyorker.com's Best Books We Read This Week!!
May 28, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Honored that SHAMANISM is one of @newyorker.com's Best Books We Read This Week!!
If you'd like to learn more about these topics—trance, gods, healing, psychedelics, spirituality across cultures, deep human patterns—check out my book, Shamanism: The Timeless Religion.
US edition: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339...
UK edition: www.penguin.co.uk/books/456535...
Thanks!!
US edition: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339...
UK edition: www.penguin.co.uk/books/456535...
Thanks!!
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
If you'd like to learn more about these topics—trance, gods, healing, psychedelics, spirituality across cultures, deep human patterns—check out my book, Shamanism: The Timeless Religion.
US edition: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339...
UK edition: www.penguin.co.uk/books/456535...
Thanks!!
US edition: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339...
UK edition: www.penguin.co.uk/books/456535...
Thanks!!
Shamanism is often considered archaic or confined to remote societies. But my book argues otherwise. Shamanism is a hyper-compelling means of dealing with life's uncertainty, and humans recreate it nearly everywhere we go.
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Shamanism is often considered archaic or confined to remote societies. But my book argues otherwise. Shamanism is a hyper-compelling means of dealing with life's uncertainty, and humans recreate it nearly everywhere we go.
9. Finally, here's a video I took in 2017 of Mentawai shamans (sikerei) on Siberut Island, Indonesia. This dance, lajo simagre, is said to be so beautiful that spirits and souls flock to the dance floor, at which point the shamans enter trance.
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
9. Finally, here's a video I took in 2017 of Mentawai shamans (sikerei) on Siberut Island, Indonesia. This dance, lajo simagre, is said to be so beautiful that spirits and souls flock to the dance floor, at which point the shamans enter trance.
8. Shamans in Inner Mongolia (China) use drums, dancing, and chanting to invite spirits to possess them. Healing rituals often culminate with shamans collapsing from energetic depletion.
From Ken Hermann's short film "SHAMAN" (2017)
From Ken Hermann's short film "SHAMAN" (2017)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
8. Shamans in Inner Mongolia (China) use drums, dancing, and chanting to invite spirits to possess them. Healing rituals often culminate with shamans collapsing from energetic depletion.
From Ken Hermann's short film "SHAMAN" (2017)
From Ken Hermann's short film "SHAMAN" (2017)
7. Pentecostal preacher Kenneth Hagin releases the Holy Spirit with a "Ha!" or flick of the wrist. Congregants erupt in intense, uncontrollable laughter—often understood as healing, deliverance, or spiritual renewal.
From the YT channel The Anointing
From the YT channel The Anointing
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
7. Pentecostal preacher Kenneth Hagin releases the Holy Spirit with a "Ha!" or flick of the wrist. Congregants erupt in intense, uncontrollable laughter—often understood as healing, deliverance, or spiritual renewal.
From the YT channel The Anointing
From the YT channel The Anointing
6. Zulu healers (sangoma) in eastern South Africa summon spirits, including the god Umvelinqangi, and speak to them.
From Ton Van der Lee's "The Spirits of Africa" series
From Ton Van der Lee's "The Spirits of Africa" series
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
6. Zulu healers (sangoma) in eastern South Africa summon spirits, including the god Umvelinqangi, and speak to them.
From Ton Van der Lee's "The Spirits of Africa" series
From Ton Van der Lee's "The Spirits of Africa" series
5. Tidikawa, a Bedamini shaman in Papua New Guinea, channels his spirit-daughter and divines happenings in a neighboring group. Watch how the group sings back everything he utters.
From "The Spirit World of Tidikawa," dir. by Jef and Su Doring (1972)
From "The Spirit World of Tidikawa," dir. by Jef and Su Doring (1972)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
5. Tidikawa, a Bedamini shaman in Papua New Guinea, channels his spirit-daughter and divines happenings in a neighboring group. Watch how the group sings back everything he utters.
From "The Spirit World of Tidikawa," dir. by Jef and Su Doring (1972)
From "The Spirit World of Tidikawa," dir. by Jef and Su Doring (1972)
4. Under the protection and guidance of a shaman, a group of Barasana men, in Colombia, consume ayahuasca to travel beyond the Milky Way and transform into the first people.
From "The War of the Gods" (1971, voiceover by anthropologist Stephen Hugh-Jones)
From "The War of the Gods" (1971, voiceover by anthropologist Stephen Hugh-Jones)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
4. Under the protection and guidance of a shaman, a group of Barasana men, in Colombia, consume ayahuasca to travel beyond the Milky Way and transform into the first people.
From "The War of the Gods" (1971, voiceover by anthropologist Stephen Hugh-Jones)
From "The War of the Gods" (1971, voiceover by anthropologist Stephen Hugh-Jones)
3. Katy, a Haitian Vodou priestess (mambo), leads a ceremony in which lwa (spirits) are honored & called to "mount" (possess) participants. Once possessed, a mambo can heal, reveal hidden truths, & perform blessings.
From "The Vodou Healer," dir. by Lucy Walker (2016)
From "The Vodou Healer," dir. by Lucy Walker (2016)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
3. Katy, a Haitian Vodou priestess (mambo), leads a ceremony in which lwa (spirits) are honored & called to "mount" (possess) participants. Once possessed, a mambo can heal, reveal hidden truths, & perform blessings.
From "The Vodou Healer," dir. by Lucy Walker (2016)
From "The Vodou Healer," dir. by Lucy Walker (2016)
2. A shaman in Gilgit-Baltistan (Pakistan) inhales juniper and communicates with fairies, who tell him about the future.
From the YT channel MountainInsider
From the YT channel MountainInsider
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
2. A shaman in Gilgit-Baltistan (Pakistan) inhales juniper and communicates with fairies, who tell him about the future.
From the YT channel MountainInsider
From the YT channel MountainInsider
1. Demnime, a Nganasan shaman of the Russian Far North, drums in a ceremony to journey to another world. This was filmed in 1977 but wasn't released in full until two decades later.
From "The Shaman" by Lennart Meri (1997)
From "The Shaman" by Lennart Meri (1997)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
1. Demnime, a Nganasan shaman of the Russian Far North, drums in a ceremony to journey to another world. This was filmed in 1977 but wasn't released in full until two decades later.
From "The Shaman" by Lennart Meri (1997)
From "The Shaman" by Lennart Meri (1997)
Across these videos, you'll see the core features of shamanism. Specialists enter altered states, engage w/ unseen forces, & deliver services like healing & divination. But you'll also see incredible diversity. Shamanism is near universal yet its expressions are endlessly varied.
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Across these videos, you'll see the core features of shamanism. Specialists enter altered states, engage w/ unseen forces, & deliver services like healing & divination. But you'll also see incredible diversity. Shamanism is near universal yet its expressions are endlessly varied.
Today is publication day for my book, Shamanism: The Timeless Religion. To celebrate, here are some of the most striking clips of shamanic rituals that I came across while working on the book:
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Today is publication day for my book, Shamanism: The Timeless Religion. To celebrate, here are some of the most striking clips of shamanic rituals that I came across while working on the book:
Supremely stoked to sign my first copy of SHAMANISM—for none other than legendary ethnobotanist Wade Davis!!!
May 15, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Supremely stoked to sign my first copy of SHAMANISM—for none other than legendary ethnobotanist Wade Davis!!!
Popular stories about traditional psychedelic use are convenient marketing ploys. But by distorting the anthropological evidence, they flatten history and push simplistic images that distract us from both the genuine similarities and staggering differences in spiritual practices.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Popular stories about traditional psychedelic use are convenient marketing ploys. But by distorting the anthropological evidence, they flatten history and push simplistic images that distract us from both the genuine similarities and staggering differences in spiritual practices.
Watch this clip from “Magical Death”: Yanomamö shamans inhale a psychedelic snuff to destroy the souls of enemy children. Widespread narratives often whitewash Indigenous use, ignoring contexts like this to depict psychedelics as singularly positive & therapeutic.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Watch this clip from “Magical Death”: Yanomamö shamans inhale a psychedelic snuff to destroy the souls of enemy children. Widespread narratives often whitewash Indigenous use, ignoring contexts like this to depict psychedelics as singularly positive & therapeutic.
Historically and cross-culturally, psychedelics have been consumed less by patients and more by shamans, who use the substances to access the supernatural & provide services like divination, physical healing, weather change, and harmful sorcery.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Historically and cross-culturally, psychedelics have been consumed less by patients and more by shamans, who use the substances to access the supernatural & provide services like divination, physical healing, weather change, and harmful sorcery.
5. Experts, like Charles Grob in this interview with Goop, sometimes claim that modern psychedelic therapy resembles ancient & Indigenous use: Healers are said to administer psychedelics to patients for psychological healing.
This is a major misrepresentation.
This is a major misrepresentation.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
5. Experts, like Charles Grob in this interview with Goop, sometimes claim that modern psychedelic therapy resembles ancient & Indigenous use: Healers are said to administer psychedelics to patients for psychological healing.
This is a major misrepresentation.
This is a major misrepresentation.
4. Scholars s/times cite art & literature as signs of ancient psychedelic use. But the evidence is weaker than often acknowledged. To take one of many examples, these Peruvian sculptures have been presented as "mushroom stones" yet they're widely considered penises—or even a hoax.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
4. Scholars s/times cite art & literature as signs of ancient psychedelic use. But the evidence is weaker than often acknowledged. To take one of many examples, these Peruvian sculptures have been presented as "mushroom stones" yet they're widely considered penises—or even a hoax.
3. The most popular example of supposed ancient use—ayahuasca in the Peruvian Amazon—is likely a postcolonial phenomenon. Bernd Brabec de Mori has done incredible research suggesting that ayahuasca spread through the Peruvian Amazon w/ missionaries & the rubber trade.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
3. The most popular example of supposed ancient use—ayahuasca in the Peruvian Amazon—is likely a postcolonial phenomenon. Bernd Brabec de Mori has done incredible research suggesting that ayahuasca spread through the Peruvian Amazon w/ missionaries & the rubber trade.