The concept of the shaman has been widely applied but remains problematic for a number of reasons. The underlying issues are whether the concept of the shaman is strictly emic, related to a particular culture; or whether shamanism constitutes an etic or universal phenomenon, with cross-cultural applicability and commonalities derived from underlying features of human biology. The central contentions include whether shamans are specific to particular cultures or areas (e.g., Paleosiberia), whether they constitute a human universal found in all societies, or whether they are a widely distributed phenomena found in specific kinds of societies (e.g., hunter-gatherer). Cross-cultural investigations are indispensable methods for empirically addressing these questions and for establishing the nature of shamanism. This article summarizes cross-cultural studies (Winkelman 1985, 1986a&b, 1990, 1992, 1996; Winkelman and White 1987, Winkelman and Winkelman 1991) establishing the cross-cultural nature of shamanism and the universal distribution of shamanistic healers who share biological roots with shamanism. These studies also differentiate shamans from other shamanistic healers, practitioners who share similarities with shamans in their common biogenetic foundations involving the use altered states of consciousness (ASC) in community rituals involving interaction with spirits and as the basis for training and healing activities. The relationship of various types of shamanistic healers to subsistence, social and political characteristics provides evidence of the evolutionary transformation of a hunter-gatherer shamanism into other types of religious practitioners. The principal universals of shamanistic healers are assessed to identify their biogenetic structural bases involving: integrative functions of consciousness; sociophysiological mechanisms involving the attachment and bonding mechanisms; and forms of metaphoric self and other reference allowing for development of personal and social identity.
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