BOOK LAUNCH AT THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
Thursday 26 March 2026, 4.00 – 6.00pm (GMT)
This is a hybrid event.
For the Zoom, please register here
For in Person attendance at the RAI (50 Fitzroy Street, W1T 5BT London), please register here
Shamans
Max Carocci (Royal Anthropological Institute; Adjunct Professor of Visual Arts and Art History at Richmond American University, London)
Entering trance states, healing body and soul, invoking animals as spirit guides and journeying to incorporeal realms – these skills have been central to shamanism over thousands of years and across much of the world, from the Evenki shamans of northern and central Asia to contemporary Neo-Shamans of the West.
Join cultural and social anthropologist Max Carocci as he explores an eclectic array of shamanic artefacts and images, decoding the symbolism and explaining their extraordinary shamanic ritual practices. Marvel at the adornments of a Siberian shaman’s coat; examine the prehistoric rock art that depicts mystical transformations of shamans into animals; and discover the psychotropic plants that open our minds to interdimensional journeys of healing and wisdom.
Carocci makes the manifold meanings encoded in the forms, colours and purposes of shamanic images and objects clear, painting a vibrant and in-depth picture of shamanic cultures past and present.
The book is published by Thames & Hudson. It can be purchased here:
https://www.thamesandhudson.com/products/shamans?srsltid=AfmBOopDvSpqc1WNb2qJ8G8kGVP-wGoyDgw_xSPJe-mpZu9pT77ckTa1