Shamanism: The Timeless Religion
Date and Time
Free Hybrid Book Presentation
Speaker: Manvir Singh, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Davis
What is shamanism and why has it endured across cultures and centuries? In this talk, anthropologist Manvir Singh will explore the origins and future of the world’s oldest spiritual tradition. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Indonesia, as well as trips to locations as varied as Colombia, India, and Burning Man, Singh explains what makes shamanism so psychologically resonant and why it will always re-emerge, including in industrialized, Western societies. This talk offers a fascinating look at spirituality, belief, and the mind, drawn from Singh’s new book Shamanism: The Timeless Religion (Knopf, 2025).
Books will be available for purchase and signing following the program.
Advance registration recommended for online and in-person attendance.
Free admission. Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage starting at 4:00 pm. Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.
About the Speaker
Manvir Singh is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a PhD in human evolutionary biology from Harvard University. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and his writings have also appeared in Wired, Vice, Aeon, and The Guardian, as well as in leading academic journals including Science, Nature Human Behaviour, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. He has studied the use of psychedelics in the rain forests of Colombia and, since 2014, has conducted ethnographic fieldwork with Mentawai communities on Siberut Island, Indonesia, focusing on shamanism and justice. He lives with his wife and daughter in Davis, California.
Photo by Studio Tchiz