Mana, Shamans, and the Cultural Misappropriation behind Fantasy Terms

[MGibster]

Weren't tribes and shamans also directly associated with European Picts in Howard's Conan stories?

There's also the Germanic tribes as described in antiquity by people like Tacitus. But that does fit the idea of primitive and uncivilized as the Romans were wont to describe norther Europeans.

 

[Lychee of the Exch.]

I am for everyone to use whatever terms they deem necessary in their fantasy. Misappropriation is a feature not a bug : ideas, meaning and cultures evolve that way.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Weren't tribes and shamans also directly associated with European Picts in Howard's Conan stories?

The most notable shaman in Howard’s Conan stories is the Pict, Zogar Sag, in Beyond the Black River. Picts also feature prominently in The Black Stranger. They are described as white, but are not regarded as such by their Hyborian neighbours. They have the trappings of Native Americans – warriors are called braves, wear feathers on their heads, "naked except for scanty loin-clouts", use dugout canoes, store their bows in "buckskin cases", wield axes, and take scalps.

Beyond the Black River (1935)
"The Picts were a white race, though swarthy, but the border men never spoke of them as such."
"No white man has ever plunged deep into that fastness [Pictish wilderness] and returned alive to tell us what he found."
"Balthus saw a lean figure [Zogar Sag] of middle height, almost hidden in ostrich plumes set on a harness of leather and copper. From amidst the plumes peered a hideous and malevolent face."
"He felt the eyes of the Picts upon him – hundreds of hungry, cruel eyes that reflected the lust of souls utterly without humanity as he knew it. They no longer seemed men; they were devils of this black jungle, as inhuman as the creatures to which the fiend in the nodding plumes screamed through the darkness."

The Hyborian Age (1938)
"[T]he Pict remained the eternal barbarian, ferocious, elemental, interested only in the naked primal principles of life, unchanging, unerring in his instincts which were all for war and plunder, and in which arts and the cultured progress of humanity had no place."

The Black Stranger (1953)
"They were dark-skinned men of short stature, with thickly-muscled chests and arms. They wore beaded buckskin loin-cloths, and an eagle’s feather was thrust into each black mane. They were painted in hideous designs, and heavily armed."
"The first to reach the crag was a brawny brave whose eagle feather was stained scarlet as a token of chieftainship."
"Blood-smeared braves dived howling into huts and the shrieks that rose from the interiors where women and children died beneath the red axes rose above the din of the battle."
"A feathered chief wheeled from the door, lifting a war-ax, and behind the racing Cimmerian lines of fleet-footed braves were converging upon him."
"I might as well leave you for the Picts to scalp"

Another shaman makes a brief appearance in Queen of the Black Coast (1934) as one of Bêlit’s crew, who all seem to be black people. "Bêlit... is a Shemite woman, who leads black raiders."

EDIT:
There are a few other shamans in Howard's Conan. Two are mentioned in passing in The Hour of the Dragon (1950). "[A] feathered shaman of the barbarians", probably a Pict, and a "Pictish shaman". The fragment Wolves Beyond the Border (1967) has two shamans. One is "the Wizard of the Swamp... a pre-Pictish shaman". The other is a Pict, "old Teyanoga of the South Hawks". "A feathered shaman was dancing between the fire and the altar, a slow, shuffling dance indescribably grotesque, which caused his plumes to swing and sway about him: his features were hidden by a grinning scarlet mask that looked like a forest-devil’s face."

 

[Doug McCrae]

As an aside, the last paragraph of Beyond the Black River is the most Conan-y thing ever:

"'Barbarism is the natural state of mankind,' the borderer said, still staring somberly at the Cimmerian. 'Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph.'"

 

[Aldarc]

And let's face it, if you want to appropriate from Europe you're pretty safe from criticism.

Counter-example that readily comes to mind: the Romani.

We know remarkably little about the druids aside from what the Romans wrote about them and they're not exactly an unbiased source. So what's the answer here? Should we just drop shaman entirely from D&D and make them all druids? I admit I don't have very strong feelings about this. I did just use a lizardman shaman just last week but that's the first time I can remember using one in many years. So it's not like I'm going to miss the shaman.

I'm not against using shaman in our games, but I think we should reflect about how we use them. Are we doing so in a way that implies that they are "lesser" than clerics or cultic spiritual leaders? Are they typically ascribed to antagonist factions and peoples? Do the civilized peoples of the setting also have shamans or only clerics? Is 'shaman' just a word we use synonymously with "primitive priest/cleric" in our game?

Again, I do think that RuneQuest did a better job of presenting shamanism, but that was because it's syncretic with theist religions. Spirits exist, and every day people call on them just as readily as they would the gods. Arcana Evolved did something similar actually, albeit with rune manifests, where people would call upon living rune manifestations representing concepts for day-to-day living. I believe the book where this was described was incidentally written by Mike Mearls.

Though 4e had some problems in framing shamans as "primal," to the credit of 4e, the primal source pertained to spirits. And the spirits of the Material World were the primary agents responsible for ending the Dawn War between the Gods and the Primordials. So the spirits are arguably the most mortal-aligned powers in the World Axis.

You have a valid point, but the prohibition against appropriation even applies to groups higher on the socio-economic ladder. Asians in the US have a higher median income and are more educated than any other group in the country. I realize income and education are but two metrics, but they're pretty important metrics.

The reasons why ironically involve 20th century US anti-Asian immigration laws.

 

[MGibster]

Counter-example that readily comes to mind: the Romani.

I thought about them, and if I wanted to be pedantic I'd point out that the Romani originate from India even if their diaspora places them in Europe. But until fairly recently, most Americans knew nothing about the Roma, wouldn't have any idea if they met someone with Romani ancestry, and are completely puzzled by their poor treatment in many European nations.

I'm not against using shaman in our games, but I think we should reflect about how we use them. Are we doing so in a way that implies that they are "lesser" than clerics or cultic spiritual leaders? Are they typically ascribed to antagonist factions and peoples? Do the civilized peoples of the setting also have shamans or only clerics? Is 'shaman' just a word we use synonymously with "primitive priest/cleric" in our game?

And if we reflect upon it and decide we're fine with how the word is currently used?

The reasons why ironically involve 20th century US anti-Asian immigration laws.

This is true.

 

[Aldarc]

And if we reflect upon it and decide we're fine with how the word is currently used?

Then your games go about as usual, while those who reflect on it and change their usage do so in their games/products. Hence why I find the opposition to this mild call for critical self-reflection a bit much.

 

[MGibster]

Then your games go about as usual, while those who reflect on it and change their usage do so in their games/products. Hence why I find the opposition to this mild call for critical self-reflection a bit much.

So anything other than agreement is "a bit much?"

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I'm a Finn. In the Finnish mythology 'Mana' or 'Manala' is the underworld where the spirits of the dead and various gods and other entities related to death dwell. 'Mana' as a word root is related to spirits in shamanistic sense. 'Manata' is to curse or to summon spirits or to banish them. 'Manaaja' is a summoner or an exorcists. There are other related words and sayings.

So to me it was always natural to link word 'mana' to mystical energies and magic. At some point I actually though that the use of the word in the popular media was related to Finnish usage and I was a bit bummed when I learned that this was not the case.

My oldest dog is named Mana. Despite this his magical abilities remain decidedly mediocre, though otherwise he is a good boy.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Sorry, but, we don't have to worry about cultural appropriation from dead people. The copyright on culture expires when the culture does. So, using druid is pretty much perfectly fine, since, well, there aren't any druids anymore. Yes, there are modern people who are trying to recreate druidic beliefs, I'm sure. But, again, they have no more right to the culture than anyone else.

I can't say I like how this sounds. Who decides when a culture is 'dead?' The descendants of ancient Celts still live. Sure, over time the cultural practices have changed and vanished, many intentionally destroyed by conquerors. But would you say the same callous thing about the South American native cultures? They were almost completely destroyed, their artefacts and traditions lost. Perhaps you should reconsider your words?