ANGAKKOQ

“Visionary and dreamer”; theGreenlandicshaman (pl.angakkut; alsoilisiitsoqsing.,ilisiitsutpl.). Missionary Hans Egede in 1721 offered the first detailed account of shamanism on the west coast of Greenland, describing how the shaman is bound with his head between his legs, his hands behind his back, and adrumat his side. The community gathered in the darkness of the house sings for the shaman, who calls on hisspirit helpersto aid his unfettering. Thus untied, he ascends on ajourneythrough the roof of the house to the spirit world, where he consultsancestorshamans and then returns to his people with important knowledge to maintain harmony between the worlds of spirits and humans.The Greenlandic angakkoq was amediatorbetween human andother-than-humanpersons, ensuringtabooswere maintained and attempting reconciliation where they were broken. Sickness was interpreted as a result of breaching taboos, sohealingrequired confessions to transgressions on the part of the patient. In her important review of reports by the Egede family ofChristianmissionaries and the Danish ethnographersKnud Rasmussenand Gustav Holm, among others,MereteDemant JakobsenfollowsSergeiShirokogoroff’s assessment ofSiberianshamanism and characterizes the angakkoq as a “master ofspirits.” The emphasis on control (over the other-than-human people shamans engage with) is fitting for shamanisms of theArcticand parts ofSiberia, but is not a universal feature of shamanisms. Rather than attempt to pin shamans down to a checklist of features, a decentered approach localizes shamans in specific socio-historical circumstances.