Perspective

The perspective of this work is that of a participant observer. In anthropology and other social sciences, this involves a person making formal and informal observations of a group's culture and workings while also participating in the group and the activities being observed. Participant observation is a respected qualitative method for engaging in anthropological and other human dimensions research. In most scholarly studies, the findings from the participant observation are placed within the scholarly literature of the discipline. Harner states that this is his perspective when he describes the book as a combination of his review of scholarly works on shamanism and his personal observations obtained from his time living with and visiting tribes in North and South America.

Harner's credibility is reinforced by his academic status, transparency of methods, and his references to the accepted works of others. The reader is led to accept his expert status...