Re: Carlos Casteneda

Aeromer (aeromer@ix.netcom.com)
1 Apr 1995 05:47:14 GMT

>Well, this would seem to fit Don Juan's "own" statements about himself

--
>he explicitly told Carlos that his views were not typical of Yaqui
indians.
>
It becomes easier to understand Casteneda when you know that he was born
and raised in northern Peru and that it is Peruvian shamanism he is
describing. It is quite possible that he never spent any time with the
Yaqui. Read his dissertation which is an adaption of "Don Juan". The
original "Yaqui Way of Knowledge" was submitted but rejected by his UCLA
committee. Everything after the first work is "Pulp Anthropology". A
serious question for this group is who is the 20th Century's most
important anthropologist? I say it is a toss-up between Mead and
Casteneda, not because either one practiced or published sound
anthropology but more students know them than anyone else in the field!