Myerhoff, Barbara (1935–1985) – One of the earliest anthropologists of Huichol (Wixáritari) shamanism, Myerhoff was one of the first non-Huichol (with Peter Furst) to participate in the annual pilgrimage to Wirikùta to gather the entheogen peyote, as detailed in her book Peyote Hunt (1974). Much of Myerhoff’s ethnographic material engaged with the shaman Ramón Medina Silva. In the Department of Anthropology at the University of Southern California, her research on the anthropology of ritual, life histories, and women and religion (especially Judaism) was influential, and Myerhoff’s work also reached beyond academia with popular books, film, and theater.
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007
