Polynesia – A subdivision of Oceania or the Pacific Islands (along with Micronesia and Melanesia), including islands in a vast triangular area of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii, New Zealand, and Rapa Nui (Easter Island), that does not always refer to clear cultural or geographical distinctions. Claims have been made that shamans can be identified in traditional cultures throughout the region but are complicated by controversy about the projection of neo-shamanic interpretations onto ritualists and healers of various kinds. Claims about Hawaiian shamanism are particularly fraught.
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007
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