Generally expressions of shamanism are associated with the lower classes of society who may be subject to great systematic oppression. This reality is exemplified in Michael Taussig's description of the colonization and slavery the Columbians.
Taussig speaks of wildness as a "death space of signification", which implies that rather than expressing subservience to the will of the colonial powers, shamans eliminate meaning as they turn away from civilization.
The "death spaces of signification" - the consequences of a culture of oppression - are a means of negation of the oppression though accepting death.
There are strong conceptual associations with the work of Dambudzo Marechera, especially his shamanistic outlook in Black Sunlight.
One also notes that Georges Bataille's writing, for instance in Unfinished System Of Nonknowledge upholds the value of seeking within a different mode of signification that has the appearance of being "nothing".
Whereas death or "nothing" seem to be the object of shamanistic seeking, one is advised to look much more deeply.
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