Recommended Books on Cross Cultural Dreaming

On the all-important question of cross-cultural dream work, and the phenomenology of dreams in other parts of the world, little material is available, much of which is seriously flawed by both the conscious and unconscious biases of political, economic, and cultural imperialism. For that reason, among others, I have written Living Labyrinth: Exploring Themes in Myths and Dreams and the Symbolism of Waking Life (Paulist Press, Feb 1998).

The Dream in Primitive Cultures by J. S. Lincoln, (Johnson Reprint Corp., 1970) contains a great deal of fascinating material, but the sensitive and intelligent reader must compensate continually for Lincoln's racism and his elitist bias toward Western culture.

The Dream in Human Societies, edited by G. E. Von Grunebaum and Roger Caillois, (University of California Press, 1966), is an excellent collection, although it is weighted heavily toward Islamic societies and does not really deliver the global perspective promised in the title.

One of the best collections is Dreaming - Anthropological and Psychological Interpretations, edited by Barbara Tedlock, (Cambridge University Press, 1987), but it still requires more than a grain of salt be taken with some of its "Tarzanist" articles.

And finally, Kelly Bulkeley’s Spiritual Dream: A Cross-cultural and Historical Journey (Paulist Press, 1995) is a marvelous survey of major images and themes of spiritual import in a cross-cultural, global context.