Although shamanism has been treated in anthropology as specifically a primitive and indigenous phenomenon, the rise of shamanic rituals practiced by urbanites throughout the world forces us to review our analytical models. The spread of shamanism to non-indigenous cultures is part of a larger context of interchange between the local and the global that is at the center of current questions in anthropological inquiry regarding notions of culture, tradition, continuity, place and praxis. This article argues that shamanism is best viewed today as a dialogical phenomenon, rather than as an analytical category that directs the anthropological gaze. Through the comparison of two case studies from Colombia and Brazil, it demonstrates how shamanism is a dialogic practice emerging from the expectations of the various actors involved, be they Indigenous or not. Shamanism cannot be regarded as an isolated philosophy or logic without considering the social, political and historical contexts of its praxis.