ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on three ways scholars called "intellectual shamans" connect across boundaries to inform, learn from, or engage with practice, in the context of research settings and with other researchers and students. The shaman is the healer in traditional cultures, often known as medicine man or woman. The three roles of the shaman—healing, connecting, and sense-making—need further explication, as does the idea of the shaman. Shamans can be found in virtually all cultures and geographies. Indeed, shamanism is often said to be the world's oldest spiritual tradition. The shaman is fundamentally a healer. According to Kahili King, and relevant to the idea of collaboration across academic–practice boundaries, the shaman is a healer of relationships of all sorts—to self, other, community, the world. Intellectual shamans seek out and focus on big ideas, big picture thinking, and making a difference in their work. Necessarily big picture ideas transcend boundaries.
