ABSTRACT This contribution explores the ways the different ‘minority’ groups inhabiting the Chinese side of the Sino-Russo-Mongolian borderland have negotiated their ethnic and clan belonging through the construction and worship of sacred cairns (oboo) and shamanic burial sites (shindan) throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Following the emic representation of oboo and shindan...
ABSTRACT Buryat shamanic poetry is a difficult genre to understand and to translate. Its lyrics can be challenging to understand even for native speakers, for it is believed that shamans’ spirits speak and prefer to be spoken to in a language characterized by riddles and roundabout phrases. Attendees of shamanic rituals barely understand this highly elevated language. Therefore, an assistant,...