Behind shamanism: changing voices of Siberian Khanty cosmology and politics.
M M Balzer
Social Science & Medicine 1987 DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(87)90023-2 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Ob-Ugrian Khanty (Ostiak) people of Siberia |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key findings | Argues that Siberian, particularly Khanty, shamanism has survived Soviet rule in aspects of its epistemology and curing practices, despite clashes between native medical logic and modern positivist medicine. Shamans adapted their politics, diagnoses, and symbolic actions to an increasingly cold social climate of Soviet pressure to reject shamanism as 'superstition' and 'exploitation.' |
Abstract
Siberian shamanism has roots in hunting traditions, kinship organization and soul beliefs which have changed under Soviet rule. Aspects of shamanic epistemology and curing survive, although native medical logic sometimes clashes with modern positivist medicine. Assumptions behind Siberian, particularly Khanty, shamanism are examined through analysis of training, seances and cosmology. The changing social context of shamanism is explored in a framework of Soviet pressure to reject shamanic 'superstitution' and 'exploration.' Shamans themselves have adapted their politics, diagnoses and symbolic actions to an increasingly cold social climate. Data results from ethno-historical and field research, including a summer 1975 trip to the Ob-Ugrian Khanty (Ostiak).
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Plantas con madre": plants that teach and guide in the shamanic initiation process in the East-Central Peruvian Amazon. Curanderos, apprentices, and herbalists in East-Central Peru, including Mestizo,... | 2011 | Qualitative study | n = 36 |
| Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca Healers and participants in shamanic tourism contexts of the Peruvian Amazon and... | 2019 | Ethnography with literature review | n = 227 |
| The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism Western tourists and indigenous peoples in Iquitos, Peru | 2016 | Ethnography | |
| Shamanism and Rock Art in Far Western North America Historic hunter-gatherer cultures of California and the Great Basin | 1992 | Ethnographic review and analysis | |
| Working with “La Medicina”: Elements of Healing in Contemporary Ayahuasca Rituals Ayahuasqueros and Western participants in shamanic tourism in Iquitos, Peru | 2012 | Ethnography |