Shamanism and Cultural Evidence of Intangible Violence in Tyva, Siberia
Anthropos 2022 DOI: 10.5771/0257-9774-2022-2-473 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Shamans and clients in counter-cursing consultations in Kyzyl, Republic of Tuva, southern Siberia |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key findings | Argues that in Tuva, shamans act as purveyors of "forensic" evidence of cursing and as arbiters of justice, and that counter-cursing consultations express a social perception of shamanism as redress for violence that transcends the limits of state law. Two shamanic narratives of affliction and professionalization illustrate charisma for healing and revenge respectively, from which a new kind of "forensic" evidence of crime and violence emerges. |
Abstract
This article foregrounds an unofficial, “dark” strand of shamanic revival, which lies at the interstices of local inspirational religion and the state’s law in a Siberian periphery. Focusing on consultations concerned with ritual healing and counter-cursing in the Russian Republic of Tuva/Tyva, southern Siberia, the article documents a field of metaphysical disorder which is governed by shamans as purveyors of “forensic” evidence of cursing and as arbiters of justice. The data on counter-cursing consultations evince a social perception of shamanism as a redress for kinds of violence which transcend the limits of state law. Drawing on two shamanic narratives of affliction and its professionalization as a charisma for healing and revenge respectively, the article argues that a new kind of “forensic” evidence of crime and violence emerges from the materials on counter-cursing in Kyzyl (the capital city of Tyva).
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 |