Finding “Their Own”: Revitalizing Buryat Culture Through Shamanic Practices in Ulan-Ude
Justine Buck Quijada, Kathryn E. Graber, Eric Stephen
Problems of Post-Communism July 30, 2015 DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2015.1057040 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Urban Buryats drawn to the Tengeri Shamans' Organization in Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia |
| Intervention | Shamanic healing |
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Citations | 13 |
| Key findings | Ethnographic and survey data collected in 2012 indicate that shamanic healing at the Tengeri Shamans' Organization serves as a locus of cultural revitalization for urban Buryats, despite local criticism of the organization's 'nontraditional' institutional nature. The healing requires patients to learn family genealogies and revive clan rituals and encourages use of the Buryat language. |
Abstract
The shamans working at the Tengeri Shamans’ Organization in Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia, claim that their work is devoted to reviving “traditional” Buryat culture, despite local criticism of the “nontraditional” institutional nature of their practices. Ethnographic and survey data collected in 2012 confirm that this is in fact the case for the urban Buryats who are drawn to the organization. Shamanic healing at Tengeri requires patients to learn family genealogies and revive clan rituals, and it offers both practical opportunities and encouragement for the use of the Buryat language, thereby providing a locus for cultural revitalization.
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 |