Shamans, Spirituality, and Cultural Revitalization: Explorations in Siberia and Beyond (Contemporary Anthropology of Religion)

Shamans attract controversy and fascination well beyond their numbers. Personal experiences with them are based here on extensive fieldwork in several areas of Siberia and the Far East, including Khanty, Sakha, Tuvan, and Buriat regions. Balzer outlines shifting ways that healers and healing communities are creating effective yet altered ritual environments, transcending harsh legacies of Soviet and missionary repression. Providing new angles on our understanding of the intersections of spirituality, religion, and politics, she uses narratives about shamans to probe social and political issues of post-socialism, modernity, authenticity, and indigenous rights. She argues that talented contemporary shamans and shamanic trickster-artists combine social leadership, charisma, creative talent, ecological sensitivity, and healing gifts in their activist lives.