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Indigenous Heritage in Siberia
The Power of Objects
Indigenous Heritage in Siberia
The Power of Objects
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Description
This book on indigenous heritage in Siberia focuses on sacred objects, their power, use, and meaning over time. The volume approaches this vast multi-ethnic region by exploring the shifting politics and spirituality of material objects and their role in the construction of ethnic heritage.
It is a unique assessment of resilience among Native cultural groups made even more important by the overarching dominance of the Soviet state and now modern Russia, which has had and continues to have conflicted bureaucratic views towards Siberian ethnic groups and heritage protections. Siberian shamanism is described in detail with its deep implications for religious studies and cultural preservation around the globe.
Regional case studies include ritual rugs, indigenous clothing, Buddhist relics, and wooden carvings. The collection makes clear the implications of this study for a wide range of contemporary debates, in anthropology, religion and the wider social sciences and humanities, including animism, human-animal relations, shamanism, secularisation, global repatriation of cultural objects.
Table of Contents
2. Heritage Infrastructures and Politics of Added Value in Modern Russia, Ekaterina Melnikova (European University at St. Petersburg, Russia)
3. Felting Indigenous Sovereignty: The Political Ecology of Ritual Rugs in Siberian Altai, Dmitry Arzyutov, Ohio State University, USA)
4. "You Know that I Can't Walk without a Khanty Dress": Exploring the Meaning and Practice of Indigenous Clothing in Western Siberia, Stephan Dudeck (University of Tartu, Estonia) and Marija Launonen (University of Helsinki, Finland)
5. How to Deal with 'Material Culture'? The Case of the Local Culture Museums in Altai Republic, Denis Maslov (Independent Researcher)
6. Contextualizing Buddhist Relics and Archaeological Human Remains in two Siberian Museums, Ksenia Pimenova (Université Paris Nanterre, France)
7. Construction of Sacrality and Heritage: Categorizing and Showcasing Nanai Objects in Museums in the Russian Far-East, Anne Dalles Maréchal (University Saint Etienne Jean Monnet, France)
8. The Uneasy Fates of Ritual Objects of the Asiatic Yupik: Heritage that is Preserved and Destroyed, Hidden and Passed On, Dmitrii Oparin (Université de Bordeaux – CNRS, France)
9. The Biographies of Entangled Humans and Nonhumans: Nenets Reindeer Herders' Relations with Powerful Things, Laur Vallikivi (University of Tartu, Estonia)
10. Sya”mei Does Not Stick to Plastic”: Modern Practices of Interaction with Sacred Impurity among the Yamal Nenets, Alexandra Terekhina (Independent Researcher) and Alexander Volkovitskiy (Arctic Research Station, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Russia)
11. Geological Beings and Heritage: Indigenous Evenki Material Semiotics of Rocks and Minerals, Nadezhda Mamontova (University of Birmingham, UK)
12. In the Presence of Power: The Bear's Head and Khanty Cultural Practice, Andrew Wiget (New Mexico State University, USA) and Olga Balalaeva (Independent Researcher)
13. Religious Norms of Hunting for Sea Animals in the Baydarata Bay, Yamal Peninsula (Roza Laptander, University of Hamburg, Germany)
14. Everyday Life in Rituals: Understanding the Multivalence of Objects among Chukchi Reindeer Herders, Virginie Vaté (National Centre for Scientific Research, France)
15. The Journeys of the Nganasan Idol There and Back Again: Ownership, Inheritance and Identity in Indigenous Heritage Production, Maria Mochalova (Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
16. Emplaced power and generation of luck: the use of anthropomorphic wooden carvings by Evenki of East Siberia and Russian Far East, Donatas Brandišauskas (Vilnius University, Lithuania)
Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | 02 Apr 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 336 |
| ISBN | 9781350507180 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 15 bw illus |
| Series | Bloomsbury Studies in Material Religion |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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