Male and Female Shamans of Buryatia: Their Mystical Experiences and the Author’s Field Research. Part One

Goals: Proceeding from multi-year field research data, the paper attempts to review some trends in the development of Buryatia’s contemporary shamanism.
Methods: The work applies historical-comparative and comparative-contrastive research methods; a variety of field ethnographic research methods were used to collect corresponding analytical materials.
Results: The study provides an overview of current shamanistic practices in Buryatia. It is noteworthy that the new generation of shamans are university-educated individuals with experience in different specialities. Thus, the ‘shamanistic intelligentsia’ has taken shape. Their practices include not only traditional rites but also public conversations in the media aimed to facilitate the promotion of shamanistic beliefs and world outlooks. They write books, appear in documentary films, leave their ancestral lands for different Russian and foreign cities to perform their practices there — which has been frown upon in classical shamanism. The emergence of associations and alliances of shamans have resulted in that nowadays they engage in publishing and teaching (educational) activities. The new challenges required that personalities of traditional shamans change accordingly, and the new generation of in-demand shamans do possess such personal qualities.
The article comprises two parts. Part One generally characterizes the topic and depicts portrayals of three female shamans — representatives of the mentioned ‘shamanistic intelligentsia’, namely: Nadezhda Stepanova, Yeshir-Khorlo Tsybikzhapova, and Vera Taglasova. Their shamanistic evolutions are traditional enough and have included certain stages, such as shamanistic illness and shamanistic roots (even in cases of mixed parentage). At the same time, all the mentioned present-day female shamans of Buryatia have university degrees (in the humanities and culture), maintain close relations with academic circles, stay at the forefront of public life, being activists of shamanistic associations and regularly promoting corresponding beliefs and representations.
Part Two examines places of shamans and their associations in the new Russia. The paper shows that the newly emerged shamanistic organizations seek to keep performing their practices in changing environments when, acting as an official, shamans can register their sacred places as specially protected territories. On the other hand, another challenge of theirs is to protect the public from pseudo-shamans that have significantly increased in numbers recently. This part also contains sections to deal with the issues, such as ‘shamans and scientists’, ‘shamans and ecology’. Both the parts of the article to be published in two consecutive issues of the journal shall be supplemented with complete references.

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