The resurgence of national and historical awareness among the people of what was once the USSR has been nowhere stronger than among the Russians themselves. Some of the larger projects of rediscovery amount to a reinterpretation of traditional culture. This carefully annotated collection of recent studies of Russian folk religion, village organization and family life, including the rituals associated with childbirth, special attention to women's roles and to the specificity of Siberia in Russian culture, will be a revelation to a wide array of readers. It is intended for use not only in...

This collection of studies uses the processes of analysis and self-analysis to examine the social, political and spiritual forces at work in the post-Soviet world. The text includes discussions of ethnohistory, political anthropology and ethnic conflict, and symbolic anthropology.

This work introduces traditional Siberian shamans as the poets, therapists and even leaders of their communities. Among the special features of this collection are transcriptions of shamanic exhortations and a study of shamanic tales and rituals.