Not quite shamans : spirit worlds and political lives in northern Mongolia / Morten Axel Pedersen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pedersen, Morten Axel, 1969-

Series:

Culture and society after socialism.

Culture and society after socialism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shamanism--Political aspects--Mongolia.

Shamanism.

Post-communism--Mongolia.

Post-communism.

Mongolia--Politics and government--1992-.

Mongolia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 p.)

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The forms of contemporary society and politics are often understood to be diametrically opposed to any expression of the supernatural; what happens when those forms are themselves regarded as manifestations of spirits and other occult phenomena? In Not Quite Shamans, Morten Axel Pedersen explores how the Darhad people of Northern Mongolia's remote Shishged Valley have understood and responded to the disruptive transition to post socialism by engaging with shamanic beliefs and practices associated with the past. For much of the twentieth century, Mongolia's communist rulers attempted to eradicate shamanism and the shamans who once served as spiritual guides and community leaders. With the transition from a collectivized economy and a one-party state to a global capitalist market and liberal democracy in the 1990's, the people of the Shishged were plunged into a new and harsh world that seemed beyond their control. "Not-quite-shamans"-young, unemployed men whose undirected energies erupted in unpredictable, frightening bouts of violence and drunkenness that seemed occult in their excess- became a serious threat to the fabric of community life. Drawing on long-term fieldwork in Northern Mongolia, Pedersen details how, for many Darhads, the post socialist state itself has become shamanic in nature. In the ideal version of traditional Darhad shamanism, shamans can control when and for what purpose their souls travel, whether to other bodies, landscapes, or worlds. Conversely, caught between uncontrollable spiritual powers and an excessive display of physical force, the "not-quite-shamans" embody the chaotic forms-the free market, neoliberal reform, and government corruption-that have created such upheaval in peoples' lives. As an experimental ethnography of recent political and economic transformations in Mongolia through the defamiliarizing prism of shamans and their lack, Not Quite Shamans is an attempt to write about as well as theorize post socialism, and shamanism, in a new way.

Contents:

Shamanic states

The shamanic predicament

Layered lands, layered minds

The shaman's two bodies

Mischievous souls.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780801461415

0801461413

9780801460937

080146093X

OCLC:

732957136