Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets

Reviews / Votes

Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets not only offers a fresh and insightful approach to post -- Soviet Buryatia. It is a field building study that will surely inspire future studies of history making in the ruins of authoritarian regimes still haunted by the dead. * Matthew W. King, Journal of the American Academy of Religion * Firmly grounded in secondary literature, Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets is a formidable achievement. What stands out the most is the extensive fieldwork behind it and the richness of the material collected by Quijada, as exemplified by her nuanced and fascinating look at the celebration of the figure of Dashi-Dorzho Etigilov... * Vassily A. Klimentov, Europe-Asia Studies * Buddhists, shamans, and Soviets is a very welcome addition to the multiperspective literature on Siberia's and more broadly northern Eurasia's past and present. The study is written in a vivid and highly readable manner. * Ivan Sablin, University of Heidelberg, Inner Asia * ...the breadth of the study allows the author to meaningfully analyse religion as a major part of public and private life in the region, insightfully tracking its entanglements with the secular. Overall, the book presents a valuable contribution to the study of the region and to ritual studies, and will be a valuable resource to anyone interested in ritual and history, Buryatia, and post-Soviet Eurasia. * Kristina Jonutyte, Vytautas Magnus University, Religion, State & Society * This is a beautifully written book that offers engaging ethnography that is both subtle and smart. Quijada takes us on a fascinating journey that reveals how a turn to religion can bring to light new histories in a region that has long captivated the attention of anthropologists. This book should be read by anyone who thinks anthropologically about religion." -Catherine Wanner, author of Communities of the Converted: Ukrainians and Global Evangelism In Justine Buck Quijada's thoroughly engaging ethnography of contemporary Buryatia, a miraculously preserved Buddhist corpse counters the artificiality of Lenin's 'scientifically preserved' remains and the body of a Russian Orthodox saint visits the local Cathedral where celebratory bells drown out the drum beats inaugurating a new urban center for shaman practice. Simultaneously inhabiting the chronotypes of multiple historic pasts-indigenous, Buddhist, Russian Orthodox, Soviet-the rituals and celebrations of Quijada's subjects blur and blend and defy any attempt to effectively categorize them by religion, ethnicity, or nationality politics. The result is a provocative read for anyone interested in these subjects. * Laurel Kendall, Chair, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History * In this highly innovative study, Dr. Quijada shows that rituals do not just make history, but do so through distinctive genres that come from seemingly contradictory domains: Soviet, shamanic, and Buddhist. By combining ritual studies with insights from linguistic anthropology she illustrates how rhetorical referencing can change an event that has occurred in the past. * Manduhai Buyandelger, author of Tragic Spirits: Shamanism, Memory, and Gender in Contemporary Mongolia *