What we’re about
Every two weeks we will meet to discuss readings drawn from the literature and oral traditions of Siberia, Central Asia, and culturally related regions (ranging from the Himalayas to the North American Arctic, northern East Asia, and Northeast Europe). Our central focus will be the worldviews, practices, inheritances, and relations with non-human beings that operate together as Northern Eurasian shamanism. We will explore journeys between worlds, notions of the soul and spirits, shifts out of and back into human perspective, mimesis, hunting, healing, speech and silence, and their historical and contemporary expressions in “small-scale” hunter-gatherer societies and trans-continental imperial states alike.
Each event will be led by PhD candidate and Lightning faculty member Sasha Kim, who will open with a presentation to situate us culturally and historically, highlight important features of the texts, and draw out key questions before opening up a broader group discussion. No prior familiarity with the geographic regions or belief systems or knowledge of non-English languages is required, but the conversation will be richer for all of us if you do the readings.
