TY - BOOK
T1 - Returning to the Forest
T2 - Shamanism, Landscape and History among the Duha of Northern Mongolia
AU - Kristensen, Benedikte Møller
PY - 2015/6
Y1 - 2015/6
N2 - This PhD thesis is
about shamanism among the Duha in Mongolia. It is based on 22 months of
fieldwork (1999
-
2012) among the Duha reindeer nomads in Northern Mongolia, and examines
why the Duha return to their traditional livelihood as hunters and herders in
the taiga has resulted
in a turn to
ward their shamanic traditions.
The main argument of the study is that the Duha return to the taiga encapsulated a return to the
practices and the land in which the Duha shamanism subsists as a local and historic traditi
on.
It
argues that Duha shamanism is a deeply local tradition centred on local animistic perceptions of
kinship relations between humans and spirits, enacted through the practices of hunting and
herding.
It also argues that the Duha livelihood and land his
torically has been fashioned and
shaped as shamanic by
the imaginaries and policies of
surrounding states and people.
Finally it discusses how contemporary
interventions upon the Duha livelihood and land, such as hunting
laws, gold
-
mining and spiritual tou
rism,
was felt to increase the flow of dangerous spiritual powers, which
further encouraged the Duha to turn towards shamanism
AB - This PhD thesis is
about shamanism among the Duha in Mongolia. It is based on 22 months of
fieldwork (1999
-
2012) among the Duha reindeer nomads in Northern Mongolia, and examines
why the Duha return to their traditional livelihood as hunters and herders in
the taiga has resulted
in a turn to
ward their shamanic traditions.
The main argument of the study is that the Duha return to the taiga encapsulated a return to the
practices and the land in which the Duha shamanism subsists as a local and historic traditi
on.
It
argues that Duha shamanism is a deeply local tradition centred on local animistic perceptions of
kinship relations between humans and spirits, enacted through the practices of hunting and
herding.
It also argues that the Duha livelihood and land his
torically has been fashioned and
shaped as shamanic by
the imaginaries and policies of
surrounding states and people.
Finally it discusses how contemporary
interventions upon the Duha livelihood and land, such as hunting
laws, gold
-
mining and spiritual tou
rism,
was felt to increase the flow of dangerous spiritual powers, which
further encouraged the Duha to turn towards shamanism
M3 - Ph.D. thesis
BT - Returning to the Forest
PB - Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet
ER -