‘Ritual specialists’ in the traditional worldview system of the peoples of Siberia (a terminological analysis)
The Bulletin of Tomsk State University. 2016. № 403. PP. 87-98.
Elena V. Nam
The article analyzes and summarizes materials on the Siberian region in terms of different categories of shamans and other functionally kindred ritual actors using the terminology which is used (or was used) by shaman worldview adherents. Based on the analysis, it is argued that the oldest notions there are allow for speaking not of ritual actors as shamans per se but rather of the worldview system as being shamanic. It is suggested that in the context of worldview system formation which is based on awareness of the division between the cultural and the natural spaces and on the identification of the ‘sacred’ and the ‘profane’ worlds, there emerge and get gradually separate from one another several categories of ritual actors who represent separate lines or vectors of further cultural and historical development.
The project "Man in a Changing World. Identity and Social Adaptation: Past and Present" is funded by the Russian Government 