Culture Incarnate: Native Anthropology from Russia

Culture Incarnate: Native Anthropology from Russia
Author: Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2016-09-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1315482231

This collection of studies uses the processes of analysis and self-analysis to examine the social, political and spiritual forces at work in the post-Soviet world. The text includes discussions of ethnohistory, political anthropology and ethnic conflict, and symbolic anthropology.

Culture Incarnate

Culture Incarnate
Author: Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 270
Release: 1995
Genre: Ethnology
ISBN: 9781315482255

Culture Incarnate

Culture Incarnate
Author: Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
Total Pages: 304
Release: 1995
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781563245350

As old national boundaries erode and political uncertainty and ethnic assertion emerge, new voices of anthropologists and ethnographers studying their own cultures have begun to be heard more clearly. This collection focuses on the former Soviet Union, where non-Russian academics are studying their people's ethnography, folklore, rituals, languages, ethnic conflicts, and other areas. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia

Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia
Author: Glenn R. McNamara
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2005-06-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0313062285

Russia and the newly independent states of Central Asia are struggling to reassert or create national identities and are receiving fresh attention from the West. After decades of oblivion, the vast Eurasian continent is once again divulging its intense cultural heritage and foodways to the international community. The diversity of food cultures within the former Soviet Union, with more than 100 distinct nationalities, is overwhelming, but this book brilliantly distills the main elements of contemporary cuisine and food-related customs for students and foodies. Vibrant descriptions of the legacy of the Silk Road; the classic foods such as kasha, pirogi, non (flatbread), pickles, and shashlyk (shish kebab); the over-the-top Moscow theme restaurants; and meals at the dacha and tea time are just some of the highlights. Russia and the newly independent states of Central Asia are struggling to reassert or create national identities and are receiving fresh attention from the West. After decades of oblivion, the vast Eurasian continent is once again divulging its intense cultural heritage and foodways to the international community. The diversity of food cultures within the former Soviet Union, with more than 100 distinct nationalities, is overwhelming, but Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia brilliantly distills the main elements of contemporary cuisine and food-related customs for students and foodies. Vibrant descriptions of the legacy of the Silk Road; the classic foods such as kasha, pirogi, non (flatbread), pickles, and shashlyk (shish kebab); the over-the-top Moscow theme restaurants; and meals at the dacha and tea time are just some of the highlights. After centuries of contact and conflict among peoples of Eurasia, Russian and Central Asian cuisines and culinary cultures have much in common. To understand one, the other must be considered as well. Russia and Central Asia cuisines share many ingredients, dishes, and customs. This volume strives to emphasize the evolving and multifaceted nature of the food cultures. Readers will be able to appreciate the ingredients, cooking methods, and traditions that make up the Eurasian foodways.

Russia

Russia
Author: Petra Rethmann
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 131
Release: 2018-11-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1442636602

This book offers a brief introduction to the anthropological study of Russia. Moving beyond the conceptual iron curtain that has divided past study of Russia into "East" and "West," it situates Russia in a global context and provides readers with all of the necessary analytical tools for understanding the complex cultural and social configurations of the contemporary Russian Federation. Based on extensive fieldwork in Russia, it offers unique insights into a number of cultural configurations—including socialism, violence, mythology, colonialism, nationalism, gender, memory, democracy, media, and art. Through the use of interesting case studies and ethnographic "snapshots," the author has produced a lively and engaging overview of Russia’s cultural meaning and significance.

The Siberian World

The Siberian World
Author: John P. Ziker
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 555
Release: 2023-03-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000830055

The Siberian World provides a window into the expansive and diverse world of Siberian society, offering valuable insights into how local populations view their environments, adapt to change, promote traditions, and maintain infrastructure. Siberian society comprises more than 30 Indigenous groups, old Russian settlers, and more recent newcomers and their descendants from all over the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The chapters examine a variety of interconnected themes, including language revitalization, legal pluralism, ecology, trade, religion, climate change, and co-creation of practices and identities with state programs and policies. The book’s ethnographically rich contributions highlight Indigenous voices, important theoretical concepts, and practices. The material connects with wider discussions of perception of the environment, climate change, cultural and linguistic change, urbanization, Indigenous rights, Arctic politics, globalization, and sustainability/resilience. The Siberian World will be of interest to scholars from many disciplines, including Indigenous studies, anthropology, archaeology, geography, environmental history, political science, and sociology. Chapter 25 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Religion and Politics in Russia: A Reader

Religion and Politics in Russia: A Reader
Author: Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2015-01-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317461126

Russia is not only vast, it is also culturally diverse, the core of an empire that spanned Eurasia. In addition to the majority Russian Orthodox and various other Christian groups, the Russian Federation includes large communities of Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and members of other religious groups, some with ancient historical roots. All are in a state of ferment, and securing formal state recognition for specific communities is often daunting. This collection provides entry into the diversity of Russia's religious communities. Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer's introduction to the volume illuminates major political, social, and cultural-anthropological trends. The book is organized by religious tradition or identity, with further thematic perspectives on each set of readings. The authors include ethnologists, sociologists, political analysts, and religious leaders from many regions of the Federation. They analyze the changing dynamics of religion and politics within each community and in the context of the current drive to recentralize both political and religious authority in Moscow. Topical coverage extends from reassertions of Russian Orthodoxy to activities of Christian and Muslim missionaries to the revival of many other religions, including indigenous shamanic ones.

Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures

Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures
Author: Sabrina Petra Ramet
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2002-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134822111

Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures is a collection of specially commissioned essays taking a cross cultural and cross historical perspective on the subject. The book documents the universality of gender reversals, with chapters ranging from early Christianity up to the present. It examines how gender reversals are bound up with taboo, and how this underlies various religious and ritual activities. Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures also shows how attitudes to gender-reversal can reveal much about a particular culture. Anne Bolin, Elon College, Judith Ochshorn, University of South Florida, Karen Torjesen, Claremont Graduate School, California, Julia Welch, Winfried Schleiner, Unive

Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures

Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures
Author: Sabrina P. Ramet
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780415114820

This collection of original essays explores the historical and cultural diversity of the experience of gender reversal over an exceptional geographical and chronological range. Topics cove- red include anthropology, history, literature.Gender reversal is a perennial theme in the cultures of both East and West. It emerges in classical Chinese theatre, in the ceremony consecrating the Japanese emperor, and in Hindu mythology; in the ancient Greek rites of Dionysos, in medieval Christian thought and in the culture of the American Indians.The original essays in Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures explore the historical and cultural diversity of the experience of gender reversal over an exceptional geographical and chronological range. The contributors bring a unique mixture of perspectives to bear on the subject, with backgrounds in anthropology, history, literature, political science, comparative religion and women's studies. They reveal the complex relation of gender reversal to taboo, and show how differing attitudes reveal much about particular cultures.

Shamanic Worlds

Shamanic Worlds
Author: Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2016-09-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1315487314

The ancient heartland of shamanism is no longer forbidden territory - to travelers or to the spirits. But the spirits never left the vastnesses of Siberia and Central Asia, as these writings reveal. Russian and native experts, and an American cultural anthropologist who has done fieldwork in the region, introduce us to shamans as the poets, therapists, healers, and even leaders of their communities. Among the special features of this collection are remarkable transcriptions of shamanic exhortations and a pathbreaking study of shamanic tales and rituals.