“Shaman Warrior” Aleksandr Gabyshev: Identity at the Intersection of Two Cultures [“Shaman-voin” Aleksandr Gabyshev: identichnost’ na styke dvukh kul’tur]

The figure of “shaman warrior” Aleksandr Gabyshev from Yakutsk became the object of attention in social media in 2019–2020. The interest toward Gabyshev was sparked both by the goal he declared (“to drive President Vladimir Putin out of the Kremlin”) and by his peculiar personality. This article is drawn on a wide range of materials gathered in the course of research work on a visual documentary about Gabyshev. The worldview of the “shaman warrior” was a paradoxical tangle of the native Yakut culture and the Russian Orthodox culture. In many ways Gabyshev adhered to the line of behavior typical of “blessed fools” in the Russian Orthodox tradition. Indeed, his behavior and personality image could be seen as grounded in a sequence of contradictions that seemed meaningless and illogical in the context of the shamanic tradition. Yet aspects both of neoshamanism and of “blessed foolishness” were important assets that let him creatively develop his personal identity.

Ethnic Identity in Abkhazia and the Paradigms of Its Institutionalization: From the Soviet Past to the Present [Etnicheskaia identichnost’ v Abkhazii i paradigmy ee institutsionalizatsii: ot sovetskogo proshlogo k nastoiashchemu]

The article focuses on the aspects of nation-building and the main paradigms of the institutionalization of ethnicity in Abkhazia during the Soviet era and assesses the impact of Soviet practices of ordering ethnic categories on the modern ethnocultural and ethnopolitical landscape of the country. I examine the history of formation of the ethnic mosaic of Abkhazia, analyze the particular Abkhazian ways of solving general issues of the early Soviet nation-building, and discuss the influence of Soviet nation-building on the modern identity of various groups of Abkhazia’s population. The article further assesses the impact of ethnic mixing on the shaping of identity of Abkhazia’s population and explores the questions of civil nation-building and multilevel identity.

Plants in Culture: A Paradigm of Anthropology [Rasteniia v culture: paradigmа antropologii]

The article introduces a special theme of the issue on “Plants in the Culture of Peoples of Eurasia: From Magic to Resource”. We take a retrospective look at the polyfunctionality of plants in the history of human culture and trace their polysemanticism, symbolism, and variety of applications (in food, medical, sacred-magical, and legal matters) from antiquity to the present day in various regions and among various peoples. We discuss the state of the art in research in these areas and review the principal directions of scholarly studies, such as ethnobotany or phytoanthropology, in Russian and other academic traditions. The thematic section features contributions by V.B. Kolosova, K.A. Jernigan and O.S. Belichenko, A.A. Novik and M.V. Domosiletskaya, O.D. Fais-Leutskaia, and V.N. Davydov.

The Fig Tree in Alimentary Culture, Folk Medicine and Traditions among the Peoples of the Western Balkans [Inzhir v alimentarnoi kul’ture, narodnoi meditsine i traditsiiakh u narodov Zapadnykh Balkan]

The article analyzes the role of the fig tree in various spheres of culture of the Albanians, Croats, Greeks, and other peoples of the Balkan Peninsula, as well as the use of its fruit as food and raw material for the production of alcoholic beverages and medicine. Until the 19th century, the pollination of the plant remained a mystery (not even Carl Linnaeus, the “father of botany” and the creator of the modern classification of wildlife species, was able to solve the complex puzzle of nature), which led to the emergence and proliferation of numerous mythologemes, still recorded to date, that are consistently associated with the fig tree. Currently, notions about the magical properties of the plant and its fruit are being transformed under the influence of the global passion for environmentally friendly bio products. The discussion specifically focuses on the mechanism through which such “new meanings” enter the public discourse.

Plant Hunting: “Evenki Medicines” in Northern Baikal [Okhota za rasteniiami: “evenkiiskie lekarstva” na Severnom Baikale]

The article discusses the attitudes of the Northern Baikal Evenkis toward the flora, formed by the situation of relative autonomy. The focus is on plants that are used in medical practice and are in great demand. The article examines the knowledge of the Northern Baikal Evenkis about the healing properties of two plants that are considered universal medicines – Gentiana algida and Rhodiola rosea, sometimes called “Evenki medicines”. It considers human interactions with these medicinal plants in the context of mobility, as well as human, animal and landscape relations, and describes the practice of their gathering by hunters and reindeer herders. The Evenk hunting ethos and ideas about hunting luck are part of the system of relations between humans and the environment and manifest themselves in the practice of searching for and collecting medicinal plants. Local knowledge about their beneficial properties was formed under the influence of observations of animals’ behaviour. The strategies for the use of medical devices and the practice of prevention and treatment of diseases by the Evenki were formed under conditions of constant resource shortages. Reindeer husbandry and hunting demanded that people in constant motion improve the skills of maintaining relative autonomy, that is a certain type of attitude towards resources as well as medicines, based on minimizing their consumption. In such conditions, medicines with a wide spectrum of action turned out to be especially in demand.

Christianization of the Tatars Living in the Area of the Vyatka and Great Perm Diocese in the 18th Century [Khristianizatsiia tatar, prozhivavshikh na territorii Viatskoi i Velikopermskoi eparkhii v XVIII v.]

The article examines the process of dissemination of the Orthodox faith among the Tatars of the Vyatka-Kama region. In the 18th century, the attention of the religious and civil authorities of Russia was drawn to the Tatar population of the Volga region and the Urals. The Kazan Tatars were under the closest scrutiny. The Tatars of the Vyatka province found themselves at the periphery of Russian policy making. There was no sustained missionary activity in relation to the Vyatka Tatars on the part of the Orthodox clergy in the mid-18th century. The adoption of the Orthodox Faith by the Tatars of the Vyatka-Kama region was conditioned by the benefits provided by the tsarist decrees. After the abolition of the Novokreschenskaya office, the process of Christianization of the Vyatka Tatars did not stop. By the end of the 18th century, the number of baptized Tatars remained small, which can be attributed to the fact that baptized Tatars and Muslim Tatars still mixed and lived together, the lack of special training among the clergy, and the rather firm ideological attitudes of the Tatars.

Ethnobotanical Knowledge of an Eskimo Family: Naukan Yupiks [Etnobotanicheskoe znanie odnoi eskimosskoi sem’i: naukanskie yupiki]

This article analyzes the Naukan Yupiks ethnobotanical knowledge, i.e. the use of plants as food, medicine, household or ritual objects, on the example of one family. The resettlement from Cape Dezhnev to other settlements led to significant changes in their culture and language proficiency. Fieldwork was carried out in summer 2014 in the village of Uelen, Chukotka, using the methods of structured interviews and participant observation. Informants named 26 species belonging to 18 families; these species gave a total of 170 plant uses. Within one family, there is a sharp decline in the knowledge of the Naukan phytonyms, as well as the repertoire of plants used from older generations to younger ones. The disappearing knowledge includes the collection of plant roots harvested by tundra voles. However, aerial parts of plants, berries, and algae remain popular. The variety of methods for preparing plants is increasing, including due to contact with the Russian-speaking population and access to new technologies.

Local Knowledge and “Other Anthropologies” [Lokal’noe znanie i “drugie antropologii”]

The article examines the problems of ethnographic description and representation of the culture of Others and analyzes the ontological limitations inherent in anthropology, which call into question the very possibility of obtaining objective knowledge about the studied cultures. The concept of “other anthropologies” is proposed, which implies the recognition of heuristically significant alternatives to the Eurocentric perspective in the descriptions and interpretations of cultures. Such an approach, which is based on the ideas of E. Viveiroz de Castro, raises the following questions: what can we, ethnographers, be taught in a theoretical and ideological sense by acquaintance with the cultures that are the subject of research? what is the contribution of different cultures to the production of new disciplinary concepts and theories? to what extent are we ready to recognize and include “folk” knowledge “on equal terms” in our scientific discourse?