Paperback
978-1-896445-58-8Size: 6¾" x 9¾"
Pages: 194
Pages: 194
The Healing Landscapes of Central and Southeastern Siberia
Patterns of Northern Traditional Healing Series
Edited by David G. Anderson
This volume documents healing traditions in Eastern Siberia in an area extending from Lake Baikal to the Arctic Ocean. The region shows an interesting unity in healing traditions across a wide range of landscape types and culture areas: from the taiga-steppe borderlands influenced by Tibetan and Russian practices in the south, to the north where regional shamanic traditions prevail. There are broad similarities in using unrefined natural materials for healing, as well as in a concern over the 'spiritual' foundations of health, with an accent upon the land as an important dimension. Due to this diversity, this region provides a strong point of comparison to ecologies in other parts of the circumpolar North. The chapters document a blossoming of autonomous healing traditions in post-Soviet Siberia resulting from a social crisis in the aftermath of the collapse of the previous centralized health system. It is a type of 'medical pluralism' marked by a popularity of alternate, non-clinical treatments. But, the sudden upsurge in autonomous cures also speaks to the silent survival of these knowledge traditions in a context where the official medical practice dominated the public sphere for seventy years.
Book details
Publication date: January 2011Features: 48 photographs, references, glossary, index
Series: Patterns of Northern Traditional Healing Series
Keywords: Traditional Medicine;Siberia;Russia
Subject(s): HEALTH & FITNESS / Holism, Area Studies, Area Studies / Northern & Polar Studies, Traditional Medicine / Siberia / Russia, Traditional Medicine;Siberia;Russia, Health and Medicine
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press, Centre for the Cross-Cultural Study of Health and Healing, Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta
Book details
Publication date: January 2011Features: 48 photographs, references, glossary, index
Series: Patterns of Northern Traditional Healing Series
Keywords: Traditional Medicine;Siberia;Russia
Subject(s): HEALTH & FITNESS / Holism, Area Studies, Area Studies / Northern & Polar Studies, Traditional Medicine / Siberia / Russia, Traditional Medicine;Siberia;Russia, Health and Medicine
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press, Centre for the Cross-Cultural Study of Health and Healing, Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta
David G. Anderson. David G. Anderson is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Tromsø, Norway. His interests include circumpolar ethnography, ethnoarchaeology, ethnohistory, and the history of science. He is the author of a monograph on Taimyr Evenkis and Dolgans, the editor of several collections from Berghahn Books, and Associate Editor of the journal Sibirica. He is currently Chair in The Anthropology of the North in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen.
David G. Anderson. David G. Anderson is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Tromsø, Norway. His interests include circumpolar ethnography, ethnoarchaeology, ethnohistory, and the history of science. He is the author of a monograph on Taimyr Evenkis and Dolgans, the editor of several collections from Berghahn Books, and Associate Editor of the journal Sibirica. He is currently Chair in The Anthropology of the North in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen.