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The focus of this book is on the phenomenon of cursing in shamanic practice and everyday life in Tuva, a former Soviet republic in Siberia. Based on extensive anthropological fieldwork where the author interacted with a wide range of people involved in cursing practices, the book examines Tuvans' lived experience of cursing and shamanism, thereby providing deep insights into Tuvans' intimate and social worlds. It highlights especially the centrality of sound: how interactions between humans and non-humans are brought about through an array of sonic phenomena, such as musical sounds, sounds within words and non-linguistic vocalisations, and how such sonic phenomena are a key part of dramatic cursing events and wider shamanic performance and ritual, involving humans and spirits alike. Overall, the book reveals a great deal about occult practices and about social change in post-Soviet Tuva.
Chapter 6 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.
List of contents
Introduction: Encountering Tuvan curse Part I: Curses and Shamanic Practice 1. In the midst of cursing battles: Curses, proximity and sociocosmic drama 2. The artisans of curses: Characteristics of shamanic practice in Tuva 3. Cursed person(hood) Part II: Sound and Turbulence 4. My drum is thunder: cursing rituals, turbulence and the sound of drums 5. Voiced into being: the power of sound and shamanic voice in the cursing rituals 6. Beyond curses: in the midst of turbulent Kyzyl
About the author
Mally Stelmaszyk is a Research Associate in Social Anthropology working on an ERC funded project "Cosmological Visionaries" at the University of Manchester.
Summary
The focus of this book is on the phenomenon of cursing in shamanic practice and everyday life in Tuva, a former Soviet republic in Siberia.
