Author: Lindquist, Galina

Source: Social Analysis, Volume 52, Number 1, Spring 2008 , pp. 111-126(16)

Abstract:

This article considers a ritual of blessing the spirits of locality in Tuva, Southern Siberia, and compares the ways in which shamans and lamas perform it. The rituals are treated as pragmatic ways of attaining human ends rather than 'signifying practices' based on shared meanings, wherein practices create a certain version of reality. Ritual specialists and lay people share this social universe but differ in their positioning relative to various types of its inhabitants. In these conditions, it is suggested, it makes more sense to speak of bodily and emotional attitudes and styles of interpretation of signs than shared 'beliefs' as cognitive stances.

Keywords: INTERPRETATION; LAMAS; NON-HUMAN BEINGS; OTHER; RITUAL PRACTICE; SHAMANS; SIGNIFICATION; TUVA

DOI: 10.3167/sa.2008.520107

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