I listened recently to a Turan Tales podcast featuring an interview with Abigail Scripka, who did her master’s thesis on “Tengrism as a youth movement” among 18-to-30-year olds in Almaty during the 80s and 90s. Fascinating stuff. This is a wide-ranging interview that touches on a host of topics, including: Subtleties of the co-existence of Tengrism, Shamanism and … Continue reading Tengrism in Kazakhstan: Re-emergence under Gorbachev’s Perestroika
Tag: shamanism
An Illustrated Sequel of Sorts to Chi Zijian’s “Last Quarter of the Moon”
As I announced recently, my translation of Chi Zijian’s Last Quarter of the Moon has been launched for a North American readership by Milkweed Editions. More aptly entitled Right Bank of the Argun in Chinese – after the tributary of the Amur that marks the boundary between Russia and northeastern-most China – the novel is a moving tale of the … Continue reading An Illustrated Sequel of Sorts to Chi Zijian’s “Last Quarter of the Moon”
Ethnic ChinaLit: What We’re Reading Now — “La Légende du Chaman”
Le chamanisme a été interdit en Mongolie durant la période socialiste au même titre que l’écriture et les costumes traditionnels. Il était alors perçu comme une pratique arriérée, néfaste et manipulatrice. Quand j'ai lu La Légende du Chaman pour la première fois au tournant des années 2010, il connaissait un regain d'intérêt important dans un … Continue reading Ethnic ChinaLit: What We’re Reading Now — “La Légende du Chaman”
Altaic Storytelling 