Premium
Mannequins and Spirits: Representation and Resistance of Siberian Shamans
Author(s) -
Miller Thomas R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
anthropology of consciousness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1556-3537
pISSN - 1053-4202
DOI - 10.1525/ac.1999.10.4.69
Subject(s) - performative utterance , shamanism , vitality , anthropology , ethnography , history , interpretation (philosophy) , representation (politics) , phonograph , ethnohistory , art , literature , visual arts , archaeology , aesthetics , sociology , linguistics , philosophy , theology , electrical engineering , politics , political science , law , engineering
In the early 20th century anthropologists collected sounds, images and artifacts to represent traditional cultures. Under the direction of Franz Boas, anthropologists working for the American Museum of Natural History's JesupNorth Pacific Expedition documented a variety of northeastern Siberian shamanisms. Demonstrations staged for the phonograph and the camera served as models for museum representations. These ethnographic inscriptions, together with the collection of texts and sacred objects, documented shamanistic traditions; yet ceremonial traditions remained partially obscured, resisting full intelligibility. The complexity of variations suggests that mystification and opacity are central to shamanic efficacy and the continued vitality of performative ritual, and that Siberian shamanic practices are inherently resistant to anthropological modes of interpretation.