Shaman in the Nomadic Cosmos: Ritual Expertise Between Tradition and Modernity
BORDER CROSSING January 15, 2026 Çakır Ceyhan Suvari
Shamanism in Central Asia is not a static relic of the past but a dynamic, multi-layered system of meaning-making. Its cosmological and ritual foundations, based on tripartite universe models and axis mundi schemata, provide symbolic and psychosocial frameworks for healing and communal cohesion. Shamanic social roles—mediators of crisis, narrators of normative order, and agents of fertility and hunting—integrate ritual performance with social, ecological, and gendered life. The interaction between shamanism and Islam is a process of transformation, not disappearance, with continuities in ritual practice and contemporary revivals shaped by post-Soviet identity politics, heritage regimes, and global neo-shamanic movements. Shamanism serves as a productive analytical lens for understanding the entanglement of local tradition and global circulation.