An “Auction of Souls”: War, Magical Parasitism, and Re-enchanted Spirits in Siberia

In Tuva Republic, South Siberia, accusations of magical assault and vampirism commonly explain misfortune. Based on fieldwork in an Association of Shamans, this article examines countercursing rituals against antagonists under Russian political domination. It argues that shamanic healing gains efficacy by appropriating hunting symbols and animal spirits from Indigenous Siberian cosmologies. The analysis shows that playing with risk during countercursing structures symbolic resolution. The article concludes that indigenous perceptions of a cursed landscape become a field where agencies of darkness—and their political sponsors—are confronted by an emancipating Buddhist religious mindset.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Alleged practices of magical assault and vampirism are a recurrent feature of popular explanations of misfortune in Tuva Republic, South Siberia. Based on a field study of healing practices in an “Association of Shamans”, this article analyses rituals of countercursing one’s antagonists in a context of Russian political domination. A central purpose of this discussion is to foreground the centrality of kinds of parasitical worship and occult threat to structures of political power in – and beyond – the region of Tuva. Focusing on a “curse-scape”, which develops from the combative practices of shamans, occult specialists and office-holders, the article probes a repertoire of healing symbols in a shaman’s courtroom. It is argued that shamanic healing draws its efficacy from appropriating hunting symbols and animal spirits, which appear in Indigenous Siberian cosmologies. The analysis shows that ideas of playing with risk during countercursing rituals structure the process of symbolic resolution. The article concludes by highlighting indigenous perceptions of a “cursed” landscape as a field where the agencies of “darkness” (and their political sponsors) are confronted with an emancipating, Buddhist religious mindset.