Soul Hunters: Hunting, Animism, and Personhood among the Siberian Yukaghirs

247 Pages·2007·1.07 MB·English

by  Rane Willerslev

Soul Hunters

Soul Hunters
Hunting, Animism, and Personhood
among the Siberian Yukaghirs
Rane Willerslev
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley . Los Angeles . London
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University of California Press
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University of California Press, Ltd.
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© 2007 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Willerslev, Rane, 1971–
Soul hunters : hunting, animism, and personhood
among the Siberian Yukaghirs / Rane Willerslev.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn978-0-520-25216-5 (cloth : alk. paper) —
isbn978-0-520-25217-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Yukaghir—Hunting—Russia (Federation)—
Siberia. 2. Animism—Russia (Federation)—Siberia.
3. Yukaghir—Russia (Federation)—Siberia—Folklore.
4. Ethnology—Russia (Federation)—Siberia.
5.Siberia (Russia)—Social life and customs.
I. Title.
dk759.y8w55 2007
305.89'46—dc22 2006035803
Manufactured in the United States of America
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on New Leaf EcoBook 50, a 100%
recycled fiber of which 50% is de-inked post-consumer
waste, processed chlorine-free. EcoBook 50 is acid-free
and meets the minimum requirements of ansi/astm
d5634–01 (Permanence of Paper).
To Akulina and Gregory Shalugin
in friendship and gratitude

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
1. Animism as Mimesis 1
2. To Kill or Not to Kill: Rebirth, Sharing, and Risk 29
3. Body-Soul Dialectics: Human Rebirth Beliefs 50
4. Ideas of Species and Personhood 73
5. Animals as Persons 89
6. Shamanism 119
7. The Spirit World 141
8. Learning and Dreaming 159
9. Taking Animism Seriously 181
Notes 193
References 205
Index 221

Illustrations
Map of the Yukaghirs’ territory 5
1. Hunters with dead elk 8
2. The annual subsistence cycle 30
3. Wooden representation of the Grandfather with the
Pointed Head 47
4. Nikolai Likhachev making a pair of skis 59
5. Old Spiridon imitating animal sounds 86
6. Ivan with trapped sable 92
7. Traditional skiing equipment 98
8. A Yukaghir dressed in traditional hunting clothing 102
9. Hunter’s ammunition belt and knife 103
10. Gregory and Akulina Shalugin 126
11. The author with a butchered elk 129
12. The skull of a bear after the completed ritual 131
13. Storytelling in the encampment 173
14. Ioyä 177
ix