The aim of the project was to prepare for publishing the book manuscript The “Spirit” of Soviet Ethnography: Attitudes toward Shamanic Worldviews in Soviet Revolutionary Reconstruction and Research. The book is a detailed analysis of how concepts such as “gods” and “spirits” were used and discussed by Soviet ethnographers studying worldviews of the indigenous peoples of Siberia and northern Russia. In particular, the study focuses research on the Samoyedic peoples. The aim of the book is both to understand the conceptualisations of the Soviet scholars in light of Marxist-Leninist theory and Soviet religious policy regarding so-called shamanism, and to discuss the use of analytical concepts such as “gods” and “spirits” etc. in the scientific study of religion in general. The latter discussion is most topical in present day research on religion and will be of importance to future scientific studies. My main point is to show the close relationship between theory and ideology on the one hand, and conceptualisations and categorisations on the other. I contend that today’s scientific study of religion can learn from some of the Soviet scholars’ strategies to make scientific terminology more transparent.

Result and publications

As of today, the lion’s share of the book (c. 250 pages) is written and the English language is professionally corrected by a native speaker. What remains to do in order to finish the monograph is to write the introduction, including the theoretical discussion, and the concluding discussion. Furthermore, it remains to complete with a summary and analysis of an unpublished book manuscript on the material and spiritual culture of the Nganasan Samoyeds that I obtained by the end of the research period. This manuscript was written by the Soviet ethnographer Boris O. Dolgikh during the years before his death in 1971 and is of utmost importance for my own book since Dolgikh is one of the main ethnographers whose works I analyse. Compared to Dolgikh’s previously published works, this manuscript contains much more detailed data and some divergent interpretations of the author. One of the reasons why the project was somewhat delayed was, in fact, my search for Dolgikh’s manuscript. After several contacts with scholars in both Moscow and Paris, I finally obtained it in December 2018 from a colleague in Moscow. When the above mentioned additions are completed I can deliver the whole manuscript to the publishing house, Brill, and their Numen Book Series. I expect this to happen no later than November 2019.

During the sabbatical, I was an invited guest scholar for two periods (24 Sept.–12 Oct.; 29 Oct.–15 Nov) at the Institute of the Peoples of the North, Herzen State Pedagogical University, St. Petersburg. Most part of the time there, I could spend writing as well as searching new material in the libraries of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kunstkamera (Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography) and the State Museum of the History of Religion. Among other things, this gave me an opportunity to search the volumes of Soviet anti-religious periodicals (e.g. Bezbozhnik, Voinstuyushchiy ateizm, Antireligioznik), in which campaigns against “shamans” and “shamanism” were pursued, and the journals – Sovetskaya Aziya (1925–1931) and Sovetskiy Sever (1930–1935) – of the state committee responsible for the construction of socialism among the indigenous peoples of the Soviet North. I also had access to many titles of other anti-shamanic literature from the 1930s unobtainable in libraries outside of Russia. Furthermore, I was able to buy many new books of recent Russian research in my field, as well as publications of printed archival material (from the archive of the former Museum of History of Religion and Atheism). I also met and discussed my research with several Russian colleagues. Even if no concrete plans were made, I made acquaintances with people that might be important partners in future scholarly collaborations.

At the international symposium “Religions around the Arctic: Source Criticisms and Comparisons” at the University of Bergen (10–12 Sept. 2018) I presented parts of my current research in the paper “‘Spirits’, ‘gods’ and ‘deities’ as comparative concepts in Soviet studies of Nganasan worldview”. This paper will be included in a forthcoming anthology of the symposium, to be published by Stockholm University Press in 2019.
During the sabbatical, I wrote yet another article associated with the book project (although it will not be included in the monograph): “‘I haven’t fully understood – is shamanism religion or not’: Some reflections on the concepts of shamanism and religion in Soviet discourse”, for Temenos (2018, 54:1). This article treats discourses related to the discussions in my monograph, and constitutes a case study of the understanding of “religion” and “shamanism”, which is the backdrop to the Soviet research that I study.

Results apart from the publications

Besides the contacts made with Russian colleagues and the experience of the current Russian research environment I had during my stay in St. Petersburg, the project resulted in the collection of a lot of new sources. Of course, much of this material will be included in the monograph. However, since the sources regarding Soviet campaigns against “shamans” and “shamanism” (both scholarly and propagandistic) turned out to be so extensive, I have decided to save the main part of them for yet another forthcoming book dedicated specifically to this topic. Therefore, the section in the Soviet struggle against shamanism will be a bit shorter than planned in the present monograph. With the newly collected material I will instead write a book (in English, possibly published by Brill) on the arguments and strategies used to combat “shamanism” in Soviet propaganda.

Internationalisation

The project was international through my guest scholarship in St. Petersburg and the international publications.