Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article offers a comprehensive analysis of shamanism in the Central Asian context, arguing that it cannot be reduced to a static relic of the past but should instead be understood as a dynamic and multi-layered system of meaning-making. First, the cosmological and ritual foundations of shamanism—anchored in tripartite universe models and axis mundi schemata—are shown to provide both symbolic and psychosocial frameworks for healing and communal cohesion. Second, shamanic social roles are examined across historical and economic domains, demonstrating how mediators of crisis, narrators of normative order, and agents of fertility and hunting integrate ritual performance with social and ecological life, including gendered dimensions of practice. Third, the interaction between shamanism and Islam is explored as a process of transformation rather than disappearance, highlighting continuities in ritual practice and contemporary revivals shaped by post-Soviet identity politics, heritage regimes, and global neo-shamanic movements. By situating shamanism at the intersections of identity, power, health, ecology, and religion, this study proposes shamanism as a productive analytical lens for understanding the entanglement of local tradition and global circulation.
Source: BORDER CROSSING
Author: Çakır Ceyhan Suvari
Institution: Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi
Language: English
Subfield: Museology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7124443403
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