Author : David G. Anderson
Publisher : University of Alberta Press
ISBN 13 : 9781896445588
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (455 download)
Book Synopsis The Healing Landscapes of Central and Southeastern Siberia by : David G. Anderson
Download or read book The Healing Landscapes of Central and Southeastern Siberia written by David G. Anderson and published by University of Alberta Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume documents healing traditions in Eastern Siberia in an area extending from Lake Baikal to the Arctic Ocean. The region shows an interesting unity in healing traditions across a wide range of landscape types and culture areas: from the taiga-steppe borderlands influenced by Tibetan and Russian practices in the south, to the north where regional shamanic traditions prevail. There are broad similarities in using unrefined natural materials for healing, as well as in a concern over the 'spiritual' foundations of health, with an accent upon the land as an important dimension. Due to this diversity, this region provides a strong point of comparison to ecologies in other parts of the circumpolar North. The chapters document a blossoming of autonomous healing traditions in post-Soviet Siberia resulting from a social crisis in the aftermath of the collapse of the previous centralized health system. It is a type of 'medical pluralism' marked by a popularity of alternate, non-clinical treatments. But, the sudden upsurge in autonomous cures also speaks to the silent survival of these knowledge traditions in a context where the official medical practice dominated the public sphere for seventy years.