Mongolian and Siberian Shamans

Om bogen

The costumes and ritual equipment presented in this work were obtained from shamans in Mongolia and Siberia, and today represent a unique cultural world heritage. They were collected in the 1930s by two legendary Danish travellers, Henning Haslund-Christensen in Mongolia, and Knud Rasmussen in Siberia. Parts of the material were described by Haslund-Christensen in earlier publications, but with senior researcher Rolf Gilberg’s book, the entire material is now thoroughly described, analysed, and presented in a context for an international audience. The analysis contains the objects’ history of collection alongside a well-informed description of the cosmology of shamanism, and of the diversity of shamans in the larger Mongolian and neighbouring Siberian region. With expertise accumulated over more than 40 years of study, Gilberg’s analysis is guided by an abundance of original illustrations, both drawings and photographs, of which many are new. In one chapter the historical costumes and ritual objects are placed in a contemporary context through descriptions of Gilberg’s encounters with Mongol shamans in Mongolia in the 1990s.

Pressen skrev

Isabelle Charleux, Mongolian and Siberian, Central Asian and Tibetan Studies, 56
"This meticulously documented catalogue will appeal not only to scholars of Mongol and Siberian shamanism but also to contemporary shamans."

Dorte Ziggy Thelander Grønbæk, Fagbladet Religion
"Denne store og billedrige udgivelse er måske ikke første valg når man som, underviser skal finde et godt emne – men det burde det være. (...) Rane Willerslev skriver informativt i bogens forord (...) Artefakterne beskrives meget detaljeret og fortolkes i de forskellige kapitler."