Indigenous Heritage in Siberia

This book explores the culturally significant objects of various Indigenous peoples in Siberia by considering the power, agency, use and evolving meanings of these objects over time. It acknowledges that top-down conceptualizations of heritage, in Russia as anywhere, are only one element of a complex story that is negotiated by multiple actors. The book further explores the shifting politics and spirituality of material objects and their role in the construction of heritage across this vast multi-ethnic region from Indigenous perspectives.

The regional case studies consider human–non-human interactions involving objects, which are more-than-things, such as ritual rugs, Buddhist relics, shamanic figurines and wooden carvings in contemporary Indigenous communities as well as in museum contexts. The overarching dominance of the Soviet state and now modern Russia, which had – and continues to have – conflicted bureaucratic views towards Indigeneity and heritage management, provides a crucial backdrop for the assessment of the resilience of Siberian Indigenous peoples.

Through the lens of critical heritage studies and decolonial methodologies, this book sheds new light on numerous cultural, political, social and economic processes that are currently unfolding in Siberia and in the wider Indigenous world beyond. Its case studies have implications for a range of contemporary debates in anthropology, religious studies, and the wider social sciences and humanities, including those on animism, human–animal relations, shamanism, secularization and the global repatriation of cultural objects.