A girl marries a whale, and her story reminds the Siberian Yupik about humans' relationship with the animals who sustain them. A reindeer herder spends the winter in a bear's den, and his story shows the Chukchi how despair can become courage. For centuries, native Chukchi and Yupik elders in Chukot[...]

The history and contemporary transformation of south Siberia is illuminated through this exploration of the "shamanic revival" in the Turkic Republics of Tuva and Khakassia. Based on extensive field-work and including folktales, legends, and shamanic poems that elucidate spiritual traditions as well[...]