ABSTRACT
In this chapter I shall investigate the social and material contexts in which shamanism forms a means of communication. The Siberian Tungus word sˇaman, meaning approximately ‘person with supranormal skills’, was introduced into western languages in the seventeenth century by Protopop Avvakum. After being exiled to Siberia, this persecuted leader of the so-called Old Believers witnessed Tungusic Evenki rituals led by a ‘shaman’ ritual specialist (Pentikäinen 1998: 49, 81). Following the introduction of the word into the international literature, and the anthropological invention of the concept shaman-ism, contemporary usage of the word has spread far beyond its original meaning in particular cultural contexts (Pentikäinen 1998: 81). The distinction must therefore be made between specific Siberian groups who have a sˇaman, and cultures with similar concepts but different vocabulary. Khanty hunter-fisher-gatherers of western Siberia have the phenomenon (Pentikäinen 1998: 61) but not the word ‘shaman’ in their native lexicon, the term elta-ku being used instead to indicate a person who beats on the drum, summons helper spirits and cures illnesses (Kulemzin and Lukina 1992: 112).
