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Turbulent being(s): Proliferating curses and shamanic practice in post-Soviet Kyzyl, Tuva Malgorzata Stelmaszyk PhD The University of Edinburgh 2018 0 Contents Thesis Abstract: 5 Acknowledgements 7 Transliteration and names 9 Introduction: 11 Shonchalgaj: first encounter 11 Curses and shamans 15 Historical and field landscape 16 Analytical background 22 Methodology 30 Thesis outline 34 Chapter One In the midst of cursing battles: Curses, proximity and sociocosmic drama: 39 Introduction 39 1. The characteristics of curses in Tuva 42 1.1. Taxonomy of cures 44 1.2. How curses are inflicted 46 1.3. How curses affect the victims 48 1.4. Sociocosmic drama 49 2. Managing the flow: Curses as fluctuating energies 51 2.1. Increasing fortune, alleviating suffering 53 3. From yurts to blocks of flats: relations of social and spatial proximity 56 3.1. Tuvan family 58 3.2. Kinship ties in post-Soviet Kyzyl 60 1 3.3. Economic relations 63 3.4. Political and administrative relations 65 Conclusion 68 Chapter Two The artisans of curses: Characteristics of shamanic practice in Tuva: 71 Introduction 71 1. What it means to be a shaman in Tuva 73 1.1. Bürülbaazyn – knowledge in the move 74 1.2. Between ‘supernatural’ and ‘human’ 77 1.3. Shamanic practice as housekeeping 81 1.4. Case study of Hovalygmaa 83 2. Shamanic practice: an intrinsic ambiguity 86 2.1. What is ‘black’ and what is ‘white’ in Tuva 87 2.2. Tricky spirits 89 3. The artisans of curses: Unique features of Tuvan shamanic practice 91 3.1. Divination techniques 93 3.2. Shamanic practice without trance 95 Conclusion 97 Chapter Three Cursed Person(hood): 99 Introduction 99 Terminology 101 1. Cosmocentric personhood 101 1.1. Ontological dimensions of being human 103 1.2. Tuvans are like growth rings in the trunk of a tree 109 1.3. Cosmocentric humans and sünezin as a centre of being 110 2 1.4. Residues of the past and juices of the present 112 2. Cursed personhood 116 2.1. Images of curses 117 Conclusion 122 Chapter Four Politics of unsettlement: the role of shamanic drums in the machinery of cursing: 125 Introduction 125 1. From drums to turbulence 127 1.1. Ezinneldir and duvulendir 128 1.2. Mobility patterns 130 1.3. Lexicon 131 1.4. Listening in timbre-oriented way 132 2. Sound in Tuva 133 2.1. The art of khöömei 136 2.2 Classical theories of music and Tuvan throat singing 137 3. Structure of shamanic rituals 141 3.1. Liturgical order versus shamanic ritual 144 3.2. A few final note on the notion of centre 147 3.3. Shamanic ritual is about an unexpected encounter 148 Conclusion 151 Chapter 5 The role of shamanic voice and the agency of sound in the phenomenon of cursing: 153 Introduction 153 1. The agency of sound 155 3 1.1. The story of Ajdyn 156 1.2. Sounds like words 160 2. Confronting cosmos 164 2.1. Actualisation of spirits 164 2.2. Relations of efficacy and spirits 167 2.3. Relations of efficacy and the client 169 3. The politics of legitimation 171 Conclusion 172 Chapter Six Beyond curses: in the midst of turbulent Kyzyl 175 Introduction 175 1. Post-Soviet Kyzyl 178 1.1. Shamanic societies and independent shamans 179 1.2. The religious landscape 189 1.3. ‘Curses of civilisation’ 191 1.4. Technological developments 193 2. The category of indigeneity in Siberia 199 3. On the idea of cultural revivalism 202 Conclusion 204 Conclusion: 207 Shamans and curses 207 Turbulence and beyond 210 The final encounter 214 Bibliography: 215 4 Thesis Abstract This thesis is about curses. It shows how the mechanics of cursing are intrinsically linked to shamanic practice in the ethnographic context of social, economic and political shifts in post-Soviet Kyzyl, the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Tuva. Moving beyond discourses that understand ‘economics’ as narrowly pertaining to wealth, power and the circulation of goods, the thesis explores curses as distinct social mechanisms within an ‘occult economy’ that constitutes a wider sociocosmic politics emergent from human and non-human interactions. Along these lines, while presenting Tuvan shamanism as central to cursing phenomena, the thesis explores the distinctiveness and efficacy of shamanic practice as a form of artistry embedded in instrument-derived (shamanic drum) and human (the shaman’s voice) sound production. Thus, it challenges the ‘classical’ readings of shamanism which emphasise trance and mediumship usually seen as involving significant changes in the ‘physical’ and ‘psychic’ states of the shamans. Contextualizing cursing in the practice of Tuvan shamanism, the thesis illuminates the significance of sound creation among Tuvans in order to introduce the notion of ‘turbulence’ as integral not only to shamanic sound production, but also to immediate experiences of cursing and the overall patterning of the cosmos. More than that, bringing sounds and turbulence together in the context of shamanic rituals, it shows how sounds are imbued with a potency of their own rather than simply constituting a sonorous aspect of shamanic words. Along these lines, it contributes to a better understanding of im/materiality and the logic of representation. Lastly, exploring the multiplication of curses in the post-Soviet context, the thesis also offers an interpretative framework which unveils how occult phenomena can become efficacious analytical tools, allowing us to grasp the mosaic-like characteristics of the sociocultural contexts in which they are embedded. In this way, the thesis attempts to emancipate ‘occultism’ from the rigid dichotomies of tradition and modernity, and challenge those anthropological approaches to post-colonial transformations which emphasise cultural revivalism and ethnic identity, remaining caught in the usual dynamics of ‘the old’ and ‘the new’ – dynamics we need to leave behind. 5 6 Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely thank a number of people who I had a pleasure to meet and work with in Kyzyl and without whom my research would never be possible. In the first place, I would like to thank Hovalygmaa Kuular and her family for introducing and sharing with me her wisdom and knowledge about shamanic practice in Tuva, a unique experience for which I will remain ever so grateful. Secondly, my gratitude goes to Walentyna Süzükei for hours of discussions and teachings about Tuvan music and life in Kyzyl and for her extraordinary theoretical work on throat-singing which deeply inspired my research. Finally, I would like to thank Sailyk Borbak for all her support in terms of documents, papers, visas and protection without which my trip to Tuva would never be possible. I would also like to sincerely thank my supervisors, Dr Dimitri Tsintjilonis and Dr Richard Baxstrom for their intellectual support I continuously received while writing this thesis. I am very grateful that they never stopped challenging me while truly believing in my ideas. My gratitude equally goes to Tom Charman, Elliot Oakley and Lisa Metcalf who spent days and weeks proof reading my work. I would like to thank Barbara and Woody for numerous discussions and suggestions that greatly inspired this thesis. Finally, I would like to particularly thank Duncan for constant diverse forms of support and overall patience without which this thesis would have never come to a successful end. 7 8 Transliteration and names On transliteration: I have used the following system when transliterating Tuvan terms from the Tuvan’ Cyrillic alphabet: А (a) Б (b) В (v) Г (g) Д (d) Е (je) Ё (jo) Ж (zj) З (z) И (i) Й (j) К (k) Л (l) М (m) Н (n) Ң (ng) О (o) Ө (ö) П (p) Р (r) С (s) Т (t) У (u) Y (ü) Ф (f) Х (h) Ц (ts) Ч (ch) Ш(sh) Ъ ('') Ы (y) Ь (') Э (e) Ю (ju) Я (ja) On names: Due to the general secrecy surrounding cursing practices, the identity of all of my informants has been protected through the use of pseudonyms. However, the shaman Hovalygmaa is identified, as requested, by her real name in order to maintain the legacy of her and her family’s work in the context of the practice and preservation of Tuvan shamanism. 9 10 Introduction Shonchalgaj: first encounter When I first arrived in Kyzyl in early November 2014, my goal was to conduct research focusing on the proliferation of shamanic societies and schools for shamans in post-Soviet Tuva. Given my initial interests, I was quickly classified by my some of my informants as one of the many visitors who arrive in the city chasing stories about local shamans and studying the tradition of khöömei, the Tuvan art of throat singing. This, in turn, led to a rather frustrating situation, wherein, instead of having the opportunity to ask questions and familiarise myself with the people around me, I was continuously referred to the libraries and academic literature regarding Tuvan and Siberian shamanism.