IRINA SADOVINA DISSERTATIONES FOLKLORISTICAE UNIVERSITATIS TARTUENSIS 28 In Search of Vedic Wisdom: Forms of Alternative of Forms Spirituality Wisdom: in Russia Contemporary In Search Vedic of IRINA SADOVINA In Search of Vedic Wisdom: Forms of Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary Russia Tartu 2020 1 ISSN 1406-7366 ISBN 978-9949-03-345-4 DISSERTATIONES FOLKLORISTICAE UNIVERSITATIS TARTUENSIS 28 DISSERTATIONES FOLKLORISTICAE UNIVERSITATIS TARTUENSIS 28 IRINA SADOVINA In Search of Vedic Wisdom: Forms of Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary Russia Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Institute of Cultural Research, Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu, Estonia This dissertation is accepted for the commencement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Folkloristics on 8.05.2020 by the Institute of Cultural Research and Fine Arts, University of Tartu. Supervisor: Professor Ülo Valk, University of Tartu Reviewers: Dr. Atko Remmel, University of Tartu Opponent: Dr. Kaarina Aitamurto, University of Helsinki Commencement: 15.06.2020 at 12.15 The development and publication of the dissertation was funded by Programme DoRa of the European Social Fund and three projects of the Estonian Research Council: ETF9190 (“Alternative Discourses of Belief”), IUT2-43 (“Tradition, Creativity and Society: Minorities and Alternative Discourses”) and PUT670 (“Vernacular Interpretations of the Incomprehensible: Folkloristic Perspectives Towards Uncertainty”). European Union Investing European Social Fund in your future ISSN 1406-7366 ISBN 978-9949-03-345-4 (print) ISBN 978-9949-03-346-1 (pdf) Copyright: Irina Sadovina, 2020 University of Tartu Press www.tyk.ee TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... 7 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ............................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 11 1. ALTERNATIVE SPIRITUALITY ........................................................... 15 1.1 Why “spirituality”? ............................................................................ 15 1.2 Why “alternative”? ............................................................................ 20 1.3 Brief history and main types of alternative spirituality ..................... 22 1.4 Alternative spirituality in the Russian context................................... 30 1.5 Approaches to alternative spirituality in Russia ................................ 36 2. RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................................. 38 2.1 Research object and research questions ............................................. 38 2.2 Research process and methodology ................................................... 39 2.3 Ethical considerations ........................................................................ 41 3. THEORETICAL TOOLKIT ..................................................................... 45 3.1 Humble theory, the folk, and lore ...................................................... 45 3.2 Vernacular belief ............................................................................... 56 3.3 Theories of legitimation, belonging and consumption ...................... 58 4. VEDIC WISDOM ..................................................................................... 65 4.1 What can be understood as Vedic Wisdom in contemporary Russia? ............................................................................................... 65 4.2 How do discourses of Vedic Wisdom interact with each other and negotiate divergent claims? ........................................................ 74 4.3 How does alternative spirituality persist in contemporary Russia? ... 80 4.4 How are discourses of Vedic Wisdom shaped by global factors? ..... 84 5. SUMMARY OF ARTICLES .................................................................... 88 5.1 Summary of Article 1: The New Age Paradox: Spiritual Consumerism and Traditional Authority at the Child of Nature Festival in Russia ............................................................................... 88 5.2 Summary of Article 2: Humour and Resistance in Russia’s Ecological Utopia (A Look at the Anastasia Movement) .................. 89 5.3 Summary of Article 3: Legitimating New Religiosity in Contemporary Russia: “Vedic Wisdom” Under Fire ........................ 90 5.4 Summary of Article 4: The President in Earthly Paradise: Putin Memes and Visions of the Nation ............................................ 92 6. CONCLUSION: VERNACULAR THEORIZING ................................... 94 REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 97 SUMMARY IN ESTONIAN ......................................................................... 116 5 PUBLICATIONS ........................................................................................... 123 Article 1: The New Age Paradox: Spiritual Consumerism and Traditional Authority at the Child of Nature Festival in Russia .................................................................................. 127 Article 2: Humour and Resistance in Russia’s Ecological Utopia (A Look at the Anastasia Movement) ..................................... 155 Article 3: Legitimating New Religiosity in Contemporary Russia: “Vedic Wisdom” Under Fire ................................................... 177 Article 4: The President in Earthly Paradise: Putin Memes and Visions of the Nation ............................................................... 203 CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................ 227 ELULOOKIRJELDUS ................................................................................... 228 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was generously supported by the Estonian Research Council and the University of Tartu. My participation in international conferences and seminars was made possible by funding from the Programme DoRa of the European Social Fund, the Estonian Graduate School of Culture Studies and Arts (GSCSA), the American Folklore Society (AFS) and the European Association for the Study of Religion (EASR). While working on this project I have had the fortune of being supervised and mentored by Ülo Valk. I am grateful for his boundless generosity, depth of insight, and feedback given with an unfailingly gentle spirit. He is an invaluable interlocutor and an inspiration to everyone who has come into the orbit of the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore. The comments made by Atko Remmel on an earlier draft of the introduction made it a stronger piece of writing. My articles have been much improved by input from the editors and anonymous peer reviewers of the Journal of Contem- porary Religion, Nova Religio and the collection Contesting Authority: Vernacular Knowledge and Alternative Beliefs. Anastasiya Astapova, André Forget and Jeanne Mathieu-Lessard poured hours into reading, discussing and commenting on my drafts. I am grateful for their intellectual contributions and enthusiasm for this project. My research has benefitted from the mentorship of Marion Bowman and Sabina Magliocco and from conversations with University of Tartu colleagues who have spent years contemplating alternative spirituality: Kristel Kivari, Tiina Sepp, and Marko Uibu. Letha Victor and Maria Vyatchina have helped me think through questions of research ethics and lived religion. My work over the years has also been shaped by shared adventures with fellow folklorists and ethno- logists Tatiana Alybina, Svetlana Amosova, Reet Hiiemäe, Margaret Lyngdoh, Merili Metsvahi, Valentina Punzi, Jonathan Roper, Claire Scheid, Pihla Maria Siim, Alevtina Solovyeva, Laur Vallikivi, and Ergo-Hart Västrik. I received helpful comments on my research from many colleagues at a number of conferences, as well as colloquia at the University of Missouri, Stephens College and Université Laval. I finished this manuscript while I was a Visiting Researcher at Mari State University and a Docent at Volga State University of Technology, and I thank my colleagues and students at these institutions for helping me think through some final points. Liilia Laaneman and Maria Tamm helped me jump through the hoops of the PhD process, for which I am beyond grateful. A special thanks is due to Kristel Kivari and Maarja Valk for their time and linguistic expertise in translating parts of this manuscript into Estonian. Finally, I would like to thank the people whose friendship inspired and sustained this project. Maria Bocharova, Alina Dudka and Anastasia Starostina spoke with me for hours, bringing their knowledge, humor and honesty to our discussions of Vedic Wisdom. 7 Anna Fenina-Zhukova and Anastasia Aleksandrova have stayed with me every step of this journey, offering brilliant insights. They supported and challenged me profoundly, as family does. My great pleasure in finishing this project is that I am able to recognize their contribution to this research. 8 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS Article I Sadovina, Irina 2017. The New Age Paradox: Spiritual Consumerism and Traditional Authority at the Child of Nature Festival in Russia. Journal of Con- temporary Religion, 2017, Volume 32, Number 1, 83–103. Article II Sadovina, Irina 2021. Humour and Resistance in Russia’s Ecological Utopia (A Look at the Anastasia Movement). Ülo Valk and Marion Bowman (eds.) Con- testing Authority: Vernacular