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Accepted Paper:
Out of Asia: "Eastern Hypothesis," Siberian Autonomism, and Indigenous Lore, 1880s-1910s
Andrei Znamenski
(University of Memphis)
The paper examines peculiar “Eastern hypothesis” that had been promoted by Siberian autonomist ethnographer and writer Grigorii Potanin (1835-1920) who sought to single out Inner Asia as a unique and very “ancient” civilizational spot on a par with European Russia. I explore how, to enhance their autonomist agenda, Potanin and other Siberian autonomists (oblastniki) privileged and idealized the indigenous cultures of Siberia and Inner Asia. Collecting and recording shamanism, “ruins” (archaeology), and indigenous folklore, as well as inviting native shamans for public shows became an important part of that cultural agenda, which later contributed to the mythology of Eurasianism.