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Paper short abstract

Shamanism in Southern Siberia entangles heritage, nature, and identity. Sacred sites and storytelling foster belonging and cultural continuity, while wartime Russia’s ecological policies silence Indigenous voices and reshape the meanings of heritage and ecology.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines the entanglements of heritage, nature, and identity through the lens of contemporary shamanism in Southern Siberia. Drawing on ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and media analysis, it explores how shamanic practices among the Buryats, Tuvans, and Khakassians function as lived heritage that interweaves ecological belonging, gendered identities, and cultural continuity.

Shamanic sacred sites and rituals are not only spiritual spaces but also forms of intangible cultural heritage that connect communities to land, memory, and ancestry. Storytelling—in the form of oral narratives, ritual speech, and embodied practices—emerges as a key medium through which ecological intimacy and collective identity are negotiated.

At the same time, heritage practices are entangled with broader political realities. In contemporary Russia, shamanism has been mobilised as both a vehicle of Indigenous revival and a tool for state co-option, revealing how ecological and cultural heritage is continually redefined. Since the war in Ukraine, the meaning of “ecology” itself has shifted: resource management has been subordinated to wartime priorities, lowering environmental standards and privileging state needs over Indigenous rights. This has further silenced Indigenous voices, narrowing the space for alternative ecological narratives rooted in heritage and land-based belonging.

By situating shamanism within transdisciplinary debates on heritage and ecological identity, this paper highlights how Indigenous communities in Southern Siberia narrate belonging and resilience through interactions with sacred landscapes, storytelling, and memory, even as they confront colonial legacies and the pressures of ecological change.