The Revival of Mongolian Shamanism

In the book -- "Tragic Spirits," MIT anthropologist Manduhai Buyandelger chronicles how the revival of shamanism has shaped Mongolia in the last two decades. From storefronts in Ulan Bator, the nation's capital, to homes in rural Mongolia, shamanism has become a growth industry. The return of shamanism, she asserts, represents more than the straightforward return of a once-banned religion to Mongolia. And it is more than just a convenient method for people to earn a little income by working as shamans. Rather, she says, shamanism became more popular precisely because, in a poor country recovering from Soviet domination -- where Mongolia's occupiers had wiped away its records and the physical traces of its past -- shamanic practices have offered some Mongolians a way to reinvent their own history. Shamans offer clients the opportunity to meet with the spirits of their distant ancestors and hear "fragmented stories about their lives in the past."