Konstantinos Zorbas is an Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology, Shandong University, China. His main research focuses on shamanic rituals to deal with an epidemic of curses in the Tyva Republic, Russia. Currently, he is completing a monograph on shamanism and post-socialism in Tyva.

Shamanism, Occult Murder, and Political Assassination in Siberia and Beyond

This essay examines the revival of shamanism in a Siberian city and analyses the political dimensions of rituals for reversing the effects of sorcery assault. Drawing on fieldwork exploring an epidemic of occult violence in Kyzyl, Tyva Republic, the essay identifies a new type of shamanic detective and entrepreneur, whose techniques of counter-cursing cut across the state’s operations of security and justice.

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