Spatial Organization and Local Mythological Worldview Among the Indigenous Peoples of Western Siberia: An Experience of Visual Schemes Construction

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2025-1/255-270

Authors

Keywords:

cultural landscape, visual anthropology, Nenets, Khanty, Siberian Tatars, patron spirits, demonic creatures

Abstract

The organization of the living space varies between ethnic communities which is partly due to the different mythological systems operating in these communities. The article proposes to consider the structure of traditional settlements and adjacent developed territories of some ethnic groups of Western Siberia in combination with their mythological picture of the world. As an example, the author took a visualized scheme prepared by the famous theorist of cultural geography V.N. Kalutskov using the example of a Pomor village in the North of Russia. To construct the schemes, information with a specific ethnolocal and cultural reference was selected for the following ethnic communities: Yaskolba (Swamp) Tatars, Agan Khanty and Nenets of the Yamal and Gydan tundra. Testing of the approach showed its good adaptability to work with widely varying ethnographic materials. The resulting schemes proved to be both clear and informative, thus promising to be conveniently used both for analytical work and as illustrative material in scientific and educational activities.

Author Biography

  • Polina Karas, Institute of Northern Development Problems, Tyumen Scientific Centre of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

    Karas, Polina L. — Laboratory Assistant, Institute of Northern Development Problems, Tyumen Scientific Centre of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Tyumen, Russian Federation). E-mail: karas.polin@gmail.com ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3034-5734

    For citation: Karas, P. L. 2025. Spatial Organization and Local Mythological Worldview Among the Indigenous Peoples of Western Siberia: An Experience of Visual Schemes Construction. Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii). 1: 255–270.

    References
    1. Bakieva, G. T. 2021. Sakral'nye mesta v traditsionnoi kul'ture zabolotnykh tatar [Sacred Places in the Traditional Culture of the Swamp Tatars]. In Bashkiry v kontekste mezhdistsiplinarnykh issledovanii tiurkskikh narodov Evrazii [Bashkirs in the Context of Interdisciplinary Studies of the Turkic Peoples of Eurasia], ed. by Yu. M. Yusupov. Ufa: Samrau. 99–104.
    2.Bakieva, G. T. 2022. Demonicheskie sushchestva u zabolotnykh tatar (po materialam polevykh issledovanii) [Demonic Creatures Among the Swamp Tatars (Based on Field Research)]. In Narody Sibiri i Dal'nego Vostoka s drevnikh vremon do nashikh dnei [Peoples of Siberia and the Far East from Ancient Times to the Present Day], ed. by N. I. Drozdov. Krasnoyarsk: Sibirskii federal'nyi universitet. 303–308.
    3.Bakieva, G. T. 2023. Legendy, predaniia, mify Zabolot'ia. Issledovaniia i teksty [Legends, Traditions, Myths of Zabolotye. Research and Texts]. Tomsk: Izdatel'stvo Tomskogo universiteta. 152 p.
    4.Golovnev A. V., N. P. Garin, and D. A. Kukanov. 2016. Olenevody Yamala (materialy k Atlasu kochevykh tekhnologii) [Reindeer Herders of Yamal (Materials for the Atlas of Nomadic Technologies)]. Ekaterinburg: Izdatel’stvo UrO RAN. 152 p.
    5.Golovnev, A. V. 1995. O kul'te ngytarma i sidryang u nentsev [On the Cult of Ngytarma and Sidryang Among the Nenets]. In Mirovozzreniye narodov Zapadnoy Sibiri po arkheologicheskim i etnograficheskim dannym [Worldview of the Peoples of Western Siberia Based on Archaeological and Ethnographic Data: Abstracts of Reports], ed. by E. L. L'vova. Tomsk. 45–48.
    6.Golovnev, A. V. 1995. Govoryashchiye kul'tury: traditsii samodiytsev i ugrov [Speaking Cultures: Traditions of Samoyeds and Ugrians]. Ekaterinburg: Izdatel’stvo UrO RAN. 600 p.
    7.Golovnev, A. V. 2004. Kochevniki tundry: nentsy i ikh fol'klor [Tundra Nomads: Nenets and Their Folklore]. Ekaterinburg: Izdatel’stvo UrO RAN. 344 p.
    8.Isachenko, A. G. 2001. Obraznoe vospriiatie v geograficheskom poznanii mira [Imaginative Perception in Geographical Knowledge of the World]. Izvestiia Rossiiskogo geograficheskogo obshchestva 3. 133: 24–33.
    9.Kaganskii, V. L. 2001. Kul'turnyi landshaft i sovetskoe obitayemoe prostranstvo: sbornik statei [Cultural Landscape and Soviet Inhabited Space: Collection of Articles]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. 576 p.
    10.Kalutskov, V. N. 2011. Etnokul'turnoe landshaftovedenie: uchebnoe posobie [Ethnocultural Landscape Studies: Textbook]. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo geograficheskii fakul'tet MGU. 109 p.
    11.Kalutskov, V. N. 2008. Landshaft v kul'turnoi geografii [Landscape in Cultural Geography]. Moscow: Novyi khronograf. 320 p.
    12.Khomich, L. V. 1977. Religioznye kul'ty u nentsev [Religious Cults among the Nenets]. In Sbornik Muzeia antropologii i etnografii. Vol. 33. Pamiatniki kul'tury narodov Sibiri i Severa [Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Vol. 33. Cultural Monuments of the Peoples of Siberia and the North], ed. by I. S. Vdovin. 5–28.
    13.Korusenko, M. A., Yu. I. Ozheredov, and A. A. Yarzutkina. 2013. Mifologiia sibirskikh tatar v simvolakh obrazov i veshchey (opyty prochteniia) [Mythology of the Siberian Tatars in the Symbols of Images and Things (Reading Experiences)]. Vol. V. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie. 264 p.
    14.Korusenko, M. A. 2007. Liudi i dukhi v zhilishche sibirskikh tatar [People and Spirits in the Dwelling of the Siberian Tatars]. In Etnoistoriia i arkheologiia Severnoi Evrazii: teoriia, metodologiia i praktika issledovaniia [Ethnohistory and Archeology of Northern Eurasia: Theory, Methodology and Research Practice], ed. by A. V. Kharinskii. Irkutsk: IrGTU. 495–497.
    15.Korusenko, M. A., and A. M. Diianova. 2011. Traditsionnoe mirovozzrenie barabinskikh tatar vo vtoroi treti XX – nachale XXI veka: predstavlenie o dukhakh-khoziaevakh osvoennykh prostranstv [Traditional Worldview of the Baraba Tatars in the Second Third of the 20th – Early 21st Centuries: The Idea of the Master Spirits of the Developed Territories]. Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii 2: 186–195. https://www.ipdn.ru/_private/a15/186-195.pdf
    16.Korusenko, M. A., and A. M. Diianova. 2012. Traditsionnoe mirovozzrenie barabinskikh tatar vo vtoroi treti XX – nachale XXI veka: predstavleniia o dukhakh-khoziaevakh «chuzhikh» prostranstv [The Traditional Worldview of the Baraba Tatars in the Second Third of the 20th and Early 21st Centuries: Ideas About the Master Spirits of “Alien” Spaces]. Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii 1: 83–91. https://www.ipdn.ru/_private/a16/83-91.pdf
    17.Korusenko, M. A., and V. V. Merzlikin. 2005. Metskei, ubyr, otskur v mifologicheskikh predstavleniiakh sibirskikh tatar (opyt analiza obrazov) [Metskei, Ubyr, Otskur in the Mythological Representations of the Siberian Tatars (Experience of Image Analysis)]. In Narody i kul'tury Sibiri: izuchenie, muzeefikatsiia, prepodavanie [Peoples and Cultures of Siberia: Study, Museumification, Teaching], ed. by M. L. Berezhnova, N. A. Tomilov. Omsk: Izdatel'stvo Omskogo universiteta. 144–159.
    18.Kulemzin, V. M. 1984. Chelovek i priroda v verovaniiakh khantov [Man and Nature in the Beliefs of the Khanty]. Tomsk: Izdatel'stvo Tomskogo universiteta. 192 p.
    19.Lar, L. A. 1998. Shamany i Bogi [Shamans and Gods]. Tyumen: Izdatel'stvo Instituta problem osvoyeniia Severa SO RAN. 39 p.
    20.Lar, L. A. 2003. Kul'tovyye pamiatniki Yamala. Khebidia ya [Cult Objects of Yamal. Hebidya Ia]. Tyumen: Izdatel'stvo Instituta problem osvoyeniia Severa SO RAN. 173 p.
    21.Lavrenova, O. A. 2010. Prostranstva i smysly: Semantika kul'turnogo landshafta [Spaces and Meanings: Semantics of Cultural Landscape]. Moscow: Institut Naslediia. 330 p.
    22.Lehtisalo, T. 1998. Mifologiia yurako-samoedov (nentsev) [Mythology of the Yurako-Samoyeds (Nenets)]. Tomsk: Izdatel'stvo Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 136 p.
    23.Martynova, E. P. 1998. Ocherki istorii i kul'tury Khantov [Essays on the History and Culture of the Khanty]. Moscow: Nauka. 235 p.
    24.Matveev, A. V. 2015. Gorizontal'naia struktura mifologicheskogo prostranstva [Horizontal Structure of Mythological Space]. In Istoriia i kul'tura tatar Zapadnoy Sibiri [History and Culture of the Tatars of Western Siberia], ed. by G. F. Gabdrakhmanova. Kazan: Artifakt. 478–483.
    25.Perevalova, E. V., and K. G. Karacharov. 2006. Reka Agan i ee obitateli [The Agan River and Its Inhabitants]. Ekaterinburg; Nizhnevartovsk: UrO RAN; Studiya «GRAFO». 352 p.
    26.Spodina, V. I. 1995. Metodicheskoe posobie po etnografii korennykh narodov Zapadnoi Sibiri (Khanty) [Methodological Manual on the Ethnography of the Indigenous Peoples of Western Siberia (Khanty)]. Megion. 176 p.
    27.Tikhomirova, M. N. 2006. Oberegi v traditsionno-bytovoi kul'ture zabolotnykh tatar (po polevym materialam) [Amulets in the Traditional Everyday Culture of the Swamp Tatars (Based on Field Materials)]. In Materialy IX Vserossiiskoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii [Materials of the IX All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference]. Tyumen. 117–118.
    28.Valeev, F. T. 1976. O religioznykh predstavleniiakh zapadnosibirskikh tatar [On the Religious Ideas of the West Siberian Tatars]. In Priroda i chelovek v religioznykh predstavleniiakh narodov Sibiri i Severa [Nature and Man in the Religious Beliefs of the Peoples of Siberia and the North], ed. by I. S. Vdovin. Leningrad: Nauka. 320–331.
    29.Valeev, F. T., and N. A. Tomilov. 2006. Sibirskie tatary [Siberian Tatars]. In Tiurkskie narody Sibiri [Turkic Peoples of Siberia], ed. by D. A. Funk, N. A. Tomilov. Moscow: Nauka. 26–124.
    30.Yarzutkina, A. A. 2012. Ritualy dostatka: Traditsionnye zemledel'cheskie, skotovodcheskie i promyslovye kul'ty sibirskikh tatar [Rituals of Prosperity: Traditional Agricultural, Cattle Breeding and Fishing Cults of the Siberian Tatars]. Saint Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie. 320 p.
    31.Yarzutkina, A. A. 2015. Mifologicheskie predstavleniia i relikty doislamskikh verovanii [Mythological Representations and Relics of Pre-Islamic Beliefs]. In Istoriia i kul'tura tatar Zapadnoi Sibiri [History and Culture of the Tatars of Western Siberia], ed. by G. F. Gabdrakhmanova. Kazan: Artifakt. 483–493.

Downloads

Published

15.03.2025

Issue

No. 1 (2025): Вестник антропологии

Section

Anthropology of the Demonic: Magic and the Supernatural in Asia