Tibetan landscapes in Chukotka: The consumption of esoteric mass production in the community of Markovo village

Abstract

Two opposite worlds are represented in the traditionalistic discourse about the Markovo village of Chukotka: the traditional world of the older generation, and the modern world of the young people. While elders are regarded as keepers of indigenous knowledge and shamanic powers, it is thought that youngsters who are living in the present-day urbanized village have lost connection with all these things. This juxtaposition is strongly expressed in the healing narratives of the villagers. However, young people are learning their local healing tradition, at the same time using modern 'esoteric' practices. They also practice the traditional ways of receiving knowledge (in dreams) while assimilating modern mass media information. It is here that the two worlds meet, and the article shows how the villagers overcome this contradiction and maintain equilibrium between the old and the new.