Lukin: Mythic Knowledge and Shamanism in Nenets Oral Narration

In the anchor study “Mythic Knowledge and Shamanism in Nenets Oral Narration”, Karina Lukin treats the Nenets epic and shamanistic poetry collected from the mid-19th century through the beginning of the 20th century. The analysis centers around key expressions and themes related to the shamanistic and mythological imagination. It considers the diachronic movement of these elements in epic poetry on one hand and their synchronic movement between different genres on the other. Lukin looks at Nenets mythic and shamanistic narration as knowledge and its performers as experts of this knowledge – knowledge that was actualized in rituals and shamanistic séances. The study will produce an interpretation of images and expressions used in Nenets mythic thinking and an account of symbolic and textual strategies employed by the performers when actualizing, communicating and manipulating mythic knowledge.