Near and desired things: shamanism in late imperial local Siberian museums

In the last decades of the Russian Empire, small museums sprang up across Siberia, and among the objects they gathered and displayed, shamanic material held a particular place. Marisa Karyl Franz traces the history of these local institutions, asking what role shamanism played in their collections and how it connected provincial museums to anthropology at home and abroad.

Published by Cornell University Press, this is a scholarly study for anyone curious about Siberia, the history of museums, or how religious practice became a subject of scientific study.