Séance chamanique

In the name of its “civilizing mission”, Russian culture has largely destabilised the communities of the Arctic, including from the point of view of religion, gender and intimacy. For instance, the kala woman with the toothed anus soon fell silent, as did the Creator’s wife who cut off her vulva to make a small talking dog with it, or the seven daughters of Nga whose kisses steal the soul, causing human illnesses. These characters were succeeded by the virtuous Orthodox woman, then by the healthy kolkhozian, and today by the valiant patriot: women and “traditional” societies themselves must be liberated from taboos and prohibitions—or rather are they simply asked to espouse those of the civilizer? Based on the memories of her nomadic childhood and the stories of her elders, Anastasia Lapsui, Nenets of the tundras, restores a fragment of local shamanism through a shamanic session revolving around the body and feminity.