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Storytelling in Siberia:

The Olonkho Epic in a Changing World

ISBN-13: 9780252041280
Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
Imprint: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
By Robin P. Harris
Price: AUD $239.00
Stock: 1 in stock
Availability: Order will be despatched as soon as possible.
Local release date: 14/12/2017
Format: Hardback (229.00mm X 152.00mm) 256 pages Weight: 480g
Categories: Ethnic studies [JFSL]

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Table of Contents
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Google Preview: How the native Sakha revived a near-extinct art form

Olonkho, the epic narrative and song tradition of Siberia's Sakha people, declined to the brink of extinction during the Soviet era. In 2005, UNESCO's Masterpiece Proclamation sparked a resurgence of interest in olonkho by recognizing its important role in humanity's oral and intangible heritage.

Drawing on her ten years living in the Russian North, Robin P. Harris documents how the Sakha have used the Masterpiece program to revive olonkho and strengthen their cultural identity. Harris's personal relationships with and primary research among Sakha people provide vivid insights into understanding olonkho and the attenuation, revitalization, transformation, and sustainability of the Sakha's cultural reemergence. Interdisciplinary in scope, Storytelling in Siberia considers the nature of folklore alongside ethnomusicology, anthropology, comparative literature, and cultural studies to shed light on how marginalized peoples are revitalizing their own intangible cultural heritage.

Publication of this book was supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and from the L. J. and Mary C. Skaggs Folklore Fund.; List of Illustrations ix
Notes on Transliteration from Russian and Sakha xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Encountering Olonkho 1
1 Epic Traditions, Performers, and Audiences 11
2 Effects of Change during the Soviet Era 33
3 Esteem for a Masterpiece: The Quest for Recognition 64
4 Examining the Role of UNESCO and Intangible Cultural Heritage 89
5 Elements of Resilience: Stable and Malleable 108
6 Epic Revitalization: Negotiating Identities and Other Challenges 135
7 Ensuring Sustainability through Transmission and Innovation 156
Glossary of Russian and Sakha Words 163
Notes 165
Works Cited 203
Index 225; Robin Harris's up-close and vividly written account of how an epic tradition from Siberia was proclaimed a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity is a masterpiece of contemporary ethnography in its own right.--Theodore Levin, Dartmouth College

"Ancient artistry comes to us through the trial of centuries. This book gives us hope that the heroic epics of the Yakuts, having survived under Soviet power, will outlive these rapidly changing, turbulent times as well."--Eduard Alekseyev, Academy of Spirituality, Sakha Republic (Yakutia); Google Preview content

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Storytelling in Siberia:

The Olonkho Epic in a Changing World