Department of Anthropology
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
The case study in this research is on the Daur in Hulun Buir, Northeast China. The aim is to examine how shamanic rituals function as a conduit to actualize communications between the clan members and their shaman ancestors. Through examinations and observations of Daur and other Indigenous shamanic rituals, Feng Qu argues that the human construction of the shamanic landscape brings humans, other-than-humans, and things together into social relations in shamanic ontologies. Inter-human metamorphosis is crucial to Indigenous self-conceptualization and identity. Through rituals, ancestor spirits are active actors involved in almost every aspect of modern human social life among these Indigenous peoples.
This is a hybrid event.
About the Speaker:
Feng Qu, is professor in Anthropology and the founding director of the Arctic Studies Center at Liaocheng University. His doctoral degree in anthropology was received from University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He has archaeological excavation experience and has conducted ethnographic field work in many indigenous villages in Alaska and North China. His research interests include circumpolar anthropology and archaeology, ethnography of Chinese sub-arctic peoples, prehistoric belief systems and cosmology, and ontological theories. He has published numerous academic articles in both English and Chinese. Recently, one of his monographs was published by Cambridge Scholars.