What <i>Does</i> Matter?: Idols and Icons in the Nenets Tundra
This paper examines a mission encounter in the Nenets reindeer herders’ tundra. In post-Soviet Arctic Russia, Pentecostal and Baptist missionaries of Russian and Ukrainian origin have been fighting against idolatry and trying to persuade the Nenets to burn their sacred images or khekhe’’. They claim...
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| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2011-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/70 |
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| author | Laur Vallikivi |
| author_facet | Laur Vallikivi |
| author_sort | Laur Vallikivi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper examines a mission encounter in the Nenets reindeer herders’ tundra. In post-Soviet Arctic Russia, Pentecostal and Baptist missionaries of Russian and Ukrainian origin have been fighting against idolatry and trying to persuade the Nenets to burn their sacred images or khekhe’’. They claim that among the indigenous Siberians idolatry exists in its quintessential or prototypical form, as it is described in the Bible. I shall suggest that this encounter takes place in a gap, in which the Nenets and Protestant have different understandings of language and materiality. Missionaries rely simultaneously on the ‘modern’ ideology of signification and the ‘non-modern’ magic of the material. They argue that idols, which are ‘nothing’ according to the scriptures, dangerously bind the ‘pagans’’ minds. For reindeer herders, for whom sacred items occupy an important place in the family wellbeing, the main issue is how to sever the link with the spirits without doing any damage. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6a26e5ec97784be9b3d1df9ba6e79546 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1736-6518 2228-0987 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2011-09-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |
| spelling | doaj-art-6a26e5ec97784be9b3d1df9ba6e795462025-02-02T01:09:46ZengSciendoJournal of Ethnology and Folkloristics1736-65182228-09872011-09-0151759564What <i>Does</i> Matter?: Idols and Icons in the Nenets TundraLaur Vallikivi0University of TartuThis paper examines a mission encounter in the Nenets reindeer herders’ tundra. In post-Soviet Arctic Russia, Pentecostal and Baptist missionaries of Russian and Ukrainian origin have been fighting against idolatry and trying to persuade the Nenets to burn their sacred images or khekhe’’. They claim that among the indigenous Siberians idolatry exists in its quintessential or prototypical form, as it is described in the Bible. I shall suggest that this encounter takes place in a gap, in which the Nenets and Protestant have different understandings of language and materiality. Missionaries rely simultaneously on the ‘modern’ ideology of signification and the ‘non-modern’ magic of the material. They argue that idols, which are ‘nothing’ according to the scriptures, dangerously bind the ‘pagans’’ minds. For reindeer herders, for whom sacred items occupy an important place in the family wellbeing, the main issue is how to sever the link with the spirits without doing any damage.https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/70NenetsPentecostalismmissionariesiconoclasmmateriality |
| spellingShingle | Laur Vallikivi What <i>Does</i> Matter?: Idols and Icons in the Nenets Tundra Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics Nenets Pentecostalism missionaries iconoclasm materiality |
| title | What <i>Does</i> Matter?: Idols and Icons in the Nenets Tundra |
| title_full | What <i>Does</i> Matter?: Idols and Icons in the Nenets Tundra |
| title_fullStr | What <i>Does</i> Matter?: Idols and Icons in the Nenets Tundra |
| title_full_unstemmed | What <i>Does</i> Matter?: Idols and Icons in the Nenets Tundra |
| title_short | What <i>Does</i> Matter?: Idols and Icons in the Nenets Tundra |
| title_sort | what i does i matter idols and icons in the nenets tundra |
| topic | Nenets Pentecostalism missionaries iconoclasm materiality |
| url | https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/70 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT laurvallikivi whatidoesimatteridolsandiconsinthenenetstundra |