Guest Blog: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters

Danish anthropologist Rane Willerslev documented his personal experiences with a group of Siberian hunters called the Upper Kolyma Yukaghirs in his book, Soul Hunters. He primarily studied their hunting practices, which demonstrated the group’s distinct views of the world: spirits, along with humans and animals, persistently mimicking one another.

About the Book

Rane Willerslev performed his field research of the Yukaghir people by joining a hunting group for several months as he recorded the methods used by the hunters to attract, trap, and prepare the animals in their harsh environment. Soul Hunters covers a number of topics, including the concept of animism and mimetic rituals, traditional hunting attire, storytelling practices, and more.

The author brings the reader to his point of view while personally witnessing and engaging with the Yukaghirs, highlighting the complexities of their beliefs in identity and relational properties. Providing some background on Russian history, as well as misconceptions regarding the Yukaghirs’ experience with both Russia and western influences, Willerslev paints a vast image of how this group views themselves as both fluid in identity and sustained by tradition.

According to Willerslev, dichotomies like “being vs non-being” and “substance vs non-substance” create the physical and spiritual in-betweenness through which the Yukaghirs see themselves and their world. For a helpful introduction about the place and culture presented in this book, check out this video narrated by the author himself.

Using this Book as a Learning Tool

There is quite a bit to unpack with this text, from the world-building of the Yukaghir community to the position of the anthropologist in witnessing and attempting to describe it to his reader. Soul Hunters is a great book for advanced high school students and college students who are interested in an anthropological approach to studying religious traditions, particularly Indigenous belief systems.

I recommend assigning this book chapter by chapter and discussing it weekly.

Willerslev writes with a unique personal style, and I would further recommend reading another book he wrote about his Siberian adventures, On the Run in Siberia (Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2012). It may be the case that this second book fits the needs and interests of a particular group of students more than Soul Hunters, but I personally found Soul Hunters to be more directly aligned with teaching about religious traditions.

Be sure to go over key terms in this book so that students better understand the content and can have informed discussions.

Key Terms might include:

• Yukaghir
• Siberia
• shamanism
• animism
• mimesis

For deeper learning on animism, check out this research from Columbia University.

If your students are new to the study and practices of anthropology, add these terms to the list:

• anthropology
• ethnography
• emic
• etic

In addition to learning about the Yukaghir way of life, Soul Hunters also offers opportunities to teach students current best practices for learning about a culture that is different from one’s own. Academic anthropologists are often outsiders, embedding themselves in a particular cultural milieu to learn more about it and report their findings. While this approach brings attention to groups we might not know about otherwise, it has also been critiqued in various ways throughout the decades. Thus, Willerslev’s work also offers occasions to explore research methodologies in the field of academic anthropology. Here are some discussion questions to get you started:

• In what ways does Willerslev seem like an unbiased observer?
• What biases might Willerslev bring to this project?
• To what extent does Willerslev use (or not use) reflexivity in his reporting?
• How does Willerslev present different perspectives within the Yukaghir community?
• When learning about an unfamiliar culture, what are the benefits and drawbacks of these various approaches?
• Do you have any examples from your own life to support or refute any of these methodologies?

Such a discussion can also help students realize that research methodologies are constantly changing and that even the experts are not always perfect!

Conclusion

If you found my description of Rane Willerslev’s Soul Hunters interesting but a bit wordy and confusing, consider it preparation for the book itself. The stories drew me in when I read this book as a college student, but it also created a need, or rather an opportunity, for further analytic discussion. In short, I was grateful for my teacher’s close attention in gauging our understanding, or lack thereof, in each chapter. Consume it with patience and an open mind.

About the Author

Jane Fitzpatrick has a passion for opera and art and is an avid researcher of the intersections between religious traditions and international affairs. She earned her Master’s degree in International Affairs from Penn State University and has a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from Gettysburg College. Jane has previously provided research assistance for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Strategic Religious Engagement Unit of the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Army War College. Jane’s work has also been published through The Interfaith Observer, The London School of Economics Religion and Global Society Blog, and more. In 2023, Jane became a Contributing Columnist for AppreciateOpera.org.