Exploring Contemporary Pilgrimage among the Mongolian Speaking Peoples of Russia

Abstract

The article introduces a special theme of the journal’s issue on “Practices of Buddhist Pilgrimage in Russia”. We discuss an array of aspects pertaining to the theme and bearing relevance to the contem- porary situation of Mongolian-speaking peoples in Russia. The contributors (E.-B.M. Guchinova, M.M. Sodnompilova, D.D. Amogolonova, N.V. Tsyrempilov, N.L. Zhukovskaya, E.-B.M. Guchinova, and Ts.A. Darieva) view and conceptualize pilgrimage as a social phenomenon in the comparative regional perspective, taking into account local political contexts. Pilgrimage trips of Buddhists inside and outside Russia, which have been on the rise since the 2000s, do not reproduce “traditions” in their historical versions; rather, they reflect the transformation of perceptions and opportunities of the present-day religious community and individuals that claim belonging to the Buddhist culture. The growing popularity of sacred journeys is often embedded in political geographies of belonging and identities of imagined ethnic communities. We invite scholars to further reflect on the phenomenon of pilgrimage in the contemporary Russian society from both anthropological and interdisciplinary perspectives.