Head of the Laboratory of Sociocultural Anthropology, Moscow State Linguistic University

Dr. Hist. (2003); Cand. Hist. (1991); Department of Archaeology, History Faculty, Kemerovo State University (1984). Professor in ethnography, ethnology, and anthropology (2009). In 1995–2013 — Chair, Department of Northern and Siberian Studies, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences; 2013–2020 — Chair, Department of Ethnology, Moscow State University; 2019–2024 – Director, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Scholarly interests: contemporary social and economic transformations, adaptation, and sustainable development in Northern (Eur)Asia; identities and social structures; anthropology of religion; epic traditions and endangered languages; prinсiples and methods of evaluating the impact of administrative decisions on the population; history of ideas in ethnology and folklore studies. Editorial board member for Journal of Central and Inner Asian Dialogue and Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniia. Recipient of the 2007 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award (The Humboldt Foundation). Author of over 300 works including books on The Worlds of Shamans and Storytellers (Moscow, 2005), Shors Heroic Epics (Kemerovo, 2010–2013) and others.