Forum for Anthropology and Culture, 2017, no. 13

A Review of KAARINA AITAMURTO, PAGANISM, TRADITIONALISM, NATIONALISM: NARRATIVES OF RUSSIAN RODNOVERIE. New York; London: Routledge, 2016, 222 pp.

Andrei Tiukhtiaev
European University at St Petersburg
3 Gagarinskaya Str., St Petersburg, Russia
atiukhtiaev()eu.spb.ru

Abstract: Kaarina Aitamurto’s study deals with Russian neopaganism and consists of a detailed description of the narratives used by adherents of the native faith to present their movement. Focusing on two well-known native faith communities (the Circle of Pagan Tradition and the Union of Slavic Communities of the Slavic Native Faith), the author attempts to make sense of neopaganism in Russia in the context of modern theories of religion. The review examines how certain theoretical and methodological preferences of the author’s have influenced her interpretation of the material that she has collected.

Keywords: neopaganism, native faith, traditionalism, nationalism.

To cite: Tiukhtiaev A., ‘A Review of Kaarina Aitamurto, Paganism, Traditionalism, Nationalism: Narratives of Russian Rodnoverie. New York; London: Routledge, 2016, 222 pp.’, Forum for Anthropology and Culture, 2017, no. 13, pp. 339–348.