Dr Valeriya t
About
Valeriya’s main area of expertise is history of Buddhism and folk forms of religious practices and categories in Kalmykia in modern times. Her PhD dissertation, based on historical analysis and extensive ethnographic fieldwork, focuses on Buddhist renewal and inventions of religion and identity in post-Soviet Kalmykia.
Her current postdoctoral project, combining archival work and ethnographic field research, exploresthe illegal underground Buddhist activity in Soviet Kalmykiabetween its reestablishment in the USSR in 1958 and until the implementation of perestroikain the late 1980s, the period locally known as that of ‘clandestine Buddhism’.The project also investigates the continued role of ‘secret Buddhists’ of the Soviet era in the present-day restoration of Kalmyk religious institutions and renewal of ethno-national and religious identity. The research addresses questions of survival and transformation of ‘tradition’ under repression and focuses on the relationship between religion, history, memory and identity formation.
Research
Religions of Tibetans and Mongols, Buddhism in Kalmykia, ritual healing and folk medicine, anthropology of religion, gender studies, secrecy, debates over tradition and modernity, religious constructivism, identity formation, local history and memory, Kalmyk Buddhist and contemporary art.