Shamanism or Shamanisms, a comparative approach toward Siberian Shamanism

Shamanism has been considered as a singular phenomenon in most of the studies carried out about Shamanism so far, and it has not been taken into consideration that there are different types of Shamanism. Shamanist beliefs, which were developed in a very large region such as Siberia, were divided into different branches as a result of different social, cultural and political effects in Siberia, and led to the emergence of Shamanist practices called Paleo-Siberian Shamanism and Neo-Siberian Shamanism. The thesis will examine Siberian Shamanism in a comparative way, starting from the concepts of Paleo Siberia and Neo Siberia, and will reveal the necessity of mentioning Shamanism as plural rather than singular. Considering the fact that Siberia is a very wide geographical region, the subject of the study will be limited to three Paleo Siberian and three Neo Siberian groups. Keywords: Siberia, Paleo Siberia, Neo Siberia, Shamanism