Kalmyk Folklore and Ethnography Studies: U. D. Dushan’s Works
https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2018-13-38-57
Abstract
The article analyzes materials collected by Ulyumdzhi D. Dushan (1892–1974) among the Kalmyks in the 1920s to 1930s, the former serving as a valuable folklore and ethnographic source. Being a professional physician to have received a classical European medical education, he displayed an interest in the traditional ethnic culture in its various aspects. First, he was attracted by the Kalmyk culture as a sum of traditional knowledge of the world and man; secondly, due to his professional duty, he could not help emphasizing those features of the traditional Kalmyk lifestyles that required certain intervention so as to be transformed ― everyday life and traditional mentality ― from Socialist perspectives.
The 2016 publication of U. D. Dushan’s works provides an opportunity to scrutinize into his research heritage which ― along with most valuable ethnographic descriptions of the material and spiritual culture of the Kalmyks, their pre-Buddhist religious ideas — contain his characteristics of separate folklore genres, narrative texts, and quite numerous examples of the aphoristic genres of Kalmyk folklore.
About the Authors
A. Burykin
Kalmyk Scientific Center of the RAS (8, Ilishkin St., Elista, 358000, Russian Federation)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ph.D. in Philology (Doct. of Philological Sc.), Ph.D. in History (Doct. of Historical Sc.), Leading Research Associate, Department of Mongolian Philology
D. Muzraeva
Kalmyk Scientific Center of the RAS (8, Ilishkin St., Elista, 358000, Russian Federation)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ph.D. in Philology (Cand. of Philological Sc.), Associate Professor, Leading Research Associate, Head of Department of Mongolian Philology
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Review
For citations:
Burykin A., Muzraeva D. Kalmyk Folklore and Ethnography Studies: U. D. Dushan’s Works. Mongolian Studies. 2018;10(2):38-57. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2018-13-38-57
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