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Speaker(s): Toby Cox (Harvard Divinity School)

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For our second – and final – meeting of South of South this quarter, we are delighted to have Toby Cox, a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School, speak about Tengriism! Tengriism is an ancient shamanistic, totemic, and animistic worldview of the Turkic and Mongol peoples and was the state religion of several early Middle-Age khanates in what is today Central Asia. While today the movement carries political overtones, we will be discussing Tengriism as a system of belief interwoven into the daily routines of its adherents.
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We will be gathering in Zoom and in person. for the Zoom link, or join us in Pigott Hall, room 216. In-person attendance is limited to the èצӰÏñ community. Masks are strongly encouraged while indoors; see the latest guidance on .
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Contact: evanalt [at] stanford.edu (evanalt[at]stanford[dot]edu). Organized by Marie Huber, Vincent Barletta, and Evan Alterman, as part of South of South in the DLCL Research Unit.
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Tengriism as a Lived Practice: Tengriism, though a fairly new term, refers to the very ancient worship of Tengri, the sky god, by Turko-Mongolian communities. While an ancient religion, Tengriism declined considerably over the past hundred years. Today, communities in Central Asia, Siberia, and Mongolia are trying to revive and recover Tengriist beliefs and customs that have faded from the collective memory. In this presentation, I will share what I learned while researching Tengriism and religious identity in Kyrgyzstan. The world of Tengriism is vast, and while I will touch upon Tengriism in Siberian and Mongolian context, this session will focus mostly on Tengriism in the Central Asian region. We will discuss the Tengriist cosmovision, what Tengriism looks like as a lived practice, and its reflection in cultural arts, especially in the designs featured on Kazakh and Kyrgyz textiles.

Toby Cox is currently a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School. She is curious about the spiritual implications of climate change on communities with eco-spiritual roots in Zoroastrianism, Tengriism, and Shamanism. Previously, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer (2015-2017) and Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellow (2017-2018) in Kyrgyzstan. As a Fulbright-National Geographic Fellow, she researched the complex religious landscape of Kyrgyz religious and spiritual identity. Post-graduation, she aims to continue researching religion, spirituality, and climate change in Central Asia and beyond.