This is a translation from a Russian work published in 1958, one of the major works of a well-known and prolific writer. It deals with the origins of the small nations and peoples of central Siberia and northeastern Asia. Many guesses have been made about these peoples but most have not been substantiated, because of the lack of field work or because the materials on them had not been analysed and published. Levin has reviewed the old materials, gathered and analysed hitherto unpublished ones, and personally surveyed many of the peoples as a member of the Russian Northeastern Expedition. He makes use of all the data of physical anthropology, ethnography, archaeology, and linguistics on the peoples he describes and has thus provided a definitive work on a nearly forgotten segment of mankind inhabiting an extensive territory. Volume III in the series Anthropology of the North: Translations from Russian Sources sponsored by the Arctic Institute of North America and under the general editorship of H.N. Michael, Temple University.

The focus of Richard Zgusta’s The Peoples of Northeast Asia through Time is the formation of indigenous and cultural groups of coastal northeast Asia, including the Ainu, the “Paleoasiatic” peoples, and the Asiatic Eskimo. Most chapters begin with a summary of each culture at the beginning of the colonial era, which is followed by an interdisciplinary reconstruction of prehistoric cultures that have direct ancestor-descendant relationships with the modern ones. An additional chapter presents a comparative discussion of the ethnographic data, including subsistence patterns, material culture, social organization, and religious beliefs, from a diachronic viewpoint. Each chapter includes maps and extensive references.

Tribal peoples believe that the shaman experiences, absorbs, and communicates a special mode of power, sustaining and healing. This book discusses American Indian shamanic traditions, particularly those of the Woodland Ojibway, in terms drawn from the classical shamanism of Siberian peoples. Using a cultural-historical method, John A. Grim describes the spiritual formation of shamans, male and female, and elucidates the special religious experience that they transmit to their tribes. Writing as a historian of religion well acquainted with ethnological materials, Grim identifies four patterns in the shamanic experience: cosmology, tribal sanction, ritual reenactment, and trance experience. Relating those concepts to the Siberian and Ojibway experiences, he draws on mythology, sociology, anthropology, and psychology to paint a picture of shamanism that is both particularized and interpretative. As religious personalities, shamans are important today because of their singular ability to express symbolically the forces that animate the tribal cosmology. Often identifying themselves with primordial earth processes, shamans develop symbol systems drawn from the archetypal earth images that are vital to their psychic healing technique. This particular ability to resonate with the natural world is felt as an important need in our time. Those readers who identify with American Indians as they confront modern technological society will value this introduction to our native shamanic traditions and to the religious experience itself. The author's discussion of Ojibway practices is the most comprehensive short treatment available, written with a fine poetic feeling that reflects the literary expressiveness inherent in American Indian religion and thought.

A fascinating account of the genetic, archaeological and demographic evidence for the peopling of the New World.

Covering countries ranging from Afghanistan and China to Kazakhstan and Russia, this encyclopedia supplies detailed information and informed perspectives, enabling readers to comprehend Asian ethnic groups as well as Asian politics and history. Asia is quickly becoming one of the most important regions of the world—culturally, economically, and politically. This work provides encyclopedic coverage of a wide array of Central, North, and East Asian ethnic groups, including those in eastern Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China, Taiwan, Japan, and the Koreas. Arranged alphabetically by ethnic group, each entry provides an overview of the group that identifies its major population centers and population, primary languages and religions, parallels with other groups, origins and early development, major historic events, and cultural belief systems. Information on each group's typical ways of life, relations with neighboring groups, politics and recent history, notable challenges, demographic trends, and key figures is also included. Special attention is focused on the numerous ethnic groups that make up China, one of the world's most populated countries. Sidebars throughout the text provide fascinating facts and information about specific groups to make the encyclopedia more accessible and appealing, while "Further Reading" sections at the end of each entry and the bibliography will provide ample additional resources for students performing in-depth research.

This volume engages the concept and related notions of cultural hegemony, cultural erosion, cultural hybridity and cultural survival by considering whether five regimes in Asia deploy policies aimed at extirpating the language, religion, arts, customs or other elements of the cultures of non-dominant peoples.

Asia has a long history of preparation and consumption of various types of ethnic fermented foods and alcoholic beverages based on available raw substrates of plant or animal sources and also depending on agro-climatic conditions of the regions. Diversity of functional microorganisms in Asian ethnic fermented foods and alcoholic beverages consists of bacteria (Lactic acid bacteria and Bacillus species, micrococcii, etc.), amylolytic and alcohol-producing yeasts and filamentous moulds. Though there are hundreds of research articles, review papers, and limited books on fermented foods and beverages, the present book: Ethnic Fermented Foods and Alcoholic Beverages of Asia is the first of this kind on compilation of various ethnic fermented foods and alcoholic beverages of Asia. This book has fifteen chapters covering different types of ethnic fermented foods and alcoholic beverages of Asia. Some of the authors are well-known scientists and researchers with vast experiences in the field of fermented foods and beverages who include Prof. Tek Chand Bhalla, Dr. Namrata Thapa (India), Prof. Yearul Kabir and Dr. Mahmud Hossain (Bangladesh), Prof. Tika Karki (Nepal), Dr. Saeed Akhtar (Pakistan), Prof. Sagarika Ekanayake (Sri Lanka), Dr. Werasit Sanpamongkolchai (Thailand), Prof. Sh. Demberel (Mongolia), Dr. Yoshiaki Kitamura, Dr. Ken-Ichi Kusumoto, Dr. Yukio Magariyama, Dr. Tetsuya Oguma, Dr. Toshiro Nagai, Dr. Soichi Furukawa, Dr. Chise Suzuki, Dr. Masataka Satomi, Dr. Kazunori Takamine, Dr. Naonori Tamaki and Dr. Sota Yamamoto (Japan), Prof. Dong-Hwa Shin, Prof. Cherl-Ho Lee, Dr. Young-Myoung Kim, Dr. Wan-Soo Park Dr. Jae-Ho Kim (South Korea) Dr. Maryam Tajabadi Ebrahimi (Iran), Dr. Francisco B. Elegado (Philippines), Prof. Ingrid Suryanti Surono (Indonesia), Dr. Vu Nguyen Thanh (Vietnam). Researchers, students, teachers, nutritionists, dieticians, food entrepreneurs, agriculturalist, government policy makers, ethnologists, sociologists and electronic media persons may read this book who keep interest on biological importance of Asian fermented foods and beverages.