Bogoraz (Tan) Vladimir

Bogoraz (Tan) Vladimir (1865–1936) – social figure, scholar and organizer of research activity, linguist, ethnographer and anthropologist, historian of religion, poet, writer and journalist, Professor, Correspondent Member of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R. Before 1917, he was actively involved into political activity: since 1881, as a member of ‘Narodniki’ revolutionary movement, in 1905 – in the ‘Peasants Union’, in 1906 – in the ‘Labour Group’ (Trudoviki) of the State Duma; worked for newspapers as journalist under the pseudonym ‘Tan’. In 1889, he was arrested and sent to exile to Srednekolymsk for ten years. There he started his studies of the life of the native population of the Far North; for theree years he has wandered with Chukchi nomads. B. took part in the Jesup North Pacific Expedition headed by Franz Boas.

From 1901 till 1904, B. was Curator of the Museum of Natural History (New York). Since 1918, he has been Keeper of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Ac/ of Sc/, Prof. of the Leningrad State University; he became a founder of a research school in ethnography and religious studies, founder of the institute of the peoples of the North (1929), founder and the first Director (1932-1936) of the Museum of the Hostory of Religion of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R. He wrote numerous works on the history of religion – first of all, on Shamanism and on the culture of Siberian peoples; his research on Chukchi (in 4 vol.) became world-known.

In the course of his studies of the people of Chukchi, B. shaped an original conception of development of primordial religious beliefs, Animism, first of all. He considered, that the primordial belief in spirits was connected with veneration of objects, and spirits were separated from objects comparatively late, and so, the religious conceptions of primordial people passed through five steps. The first one was subjective and shapeless identification with nature. The second one included searches for outer similarity with humans (at least, in vague and random form). The third one was shaping the idea of two forms of objects (common and human, transformed ones). The fourth step supposed shaping the idea of geniuses living inside objects and connected with them, who were able to leave their objects for some time; and the idea of human soul detached from body. The fifth step included shaping the idea of human-like, independent from objects, free-moving spirits; the idea of deceased who existed after their physical death; the initial cult of ancestors. Also, B. built a conception of three steps of development of Shamanism: general, family, and individual ones. He wrote that Shamanism was a stage of development of ritual Animism, and Animism represented theology and philosophy of Shamanism.

Compositions

The Chukchee Religion (Plate XXXII-XXXIV, Figures 200-301) Jesup North Pacific Expedition. Volume VII. Memoir of American Museum of Natural History. Volume XII, New York. Part II, 1907, pp. 277-536. Religious Ideas pp. 277-337. Charms and Sacred Objects, pp. 338-367. Ceremonials, pp. 368-492. Shamanism, pp. 413-468. Protective and Aggressive Magic, pp. 469-508. Barthand Death, pp. 509-536).
Religious Ideas of Primordial Man (on the Base of Materials Gathered among the Tribes of North-Eastern Asia, Mainly among Chukchi) // Zemlevedenie, vol. XV, 1908, book I, pp. 60-80. (in Rus.)
By the Psychology of Shamanism of Peoples of North-Eastern Asia. // Etnograficheskoe obozrenie. Book LXXXIV-LXXXV, 1910, No 1-2, pp. 1-36. (in Rus.)
Сhukchee Mythology. Jesup North Pacific Expedition. Volume VIII. Memoir of American Museum of Natural History, New York. Volume XII, Part I, 1910.
Einstein and Religion. Implementation of the Principle of Relativity at Studying Religious Phenomena. Iss. 1. L. D. Fremkel Publishing House. Moscow – Leningrad, 1923. (in Rus.)
Christianity in the Light of Ethnography. Moscow – Leningrad, Gosizdat Publishing House, 1928. (in Rus.)
Dissemination of Culture across the Earth: Basics of Ethnogeography. Moscow – Leningrad, Gosizdat Publishing House, 1928. (in Rus.)
Chukchi: Social Structure. Author’s transl. From English. Part I. Leningrad, 1934. (in Rus.)
Luorawetlan – Russian (Chukchi – Russian) Dictionary. Moscow – Leningrad, 1937. (in Rus.)
Chukchi. Part 2. Chukchi Religion. Author’s transl. From English. Edit. and Introduction by Yu. P. Frantsov. Glavsevmorput’ of the Council of People’s Commissars of the U.S.S.R. Research Association of the Institute of Peoples of the North named after P. G. Smidovich. Leningrad, Glavsevmorput’ Publishing House, 1939. (in Rus.)
From the Archive. V. G. Bogoraz on Shamanism. Selected Works (1934–1936) / prep.. M. M. Shakhnovich, E. A. Teryukova; [foreword and notes. M. M. Shakhnovich]. SPb .: Publishing House of St. Petersburg. University, 2018.462 pages
The Evolution of Religious Beliefs. A Course of Lectures (1927-1928) / comp., prep. M. M. Shakhnovich. (Series "From the Archive") - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of St. Petersburg. University, 2019.392 pp.

Bibliography

Annotated List of Works by V. G. Bogoraz on the History of Religion. 1946. / Comp. M. I. Shakhnovich. Publ. and Comm. М. М. Shakhnovich // The History of Religious Studies and Intellectual History of Russia of the nineteenth – the First Half of the twentieth Centuries. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University, 2018. (in Rus.)
Katharina Gernet: Vladimir Germanovich Bogoraz (1865–1936): A bibliography. 104 p. // Mitteilungen des Osteuropa-Instituts München, 1999, 33.

About him

Alkor Ya. P. V. G. Bogoraz-Tan // Sovietskaya etnografiya. 1935, No 4-5, pp. 5-31. (in Rus.)
Boas F. Waldemar Bogoras // American Anthropologist. New Series. 1937, 39 (2), pp. 314–315
Zelenin D. C. V. G. Bogoraz – Ethnographer and Folklorist // IN the Memory of V. G. Bogoraz. 1865-1936. Coll. of Articles. Moscow – Leningrad, Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R., 1937, pp.5-18. (in Rus.)
Kartashev B. I. Through the Land of Deer People: Travels of V. G. Bogoraz. Moscow, Geografgiz Publishing house, 1959. (in Rus.)
Shakhnovich М. I. Soviet Historian of Religion V. G. Bogoraz-Tan (By the 100th Anniversary). // Issues of Overcoming Religious Superstitions in the U.S.S.R. Moscow – Leningrad, 1966, pp. 269-297. (in Rus.)
Kuleshov N. F. Tan-Bogoraz: Life and Work. Minsk, 1975. (in Rus.)
Mikhailova Е. А. Vladimir Germanovich Bogoraz: Scholar, Writer, Social Person // Outstanding National Ethnologists and Anthropologists of the Twentieth Century. Moscow, 2004, pp. 95‒136. (in Rus.)
Shakhnovich М. М., Chumakova Т. V. Museum of the History of Religion of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R. and Russian Religious Studies (1932-1961). St. Petersburg, Nauka Publishing House, 2014. (in Rus.)
Arziutov D. V., Vakhtin N. B. Instead an Introduction: By the 150th Anniversary of V. G. Bogoraz // Antropologicheskyi forum. No 29, 2016, pp. 101-108. (in Rus.)

M. Sh.