Between the Buddha and the New Tsar

Urban Religion and Minority Politics at the Asian Borderlands of Russia

Kristina Jonutytė

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781501786075
• Subtopic: Buddhism
• Index: Social Sciences

Between the Buddha and the New Tsar is an ethnography of contemporary urban Buddhism in Buryatia, a republic within the Russian Federation. Kristina Jonutyt? shows how—in this ethnically and religiously diverse borderland region—Buryat Buddhists are caught between an oppressive, militant Russian regime and the tenacity of local religious and cultural forms. As Jonutyt? narrates, historically Buryat Buddhism has been tightly linked with the Russian state ever since the imperial period, a relationship with mutual interest and benefits. Yet everyday Buddhist practices point to a more complex picture, shedding light on precarity, minoritization, struggles for cultural sovereignty, and infrapolitical religious forms. Between the Buddha and the New Tsar reveals the important ways in which the urban setting is not just a backdrop to Buddhism, but that religion and the city are intertwined and mutually impactful.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Note on Transliteration, Translation, and Local Language
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Buryats in Russia: From “Aliens” to Model Soviets to Complex Modern Identities
• Chapter 2. Buryat Buddhism: Politics and Identity of a Minority Religion in Russia
• Chapter 3. Urban Buddhism in Buryatia: Continuing Expansion Encounters Fragile Diversity
• Chapter 4. Being a Pillar: Buddhist Counseling
• Chapter 5. Buddhist Imperfections: Religious Giving and Belonging
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• References
• Index
• Copyright