Former Gulag sites—operating theaters of terror during the Stalinist period—are scattered across western Siberia, where memories of the purges run deep. The camps represent some of the most horrific events of the Soviet past, and yet their current role is complicated. Focusing on three former prison camps, folklorist Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby untangles a surprising nexus of memory, legend, and vernacular religious practice afforded by the sacred springs located at each of these sites.
Grounded by detailed ethnography, Sacred Springs in the Camps explores how legend creates, negotiates, and challenges collective memory; how lived religious practices intersect with the current revival of the Russian Orthodox Church; how politics intertwine with belief; and how the social construction of sacred places affects folk narratives, faith, and local identity. These unlikely holy waters thus reflect important facets of contemporary Russian religion, politics, and society, refracting and reframing memories of the socialist past even as they offer important lessons for the present moment.

- 201 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
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Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Note on Transliteration
- Introduction: The Holy Spring Landscape
- 1. Negotiating Religious and Secular Memory
- 2. Ritual, Pilgrimage, and Tourism at the Holy Springs
- 3. Legends of the Holy Springs
- 4. Politics of the Holy Springs
- 5. Healing and Medicine
- 6. Ecology of the Holy Springs
- Conclusion: Haunted by the Past
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- References
- Index
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Yes, you can access Sacred Springs in the Camps by Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Folklore & Mythology. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.