The Islam/paganism syncretism among West Siberia's Turkic peoples

In this ethnographic study which is very much in keeping with the Russian s chool, the author establishes a connection between the conversion to Islam of West Siberia's Turkic-speaking populations between the fourteenth and ei ghteenth centuries and various processes involved in the formation of commu nities with a political identity. He then moves on to the study of several specific permanent features of shamanism which can be found in these popula tions' cultural practices, paying particular attention to terminology.