Kristina Jonutytė, "Between the Buddha and the New Tsar: Urban Religion and Minority Politics at the Asian Borderlands of Russia" (Cornell UP, 2026)

·1 hr 2 min·5 clips

An anthropologist explains how the war in Ukraine forced her to question her entire study of Buddhism in a remote Russian borderland.

Dr. Miranda Melcher hosts Dr. Kristina Jonutytė to discuss her book 'Between the Buddha and the New Tsar: Urban Religion and Minority Politics at the Asian Borderlands of Russia'. Jonutytė is a social anthropologist and associate professor at Vilnius University, with a postdoc at Cambridge. Her research focuses on Buryatia, a Republic in the Russian Federation with a Mongol ethnic majority. She conducted ethnographic fieldwork starting in 2015, initially as part of a Max Planck Institute project on Buddhist temple economies. The book examines how Buddhism was repressed in the Soviet period and rebuilt post-1991, particularly in urban settings like Ulan-Ude, a colonial city. Jonutytė explains that Buryats historically were nomadic and rural, but urbanization in the Soviet era shifted half the population to cities, making urban Buddhism a new phenomenon. The conversation delves into the impact of the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine on her research. She notes that Buryats are disproportionately conscripted and dying in the war, based on data from activists and scholars like Maria Vyushkova. This has led to identity shifts, with some Buryats identifying more as Mongolian and leaving Russia for Mongolia or South Korea. Jonutytė describes Buryat identity as a spectrum, influenced by centuries of Russian colonization and recent Russification policies under Putin. On Buddhism, she discusses how the official leader, Khambalama Damba Ayushev, promotes an isolationist narrative, denying transnational links to Tibet and Mongolia. However, everyday practices show continued reverence for the Dalai Lama and Tibetan lamas. She contrasts traditional rural Buddhism, which is temple-based and hierarchical, with urban Buddhism, which is more eclectic, includes female lamas, and features lay practices like consultations for issues such as job loss or migration. Jonutytė uses the term 'infrapolitics' to describe how these everyday religious acts can be subtly subversive. She critiques simplistic binaries of resistance versus submission in the war context, arguing that Buryats navigate complex realities. The episode also touches on racist stereotypes of Buryats as fierce warriors, propagated by Russian media. Jonutytė concludes by mentioning her new research on Buryat migration to Mongolia and South Korea post-2022.

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A focused look at Buryat Buddhism, migration, and the politics of belonging in Russia's Asian borderlands.

Christina's discussion of Between the Buddha and the New Czar follows Buryat identity through Buddhism, migration, and the Russian state's effort to tie citizenship more tightly to ethnic Russian belonging.

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Press play when Buddhism, migration, and minority identity meet at Russia's Asian borderlands.

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