Religious Conversion, Utopia, and the Sacred Site: Okunevo Village in Western Siberia

Abstract

This paper reflects on the experience of theorizing a sacred place emerged in the last two decades in Okunevo village in Western Siberia. Using discourse analysis and the ideas of social constructivism, authors specify some contemporary narratives related to Okunevo village. They view this “holy site” as a social product and the interplay of mythological narrative, archeological interpretation and a result of tourist practices. The production of mythos and “invented traditions” are vital ways in which non-traditional religious communities in Okunevo remember, retell and rearticulate crucial aspects of their religious identity. Specified discourses, being considered as social logics of development of sacred site and forms of its representation, allow us to analyze this sacred space from the historical perspective.