BASILOV, VLADIMIR

(1937–1998)

   Russian ethnographer who published extensively on shamans in Central Asia during the latter half of the 20th century. He redressed the scholarly neglect of shamanisms in the region in favor of the “classic” shamanisms of Siberia (the locus classicus) and demonstrated the endurance and diversity of shamanisms in Central Asia. His seminal book is entitled Shamanism among the Peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan (1992).