Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/55040

The Alutor, an indigenous minority of Kamchatka, have two different kinds of verbal charms (protective ʻivjanvynʼ and harmful ʻujvalʼ) that were practised during the Soviet period and are still practised today. As most Soviet and Russian anthropological studies concentrated on material culture, Alutor charms were neither described in detail nor researched by ethnologists. In this paper, I will give provide an overview of Alutor verbal charms and report describe how people practise and transmit these charms in modern society.