By Janet Gardner with Irina Pantaeva
Originally from a small village in the Buryat region of Siberia, Irina Pantaeva emigrated to the U.S. in the 1980"s. Every summer, Irina, a world-famous model, and her son travel back to help her troubled family, trapped in the new free market society struggling with alcoholism, lawlessness and despair. Through interviews with academics, local shamans, monks, musicians, and farmers, Siberian Dream shows the effects of perestroika and glasnost on this Buryat community.
The Buryats are trying to develop an open society while struggling to revive their culture. Irina and her family embody these efforts. Buryat-Mongols -- including the Pantaeva family -- practice Buddhism and Shamanism simultaneously. Irina celebrates her endangered Buryat-Mongol culture, teaching her son the importance of honoring their ancestors.
Dr. David Foglesong, Professor of Russian History at Rutgers, illuminates the effects of Russification and the events and personalities driving glasnost and perestroika. Dr. Robert Thurman, Professor of Religion at Columbia University and President of Tibet House, New York, discusses Tibetan Buddhism and history as it affected the Mongolian tribes to which the Buryats belong.
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