Between the Buddha and the New Tsar

Kristina Jonutytė's book presents a decade of ethnographic research on contemporary urban Buddhism in the Republic of Buryatia, exploring how Buryat Buddhists navigate cultural sovereignty under an increasingly oppressive Russian regime.

The study traces historical links between Buryat Buddhism and the Russian state from the imperial period through the Soviet collapse to the present, showing how official narratives diverge from everyday religious life.

Jonutytė highlights urban religiosity, lay practices, and infrapolitical forms of religious action that reveal nuanced responses to marginalization and state violence.

The book emphasizes the mutual shaping of city and religion, arguing that urban settings transform Buddhist institutions, authority, and practice.

It situates Buryat experiences within wider transnational Mongol-Buddhist networks while documenting post-2022 shifts including migration and heightened precarity.