Native Spirituality in (Re)constructed Personhood: Observing and Filming Yuri Vella

This article is an attempt to understand what role spiritual matters play in the ideas and everyday life of a public figure quite famous in Western Siberia, the Forest Nenets writer, reindeer herder and activist Yuri Vella, and how the so-called religious practice is articulated in his life. In our reflection, we do not rely on any ad-hoc discourse, on issue-centred interviews, but on our fieldwork observation of speech and practice, a big part of which has been recorded on video with the aim of using it in the making of ethnographic films.