German publisher LAP Lambert Academic Publishing recently released two books by a Tuvan researcher, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Merited scientist of Republic Tuva, head scientific worker of Russian Institute of Culturology, and the head scientific worker of Tuvan Institute of Humanities Research of Government of republic Tuva, Marina Mongush.

The title of the first monograph is "Vdali od svoikh, svoi sredi chuzhikh" (Away from your own, your own among strangers). It is dedicated to ethnic groups of Tuvans, who are currently living away from Republic Tuva.  This means Tofalars in Irkutsk region and Soyots in Republic Buryatia, who in the past were part of Tuvan ethnos, but later diverged and formed two independent ethnic units. The research also concerns Tuvans living in Mongolia and China.  Questions associated with their distribution, numbers, clan-family pedigree, idiosyncrasies of ethno-linguistic situation, interethnic relationships, and material and spiritual culture.

In the second book - "Religions in Tuva. Historical-ethnographic outline", the author  investigates the situation of religious confessions in her homeland.  She explains in detail the traditional religions of the native population - shamanism and Buddhism, as well as Russian orthodox Christianity, which came to Tuva as a result of migration of Russians to the area in the second half of 19^th century and later. Attention is paid to such non-traditional confessions as South Korean Christian Evangelical church "Sun Bok Ym",  Jehovah's Witnesses, missionary association "Christian" and many other religious movements, which received wide distribution in the republic after disintegration of Soviet Union in 1991.

More extensive information about the books is available on the LAP Lambert Academic Publishing web site, and those wishing to obtain the books can do that through the site:  http://www.lap-publishing.com.