The article provides a new approach to studying the ethnical mindset of Tuvans – by creating its phenomenological portrait. The approach is based on classifying a number of phenomena depending on their types and categories. Not only do phenomenological theories help provide individualized characteristics of a nation’s mindset, but also its empirical diagnostics. In terms of fundamental theory, our approach rests upon the works of prominent Russian-American sociologist P.A. Sorokin who developed a phenomenological doctrine of cultural mindsets. It is this theory that forms the background of our analysis of Tuvan mindset. The article shows that in the context of Sorokin’s theory, the sociocultural evolution of Tuvans’ mindset consists of cyclic shifts between the pseudoideative and idealistic mindsets, and the latter is seen as a norm for traditional culture.