Ob-Ugric ethnic mobilization
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
History, ethnography, archeology
About author:
Tula State Pedagogical University Lev Tolstoy, Tula, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT Introduction. The article deals with the phenomenon of ethnic mobilization on Ob-Ugric materials, which has not previously been subjected to special study. The role of social organizations and ethno-generation practices, aimed at maintaining the ethnic identity of the Khanty and Mansi, is analyzed. The strategy of participation of social leaders from a number of the indigenous peoples of Yugra in the political processes of the late XX – early XXI centuries is revealed. Objective: to research the processes, initiated by the ethnic intelligentsia, on the formation of group cohesion of the indigenous peoples of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra. Research materials: the article is based on the observations of the author during the ethnographic expeditions to the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug in the period 1988–2002. Results and novelty of the research. In the article the following factors, contributing to the revival of ethnic mobilization, are revealed: firstly, the transfer of public discourse in the field of partnerships with government authorities; secondly, the organizational registration of traditional economy by creation of the tribal communities as special economic and self-determination bodies and preservation of the traditional way of life and culture; thirdly, the development of a large-scale ethnocultural movement, and as a result, the actualization of religious values, ethnic educational activity among young people and schoolchildren, as well as the development of international relations with representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples, which contributed to the improvement of the status of ethnic cultures. The specificity of the Ob-Ugric ethnic mobilization was determined. It was realized not in mass protest movements, but in group and personal creative initiatives. The public organizations of the Okrug (first of all, the «Yugra Rescue» Association), which united the most active part of the intellectual ethnic elite had become the main political power of the mobilized ethnicity. Creative activity had united the representatives of the indigenous people of the Okrug; a new non-ethnic identity emerged – the representatives of the Ob Ugrians (Khanty, Mansi) began to call themselves «indigenous» and «aborigines». New in the study of the mobilization of ethnicity is the fact that most of the research on this topic was carried out in regions in which situation of inter-ethnic conflict were registered. In this aspect, Yugra was and remains a tolerant region. Key words: Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, indigenous people of the North, ethnic mobilization, ethnicity, ethnic intelligentsia, public organizations. Acknowledgments: the research was carried out with the financial support of the of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project № 18-05-60040 «New Technologies and Social Institutions of the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Arctic: Opportunities and Risks» (scientific adviser E. Pivneva). For citation: Martynova E. Р. Ob-Ugric ethnic mobilization // Vestnik Yugrovedeniya = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2019; 9 (2): 363–372.
ABSTRACT Introduction. The article deals with the phenomenon of ethnic mobilization on Ob-Ugric materials, which has not previously been subjected to special study. The role of social organizations and ethno-generation practices, aimed at maintaining the ethnic identity of the Khanty and Mansi, is analyzed. The strategy of participation of social leaders from a number of the indigenous peoples of Yugra in the political processes of the late XX – early XXI centuries is revealed. Objective: to research the processes, initiated by the ethnic intelligentsia, on the formation of group cohesion of the indigenous peoples of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra. Research materials: the article is based on the observations of the author during the ethnographic expeditions to the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug in the period 1988–2002. Results and novelty of the research. In the article the following factors, contributing to the revival of ethnic mobilization, are revealed: firstly, the transfer of public discourse in the field of partnerships with government authorities; secondly, the organizational registration of traditional economy by creation of the tribal communities as special economic and self-determination bodies and preservation of the traditional way of life and culture; thirdly, the development of a large-scale ethnocultural movement, and as a result, the actualization of religious values, ethnic educational activity among young people and schoolchildren, as well as the development of international relations with representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples, which contributed to the improvement of the status of ethnic cultures. The specificity of the Ob-Ugric ethnic mobilization was determined. It was realized not in mass protest movements, but in group and personal creative initiatives. The public organizations of the Okrug (first of all, the «Yugra Rescue» Association), which united the most active part of the intellectual ethnic elite had become the main political power of the mobilized ethnicity. Creative activity had united the representatives of the indigenous people of the Okrug; a new non-ethnic identity emerged – the representatives of the Ob Ugrians (Khanty, Mansi) began to call themselves «indigenous» and «aborigines». New in the study of the mobilization of ethnicity is the fact that most of the research on this topic was carried out in regions in which situation of inter-ethnic conflict were registered. In this aspect, Yugra was and remains a tolerant region. Key words: Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, indigenous people of the North, ethnic mobilization, ethnicity, ethnic intelligentsia, public organizations. Acknowledgments: the research was carried out with the financial support of the of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project № 18-05-60040 «New Technologies and Social Institutions of the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Arctic: Opportunities and Risks» (scientific adviser E. Pivneva). For citation: Martynova E. Р. Ob-Ugric ethnic mobilization // Vestnik Yugrovedeniya = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2019; 9 (2): 363–372.
