project

indigenous people of Siberia

slideshow "Khanty"
 
 
 

Links

Lab.of Indigenous Languages of Siberia

"VISAN", Tomsk

Survival International 
 
 
 
 

Site created by A.Filtchenko:  28/12/1999

updated by A.Filtchenko: 01/05/01
 
 

Summary

The indigenous population of Siberia can be considered as historically disadvantaged with regards to their historical role as a subject to abusive assimilative policies throughout the history of Russia, including: forced acquisition of territories and oppression of traditional religious practices, forced collectivisation, forced migration to bigger settlements, compulsory boarding-school education with prohibition of mother tongue, general diminution of the social and cultural status of indigenous ethnic groups as compared to that of majority nationals.

The endeavour to create a so called "new historic community - a soviet nation", i.e. efforts aimed at achievement of fusion of ethnoses into a sole "socialist", have resulted in assimilation policies towards indigenous ethnic minorities. Admittedly, such practices towards numerically small aboriginal nations dominated both in this country and in the world as a whole.

The most serious ethnodemographic upheaval was provoked by wide scale exploration since 1960-ies of the Western Siberia oil- and gas-depositions, located exclusively on native territories. In few years from majority in the area this people become insufficient ethnic minorities, while their traditional habitat suffered irreparable and uncompensated harm.

A repercussion of the above is the near extinction of many indigenous Siberian languages. 

More than a half of the minority languages of Russia have overstepped the border-line into the danger zone of seriously endangered languages.

Recent research suggests that the XVIII-XX centuries saw a steady increase in total number of Siberian natives, however, such increase does not guarantee their "survival as distinct cultural entities". 

The Indigenous cultures of native Siberia are often and undeservedly considered primitive. 

In the circumstances policies are to be implemented to: 

• research the socio-cultural and linguistic prerequisites for preserving and revitalising the indigenous cultures and languages of Siberia
• provide visibility of the problem - promote the culture of Siberian Indigenous minorities via the website, publications and other activities, to raise the level of awareness of the scope and urgency of the problem in the Network, academic community and general public. 
• establish information basis for researchers, policy analysts, NGOs, grassroots and activists in the area of indigenous minorities.