The Tenacity of Ethnicity A Siberian Saga in Global Perspective / Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indigenous peoples--Russia (Federation)--Siberia.

Indigenous peoples.

Ethnology--Russia (Federation)--Siberia.

Ethnology.

Khanty.

Siberia (Russia)--Ethnic relations.

Siberia (Russia).

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 p.) : 1 table 3 figures 2 maps 14 halftones

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : 1999. Princeton University Press,

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer combines extensive field research with historical inquiry to produce a dramatic study of a minority people in Russia, the Khanty (Ostiak) of Northwest Siberia. Although First Nations, indigenous peoples, have often been victims of expansionist state-building, Balzer shows that processes of acquiring ethnic identity can involve transcending victimhood. She brings Khanty views of their history and current life into focus, revealing multiple levels of cultural activism. She argues that anthropological theory and practice can derive from indigenous insights, and should help indigenous peoples. Balzer brings to life the saga of the Khanty over several centuries. She analyzes trends in Siberian ethnic interaction that strongly affected minority lives: colonization, Christianization, revitalization, Sovietization, and regionalization. These processes incorporate suprastate and state politics, including recent devastations stemming from the energy industry's land thefts. Balzer documents changes that might seem to foreshadow the demise of indigenous ethnicity. Yet the final chapters reveal ways some Khanty have preserved cultural values and dignity in crisis. Khanty identity has varied with the politics of individuals, groups, and generations. It has been shaped by recent grass-roots mobilization, ecological activism, and religious revival, as well as older historical memory, language-based solidarity, and loyalty to a homeland. The Tenacity of Ethnicity demonstrates how at each historical turn, Siberian experiences shed new light on old debates concerning colonialism, conversion, revitalization, ethnicity, and nationalism. This volume will be important for political scientists, historians, and regional specialists, as well as anthropologists and sociologists.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations and Figures

Acknowledgment of Biases and Debts

Abbreviations

Introduction. From Romanticism to Realism

Chapter 1. Colonization: Forming Groups in Interaction

Chapter 2. Christianization: Processes of Incomplete Conversion

Chapter 3. Revitalization: The Battleground of Religion and Politics

Chapter 4. Sovietization: Hot and Cold Wars

Chapter 5. Sovietization: Hearts, Minds, and Collective Bodies

Chapter 6. Regionalization: Lands and Identities in Crisis

Conclusions. A Siberian Saga in Global Perspective

Appendix A. A 1996 Protest Statement by Social Organizations and Movements of Indigenous Peoples of the North

Appendix B. Selection of Films about Siberia

Appendix C. Indigenous Peoples of the North: Historical and Current Names

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [277]-317) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691228112

0691228116

OCLC:

1241450664