Sibirica

This article discusses preliminary findings from our research into the activity of evangelical missionaries among the Khanty of Surgut region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. Our aim is to begin to define the nature and the scale of recent developments in the religious life among the eastern Khanty; to understand why evangelical missionary activity among the Khanty has met with some success; to discover how the conflicts it precipitates make visible the hidden, implicit divisions in communities; and to lay out lines of further inquiry that may help integrate the work of those ethnographers exploring similar phenomena in Siberian communities. This article argues that rapid change, brought about by intensive petroleum development coupled with the collapse of Soviet structures, provided openings for these new ideologies by altering objective conditions of Khanty life.

This article is about natsionalizm as an instrumental concept used manipulatively in the Soviet state by the ruling elite. It argues that accusations of natsionalizm in the Soviet Union served a particular purpose of manipulation and punishment. An instrumental character of accusations turned the victims into enemies and sacrificial scapegoats in order to prove the righteousness of the Soviet society. This article uses case studies from the recent history of one of the Russian republics, Republic of Sakha (Iakutiia).

This article is a case study of the emergence and construction of politically salient social classifications that underpin such phenomena as ethnicity and nationalism in contemporary Russia. Official recognition of ethnic group in Russia often entails political visibility and special status with an associated set of legal provisions. In addition to 'titular peoples' of the republics, the Russian legal system has several legal categories based on ethnicity, such as indigenous peoples and national minorities, whose members claim and attain special status and associated rights. In order to ensure these rights, the state administration needs reliable information on the numbers of people in such categories.

The article analyzes ethnic and languages categorization in the population census of 2002, describes the related census technology, comments on legal definitions of indigenous peoples in Russia, and within this framework elaborates on the topic of indigeneity construction. It also provides an interpretation of the numerical threshold employed in federal laws on indigenous peoples.

Based on fieldwork in Zabaikal'e, this report describes Orochen hunters' and reindeer herders' uses and interpretations of fire. Ethnographic evidence presents a wide use of fire and smoke in daily life in the taiga. Fire and smoke play a crucial role in reindeer herding and hunting of ungulates and fur animals. The author argues that fire symbols are an important part of Orochen cosmology and relate to broader themes of hunting magic, mastery, and the perception of animals. Research into the cosmological knowledge of fire uses provides us with a broader scope of interpretation of camping characteristics and land use.

Megumi Kurebito, ed., Comparative Basic Vocabulary of the Chukchee-Kamchatkan Language Family: 1.

Alevtina N. Zhukova & Tokusu Kurebito, A Basic Topical Dictionary of the Koryak-Chukchi Language.

Michael Fortescue, Comparative Chukotko-Kamchatkan Dictionary

Constantine Grewingk, Grewingk’s Geology of Alaska and the Northwest Coast of America: Contributions toward Knowledge of the Orographic and Geognostic Condition of the Northwest Coast of America, with the Adjacent Islands

Bryn Thomas, Trans-Siberian Handbook: Sixth Edition of the Guide to the World’s Longest Railway Journey

Kira Van Deusen, Singing Story, Healing Drum: Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia

Jamie Bisher, White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian

Joachim Otto Habeck, What it Means to be a Herdsman: The Practice and Image of Reindeer Husbandry among Komi of Northern Russia

Robert W. Montgomery, Late Tsarist and Early Soviet Nationality and Cultural Policy: The Buryats and Their Language

Igor Krupnik, Rachel Mason, and Tonia W. Horton, eds., Northern Ethnographic Landscapes: Perspectives From Circumpolar Nations

Margaret Paxson, Solovyovo: The Story of Memory in a Russian Village