International Polar Year 2007-2008
To facilitate the submission of arctic social science and humanities proposals to the International Council for Science (ICSU) for prospective endorsement as IPY projects, IASSA has launched an initiative to create a vigorous exchange of ideas, discussion, and active communication. The following was submitted to IASSA on its form at IASSA IPY Facilitation Initiative:

Tatiana Argounova-Low: Sakha Diaspora Identity: comparative study of two Sakha communities in Eastern Siberia
Email: t.argounova-low@abdn.ac.uk

Lead researcher:
Dr. Tatiana Argounova-Low, University of Aberdeen, UK

Collaborators:
- Dr. Lia Vinokurova-Kulakovskaia, Senior Researcher, Institute of Minorities, Yakutsk, Russia.
- Prof. Uliana Vinokurova, Director of Research Center, Arctic Institute of Culture and Art, Yakutsk, Russia.
- Mrs. Maria Petrova, Dean, Teacher Training Institute, Yakutsk, Russia.
- Dr. Natalia Komkova, Director, National Archive, Yakutsk, Russia
- Dr. Inna Yurganova, Deputy Director, National Archive, Yakutsk, Russia
- Mrs. Natalia Sokolova, National Archive, Yakutsk, Russia

The objective of this project will be to conduct original research between two diaspora Sakha communities, which have been recently severed from the Sakha republic by the post-Soviet reforms. This research is essential since diaspora issues do not receive enough attention and articulation in anthropological studies of circumpolar area.

My previous research (Argounova-Low 2004) has demonstrated that Sakha communities beyond the borders of the republic are vibrant and represent an interesting case for anthropological study. For example in a reindeer herding community of Sakha in the village of Essei in Evenkiia, the issues of identity are raised and discussed powerfully, particularly when it concerns distribution of state benefits. In my previous research, I have argued that the force for crystallizing identity of Sakha in small diaspora community is their minority position. In the proposed research I am aiming to compare Sakha diaspora communities located in Evenkiia and the Irkutsk district. The project will aim to study the boundaries of ethnic identity in Eastern Siberia and how identity is invigorated by political geographical boundaries since the fall of the Soviet Union. Through an investigation of contemporary identity structures I hope to demonstrate the effect of market reforms upon identity arguments as well as to provide an ethnographic record of little known diaspora Sakha communities.

Senior members of the team Dr. Lia Vinokurova-Kulakovskaia and Prof. Uliana Vinokurova are trained ethnographers and will be helping with their advice, consultations, whereas Dr. Tatiana Argounova-Low and Mrs. Maria Petrova will be doing the field-work. The team in the National Archive in Yakutsk (Dr. Natalia Komkova, Dr. Inna Yurganova and Mrs. Natalia Sokolova) will help with processing rich collection of unique data from numerous censuses, which is going to be used in this project to observe the ways of development of the Sakha diaspora in Irkutsk oblast.

An important aspect of this proposal is the urgent ethnographic aspect of conducting fieldwork among the Sakha in Irkutsk oblast. Like other diaspora communities it is poorly documented in the literature with only a scattering of studies in Russian in the 1930s and 1950s.

Sincere thanks to the U.S. National Science Foundation for support for the IASSA IPY facilitation initiative.

Questions? Contact Anne Sudkamp at <fyiassa@uaf.edu>.

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 This page was last modified October 24, 2005 by Anne Sudkamp