This report is on contemporary processes related to horse breeding in Sakha (Iakutiia), northeastern Russia. I demonstrate the importance of the horse figure in the philosophy of the Sakha, a hunting and herding people of Siberia, as well as the parallelism between the diminishing utilitarian function of the horse and reinforcing symbolism in the post-communist context.
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Ekaterina Chekhorduna, Nina Filippova, and Diana Efimova
Translator : Jenanne K. Ferguson
In the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), one of the promising areas of ethnocultural education over the past two decades has been the introduction of the Olonkho—the Sakha heroic epic—into the educational system. During this time, the pedagogy of the
Zoia Tarasova
performing ohuokhay , a traditional circle dance of the Turkic-speaking Sakha (Yakut) people in which participants—who can be both male and female—move around holding hands and stepping back and forth to a rhythm set by a lead singer with whom they sing
Sakha Music Business
Mission, Contracts, and Social Relations in the Developing Post-Socialist Market Economy
Aimar Ventsel
This article is about the Sakha music business and the people involved in it. It discusses different strategies of making music and shows that different music genres have their own setting of social relations. Due to the specific economic and social situation, social relations in the music business are often informal. The classic theory of the cultural industry states that producing music is a calculated market economy-oriented activity. This article questions such an approach and shows that social and cultural ideas are present in the music-making process. The Sakha music business cannot be seen as only a profit-oriented sphere. Whereas producers and musicians are interested in formal, contract-based relations in purely economic cases, the informality maintains its importance. Ideas of solidarity and mutual support are linked to the perception of being in one music community, which uses different elements of Sakha culture in their music. As is demonstrated in the article, incorporation of Sakha motives is not only a marketing strategy but also a way for musicians and producers to act as carriers of the Sakha culture whose mission is to develop it.
Aimar Ventsel
This field report summarizes an international interdisciplinary research project in Saidy, Republic of Sakha, in the Russian Far East. The aim of the research was to study ecological adaptations of communities in northern Sakha, combining methods of anthropology, archaeology, and ecology. Most indigenous communities in this region demonstrate a high level of self-organization—for example, forbidding sales of alcohol and transforming drinking to a hidden activity. These communities are actively engaged in the informal economy where officially unemployed people run informal grocery stores, hunting, and transport enterprises. Local practices are a mixture of Evenki and Sakha culture with emphasis on individualism. People in these communities are not nostalgic about Sovietera collective farms—something that is unusual in Siberia—and see current life as better than that in the Soviet era.
Jenanne Ferguson
In going over submissions to Sibirica at the beginning of 2021, I found several articles related to culture and history in the Sakha Republic. Naturally, I thought it would be illuminating to bring them together to see how they might complement
Akulina Mestnikova
Translator : Jenanne K. Ferguson
On 27 September 2011 at the Sakha Republic’s public forum “The Spiritual Potential of Society in the Innovative Development of Yakutia,” the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) proclaimed the Declaration of the Spiritual Values of the Peoples of Yakutia
Sakha Community Leaders and Their Historical Mission
The Relevance of Soviet Ideology to Contemporary Sakha Politics
Eleanor Peers
This report presents an analysis of material from regional government-owned newspapers in the Republic of Sakha (Iakutiia). The analysis reveals a high level of respect for Sakha community leaders who regard the technological and industrial progress of the Sakha people as their main interest. The newspapers indicate tolerance for Sakha nationalism on the part of the republican government, even though this tolerance could jeopardize its relationship with the Russian Federation's central government.
Stars without the money
Sakha ethnic music business, upward mobility and friendship
Aimar Ventsel
The Sakha have had their own popular music since the 1970s. During the Soviet era, music culture was controlled by the state. Starting in the 1990s, new pop-music institutions and venues emerged and new entrepreneurs entered the music business as club owners, managers, producers, DJs, etc. In this article, I examine multiple social relations in the music business. Music has become a possibility for village youth to leave their villages and gain fame as artists. The Sakha music world contains various networks where criminal structures, artists, businessmen and media are interlinked. Through this linkage, music is used to gain a community's support for semi-legal business activities. At the same time, both the artists and producers present themselves to the public as the custodians of Sakha 'national' culture. The article discusses ways in which the artists' popularity is connected to their position in the music business, and how ethnic symbols are used to gain success.
Nicholas Parlato, Gail Fondahl, Viktoriya Filippova, and Antonina Savvinova
identities through legal actions and channels. In a close examination of the creation of two neighboring TTPs within the Sakha Republic (Iakutiia), one of the Russian Federation's 80-plus “federal subjects” (regions), we explore the evolving role TTPs have