Avast scholarship on gendered activism suggests that women often initiate and lead grassroots activism, employing strategically gendered ways to contest dominant oppressive discourses. This is not surprising, as women, especially Indigenous women, are among the most severely affected groups when it comes to large-scale development projects, exploitation of natural resources, mining industries, and general neoliberal economic and political restructuring (Brown 1996; Jenkins 2015, 2017; Knobblock and Kuokkanen 2015; Kojola 2019; Kuokkanen 2008; Nash 2001; Waldron 2018). Therefore, it is vital to explore gendered activisms and gendered political representations in depth, without seeking to reproduce overly simplistic and narrow analyses of gendered oppression and marginalization engendered by global capitalism, patriarchy, and racial politics.
Women's activism occupies a particular niche in the social and political life of the post-Soviet state. It seems that in the case of the post-Soviet Indigenous movements, a particular attachment to the Soviet vision of social activism still depoliticizes current Indigenous politics, further marginalizing Indigenous rights. Several researchers note that post-Soviet community activism, especially in rural areas, was predominantly carried out by middle-aged and well-educated women who held relatively powerful positions in local institutions, invoking new forms of agency that “compete, coexist, or merge with old Soviet practices of social support and activism” (Kulmala 2010: 165). Meri Kulmala (2010), who conducted her research with a few women activists in the Sortavala municipal district of Russian Karelia, contends that since the communities were very small, the women activists were well-known and trusted among the villagers because of their employment in the public sector (educational institutions, libraries, museums, economic state departments, etc.). According to Kulmala, these community organizers represented a mixture of local intelligentsia and Soviet nomenklatura, blurring the lines between the state and civil society boundaries (Kulmala 2010: 170). This mixture of intelligentsia and nomenklatura (albeit successful and productive specifically in the case of rural activists of Sortavala district) can also be understood as a representation of depoliticized and institutionalized politics, remaining a structural fixture within post-Soviet political institutions.
Similarly, Patty Gray (2005) views post-Soviet Indigenous mobilizations as remnants of the Soviet social organization and the still operating Soviet civil society. Gray notes that the Soviet state encouraged Indigenous political participation, and made Indigenous actors visible in local, regional, and central governments; in this sense, the development of a nation-wide Indigenous movement during the post-Soviet glasnost period was not a new phenomenon, but rather an extension of Soviet political and cultural politics (Gray 2005: 48). Thus, she connects the incomplete and ineffective nature of post-Soviet activism to the political dominance of a small group of urban intellectuals at the expense of a great many rural Indigenous communities. Ultimately, this group of urban Indigenous intellectuals represents what Antonio Gramsci refers to as a leadership of “traditional intellectuals” (Gramsci 1971: 20), meaning those who put themselves forward as autonomous and independent from the dominant social group, but who are in reality tied to the system, which merely allows them to exist.
Kulmala's (2010) and Gray's (2005) critiques signal the existence of unequal power dynamics within Indigenous politics itself, which privileges some voices and silences others, benefits some and marginalizes others, and establishes rigid hierarchies; in a sense, creating stratified activism. In this view, within this stratified activism hierarchy, women activists of the rural villages in Olenek district, with their grassroots organizing (and overall rural Indigenous communities for that matter), seem to occupy the lowest position. Moreover, similar to many cases of grassroots organizing, the political potential of rural Indigenous women activists, their creativity, and their effectiveness are often overlooked by urban activists, official Indigenous organizations, and local scholars. However, we contend that focusing on the forms of activism of such rural Indigenous organizing that operate in Olenek can provide a critical understanding of plurality in Indigenous politics and Indigenous activisms, and can draw critical attention to social, economic, and political stratifications within mainstream Indigenous politics.
In 2017, I (Sardana) became acquainted with Indigenous women activists during my ethnographic fieldwork in the village Kharyialaakh of Olenek district, Sakha Republic (the far northeastern region of the Russian Federation) (see Figure 1). The Olenek Evenki National District is in the north-west Indigenous Arctic territory, established in 1934 by the Soviet government. The population of Olenek district is predominantly Indigenous Evenki. The Evenki or Evenks are one of five regionally and federally recognized Indigenous groups in the Sakha Republic. The total Olenek population is 4,127, and the Indigenous Evenki population is 3,117 (according to the 2010 Russian Census). Kharyialaakh is a rural village with a population of roughly 846 people; the village residents practice a mixed economy, with most employed in wage labor and some involved in traditional modes of subsistence such as reindeer herding, hunting, and fishing (see Figure 2).
Map of Sakha Republic showing Olenek district, and map of Olenek district, showing the village Kharyialaakh (and the villages Olenek, D'ilinde, and Eeiik).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
View of the village Kharyialaakh in Olenek district (photo by Sardana Nikolaeva).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
One of the problems of institutionalized Indigenous organizing is articulated as one of donor or funding dependence. Most Indigenous institutions currently operating in the Sakha Republic are funded by local and federal governments. In stark contrast, the grassroots collectives, organized by the women activists in the village Kharyialaakh of Olenek district, were fully financially autonomous. The activists themselves confirmed: “Our collectives find their own money, even our local administrative center does not help us financially.” It was evident that the lack of funds did not necessarily limit the progressive achievements of the local grassroots mobilizations; rather it provided them with more flexibility and ingenuity in their objectives and the strategies they employed. The organizing of the Kharyialaakh women was similar to what Madonna Thunder Hawk (2007), a veteran of the Red Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, recounted about her community organizing experiences and involvement with the grassroots initiatives:
How we organized was different from how activists tend to respond now. We didn't wait for permission from anyone. We didn't have people tell us, this is too big of a project for you to do—you should contact the state or some other governing power first. Nowadays, an organization might want to do something more creative, but its board of directors will tell them no. We didn't have a board since we weren't formally organized, so we could just proceed with what we thought was best. We did not worry if our work would upset funders; we just worried about whether the work would help our communities. (Thunder Hawk 2007: 104)
Moreover, like the Zapatista movement and its practice of real democratic politics (Graeber 2004; May 2009, 2010), the grassroots mobilizations of local Indigenous women have the potential to de-focus struggle from its essentialized assumptions and construct it in a way that would allow a mutually recognized and practiced equality within and outside itself. In this sense, an important aspect of the Indigenous politics in Kharyialaakh and the larger Olenek district (see Figure 3) was the role of community members as equal political agents, defying the stratified Indigenous activisms existent in urban areas and within governmental institutions.
View of the river Olenek (photo by Sardana Nikolaeva).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
Indigenous Women's Collectives in Olenek
The women's collective D'uoge (the Sakha word for “a female friend”) has been active in the community since the early 2000s (see Figure 4). The activists of D'uoge prioritize tackling local social and cultural issues, with a particular interest in and praxis of community-based direct action. Recently, the D'uoge activists mobilized to promote a healthy lifestyle within their community and managed to close a shop in the village that was selling alcohol. The activists shared a story of how their collective succeeded in shutting down the shop:
The women activists of the D'uoge collective showing their handcrafted traditional kumalan (photo by the D'uoge Collective).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
They were selling alcohol through a small window without even looking at who was buying it; can you imagine that? They could easily sell alcohol to small children; they did not care who was buying as long as they handed them money through that small window. We collected 52 signatures to close that shop. We succeeded in shutting down that shop's operation, but people still buy alcohol from Olenek and bring it here. We demanded to close the shops in Olenek as well; we collected signatures, we vocalized our concerns and demands during many meetings with the district leaders, but nothing has changed so far. There are some people who do not like our efforts, and even curse at us in the streets saying that old women should not stick their noses into other people's business. You know, when I was a child, I remember my parents, reindeer herders, always carrying several bottles of alcohol with them; but they used alcohol only to propitiate Ebee [“grandmother”—the respectful name for the local river Olenek], and I had never seen any drunk person there, but nowadays alcoholism is the most deep-seated problem of our communities.
As evident from this passage, the women activists employed not only the traditional strategies of politicized mobilization, such as collecting signatures and voicing their opinions during the governmental meetings with decisionmakers, but they also strategically incorporated idealized images of their own pasts and traditional spiritual activities to create specific emotional and powerful narratives, contrasting and contesting the current communal problems and realities.
The strategy of asserting oneself in the local political and public sphere as the women activists did—sometimes to the dismay of other community members who viewed them as “nosy old women”—must be seen as positioning oneself within one's own community—in a sense, legitimizing their activism by transgressing traditional gender roles. Here, the transgression of socially accepted gender roles not only shows how restrictive and oppressive those roles can be, but can also provide alternative strategies for resistance and organizing. Another important achievement of D'uoge and other village activists in solidarity was a strategic implementation of traditional cultural knowledge (such as beading, leather tanning, sewing traditional clothes, and such) to heal the youth, while addressing the issue of problem drinking collectively, conceptualizing it as an overarching social problem rather than an individual's failing.
Another alternative and productive way of grassroots organizing among the Kharyialaakh community was the founding of the singing ensemble AlaKuo, consisting of the local babushki (“grandmothers”) (see Figure 5). The group was conceived in 2004 as an initiative of Nadezhda Dakalova, a talented Evenki poet, composer, and passionate cultural activist who passed away several years ago. She is warmly remembered by everyone in Kharyialaakh and the larger Olenek district. Almost everyone I (Sardana) encountered knew her songs by heart (written both in Evenki and Sakha languages), and performing one or two of her compositions is still a staple at every cultural event in the village.
Singing ensemble AlaKuo members (photo by the AlaKuo).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
This singing ensemble is a result of Dakalova's language revitalization effort; her idea was to learn traditional and contemporary songs in the Evenki language to promote “cultural and language propaganda,” as the current leader of the group and another avid cultural activist put it (see Figure 6). Yet, the ensemble repertoire reflects the polylingualism of the local community as they perform the songs in different languages (mostly in Evenki, Sakha, and Russian, but I was later informed that the ensemble would also learn the traditional songs of the Dolgan and the Even Indigenous groups).
The AlaKuo members showcasing the items from their mobile cultural exhibit (photo by the AlaKuo).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
Additionally, to recreate more authentic representation of the Evenki culture, the ensemble members perform in traditional clothes that they craft themselves. The babushki of AlaKuo also made it their mission to popularize and teach how to build urakha (a traditional Evenki dwelling), how to sew traditional clothes such as saary (a beaded long shirt from deerskin), and they even shot a short documentary about the local Evenki traditions. The ensemble also travels to other villages and towns outside of Olenek district, to perform Evenki songs, give talks about Evenki culture and Olenek history, and present a mobile cultural exhibit that they assembled themselves (see Figure 6):
We usually travel to the locations when they invite us. In this case, if we can show and prove that we are invited, we can get a bit of money from the local administration, but in most of cases we use our pension. Two years ago, we got invited to a large yhyakh [the traditional Sakha celebration of the beginning of summer] in another district. It was so great, there were so many people interested in our cultural display, we got asked so many questions!
Another women's collective in Kharyialaakh, Kijiit Tumsuu (the Collective of Brides), was organized by women relocated from other districts of the Sakha Republic to Olenek to be with their new families (see Figure 7). This particular collective was organized in 2012 to assist newly arrived young kijiit women to better integrate into the Olenek community, and to provide social, mental, and other support as needed. The women of Kijiit Tumsuu are highly active, participating in all social and cultural events of the district, but they are also known for their galvanizing support for the community members in need. Since most of the women in this collective are Sakha, they bear the responsibility of representing the Sakha culture within the Olenek community; they do so by organizing and actively participating in Sakha traditional celebrations such as yhyakh and performing Sakha traditional dances and Sakha songs, accompanied by the Sakha khomus (a mouth harp). Although most see them as ambassadors of the Sakha culture in the Olenek communities, most of the Kijiit Tumsuu women have also embraced the Evenki culture, as it is a traditional cultural heritage of their husbands, children, grandchildren, and extended families.
The members of the Kiijit Tumsuu (photo by the Kijiit Collective).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
Another unique and profoundly politicized activity of the women activists in Kharyialaakh is self-publishing books on the history of the region based on local lived experiences. These publications by the women activists focus not only on their own personal histories, but also the stories of other community members, bringing a participatory aspect of self-publication into action. For example, a local elder and activist, Anna Fedorovna Sergeeva, self-published her book Sukhaana: The Root of Development (Sergeeva 2016) (see Figure 8). This work, with only 300 copies, memorialized the complex experiences of Sukhaana village residents during the Soviet-era governmental policy of residential integration and centralization, which operated through forced relocations of Indigenous communities from smaller villages to larger settlements. To collect materials on Sukhaana history and its residents, Anna Fedorovna, her relatives, and other village activists conducted extensive research in the local and regional archives and galvanized the whole community to contribute their written memories and narratives of lived experiences of forced relocations. The publication consists of around 70 different memoir pieces, with photos provided by the community members, and copies of the relevant governmental documents. The ultimate result is a rich, detailed, and utterly engaging historical narrative, based on highly personal and intimate stories of the local community about their collective trauma. Anna Fedorovna's book was very warmly received and became one of the important (and rare) sources on this forgotten local history.
The front and back covers of the self-published book Sukhaana: The Root of Development (2016) by the local activist Anna Fedorovna Sergeeva (photo by Sardana Nikolaeva).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
What is fascinating about this and other self-publishing projects by the local women activists is their ingenious combination of Indigenous oral tradition and written records, which ultimately creates radically different historical narratives that reject the official scientific and/or governmental discourses, or what Michel-Rolph Trouillot calls authenticity of historical representation, which “implies a relation with what is known that duplicates the two sides of historicity: it engages us both as actors and narrators” (Trouillot 2015: 150). In this sense, the Kharyialaakh activists must be seen as both actors and narrators of their local history, ultimately pointing out the “inherent debatability of the past” (Appadurai 1981: 203). Moreover, as the local self-publishing projects manage to merge the differing aspects of oral and written and sometimes scientific traditions, they produce a variation of “citizens media” (Rodriguez 2002, 2008)—that is, community media products that emerge from the need to contest dominant frameworks and bring out transformative processes within the communities, promoting alternative and community-oriented formats and aesthetic values.
It is imperative to note that the women involved in these initiatives are predominantly rural older Indigenous women whose politicized cultural and social labor has the potential to change our understanding of Indigenous politics as well as gendered aspects of Indigenous activism in the Indigenous Arctic (see Figure 9). Most importantly, we would like to emphasize the agency of the women activists and how the narratives of their experiences can open up a space for further critical interrogation of Indigenous politics within the specific context of the rural and somewhat isolated community.
The members of the D'uoge Tumsuu during the summer festival (photo by the D'uoge Collective).
Citation: sibirica 22, 1; 10.3167/sib.2023.220107
It may also be useful to conceptualize the constant struggle and resilience of the rural Indigenous women of Olenek district as survivance. According to Gerald Vizenor, survivance refers to the survival, endurance, and resistance of Indigenous people in the face of oppression and marginalization through narratives in action, “creat[ing] a sense of presence over absence, nihility, and victimry” (Vizenor 2009: 1). We contend that the survivance of the Indigenous women activists within the specific context of their experiences of rurality and socio-economic and political marginalization can teach us more about politics and the political on the margins than activisms in privileged urban spaces. Moreover, we can learn from them how to be and act political in a way that challenges social, economic, and political hierarchies as well as asserts radical reciprocal humanization.
Acknowledgements
This photo-essay is a product of the collaborative labor of the Indigenous Women's Collectives of Olenek district and Sardana Nikolaeva. Sardana would like to acknowledge and thank all the Indigenous women activists who graciously shared their invaluable thoughts, memories, and experiential stories on the history of the women's activism and on the ongoing initiatives and projects in Olenek district. The authors also want to acknowledge the reviewers who provided useful comments and suggestions to improve the article.
References
Appadurai, Arjun. 1981. “The Past as a Scarce Resource.” Man (New Series) 16 (2): 201–19.
Brown, Rosemary. 1996. “The Exploitation of the Oil and Gas Frontier: Its Impact on Lubicon Lake Cree Women.” In Women of the First Nations: Power, Wisdom, and Strength, ed. Christine Miller and Patricia Chuchryk, 151–65. Winnipeg, MB: The University of Manitoba Press.
Graeber, David. 2004. Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers.
Gray, Patty. 2005. The Predicament of Chukotka's Indigenous Movement: Post-Soviet Activism in the Russian Far North. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Jenkins, Katy. 2015. “Unearthing Women's Anti-Mining Activism in the Andes: Pachamama and the “Mad Old Women.” Antipode 47 (2): 442–60.
Jenkins, Katy. 2017. “Women Anti-Mining Activists’ Narratives of Everyday Resistance in the Andes: Staying Put and Carrying on in Peru and Ecuador.” Gender, Place & Culture 24 (10): 1441–59.
Knobblock, Ina, and Rauna Kuokkanen. 2015. “Decolonizing Feminism in the North: A Conversation with Rauna Kuokkanen.” Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 23 (4): 275–81.
Kojola, Erik. 2019. “Indigeneity, Gender and Class in Decision-Making about Risks from Resource Extraction.” Environmental Sociology 5 (2): 130–48.
Kulmala, Meri. 2010. “Women Rule This Country”: Women's Community Organizing and Care in Rural Karelia.” Anthropology of East Europe Review 28 (2): 164–85.
Kuokkanen, Rauna. 2008. “Globalization as Racialized, Sexualized Violence: The Case of Indigenous Women.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 10 (2): 216–33.
May, Todd. 2009. “There are No Queers: Jacque Ranciere and Post-Identity Politics.” Borderlands 8 (2): 1–17.
May, Todd. 2010. Contemporary Political Movements and the Thought of Jacques Ranciere: Equality in Action. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, Ltd.
Nash, June. 2001. Mayan Visions: The Quest for Autonomy in an Age of Globalization. New York: Routledge.
Rodriguez, Clemencia. 2002. “Citizens’ Media and the Voice of the Angel/Poet.” Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy 103 (May): 78–87.
Rodriguez, Clemencia. 2008. “Citizens’ Media.” In The International Encyclopedia of Communication, ed. Wolfgang Donsbach, 1–3. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Sergeeva, Anna Fedorovna. 2016. Sukhaana: The Root of Development. Self-published book.
Thunder Hawk, Madonna. 2007. “Native Organizing Before the Non-Profit Industrial Complex.” In The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, ed. INCITE! Women of Colour Against Violence, 101–06. Cambridge: South End Press.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 2015. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Boston: Beacon Press.
Vizenor, Gerald. 2009. Native Liberty: Natural Reason and Cultural Survivance. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Waldron, Ingrid. 2018. “Women on the Frontlines: Grassroots Movements against Environmental Violence in Indigenous and Black Communities in Canada.” Kalfou 5 (2): 251–68.
