The Tenacity of Ethnicity

A Siberian Saga in Global Perspective

Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9780691006734
  9780691006741
• eBook ISBN:
  9780691228112
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

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.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of 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
• Chapter 7. The Tenacity of Ethnicity: Spirituality and Identity
• 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