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Bereznitsky S. Ethnocultural Projections of Nanai Identity: The Use of Symbols of Ancestral Belonging

S. Bereznitsky
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera)of the Russian Academy of Sciences
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0001-6235-5542
E-mail: svbereznitsky@yandex.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. Currently, the Nanai people, who belong to the Tunguso-Manchurians and live in the Amur-Sakhalin region in the Russian Far East, not only preserve but also enrich their traditional mental attitudes linked to their interpretation of their ethnic history, their contacts with neighboring peoples of Manchuria and China, and their myths, legends, and beliefs. Particular samples of decorative art, called by the Nanai people clan coats of arms, flags, banners, and tamgas, play a significant role in their self-identification and worldview. The article explores how the Nanai interpret these symbols and how these symbols contribute to constructing tribal and ethnic identities. The ethnic composition of the Nanai people is complex and multi-component; their ethnogenesis could be traced back to the representatives of the Tungus, Mongols, Turks, Manchurians, Paleo-Asians, and various groups of the autochthonous population. Depending on the peculiarities of their economy, worldview, and cultural patterns, various groups of Nanai people use different tamgas, coats of arms, and banners. The latter depict symbols of supernatural forebears and signs with special meaning referring to activities such as hunting, fishing, gathering, and deer breeding; they also contain stylized schemes of landscapes considered an ancestral home. Predatory animals, including tigers, bears, kites, mythical dragons, and dragon-like creatures, are shown as legendary founders of clans and totem ancestors. Modern Nanai people self-identify with Jurchens as their Medieval ancestors based on arrow and bow images found on their ceramic vessels, which resembled similar images on the Jurchen tamgas. Some representatives of the Nanai people draw a direct ethnocultural line to the Jurchens as their ancestors and argue that the Nanai soldiers had participated in the Manchu eight-branded army. The study used the methods of field ethnography, including participant observation, interviewing, and information recording in the forms of field diaries and digital (audio and photo) media. Ethnographic materials were collected through personal conversations with respondents, during the author’s work at ethnic cultural centers, and at several ethnographic museums, and the museums of local history organized by the Nanai peoples of Khabarovsk region who live in Troitskoe, Naikhin, Daerga, Low Manoma, Sikachi-Alan, Low Tambovka, and Kondon villages. The study draws on the following theoretical concepts: 1) the concept of ethno-cultural heritage as a worldview basis of identity, 2) the notion of ethno-cultural projections, and 3) the idea that a person can transfer real or mythical events to the present in order to strengthen the authority of their clan or ethnos.

 

KEYWORDS: ethnocultural projections, identity, historical memory, clan tamgas, the Nanais people of the Amur

 

DOI 10. 312 5 0/2 618 - 8 6 0 0 -2 02 3 -3 (21) -143 -16 8
УДК 3 9 (= 512. 221)

 

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