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Golovnev A. Ethnogenesis as Solitaire Game: On the Origin of Samoyeds and Ugrians

A. Golovnev
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-5716-655X
E-mail: Andrei_golovnev@bk.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. The Russian/Soviet ethnogenetic school is the largest in the world in terms of the amount of empirical and theoretical work performed, its methodological tools, and the breadth of the covered sources. In the 18th century, the conceptual palette of ethnogenesis became one of the first accomplishments of the emerging science of ethnography in Russia. During periods of crisis, for example, at the height of the persecution of ethnography campaign in the early 1930s, the platform of ethnogenesis served as a refuge for the Russian science of ethnicity. Until now, the topic of ethnogenesis has not lost its relevance at the personal, regional, or global levels. The earliest hypotheses, often considered naive and outdated, are of particular value. According to hermeneutics and phenomenology, these ideas are closer to the “spirit” of the era under study. These hypotheses and scenarios are somewhat reminiscent of a solitaire card game: this is not just a set of guesses but a layout that can be arranged in a composition. The metaphor of the solitaire game also holds because ethnogenesis is not about dissembling but about assembling, not isolating the people but finding a place for them in a multinational community, in an ethnocenosis. There is no such thing as a sole ethnogenesis – it is always multi-ethnic. It is more correctly to see ethnogenesis not as a divergence but as a convergence. At the same time, convergence should be understood not as a unification but as the distribution of living and activity space among peoples while maintaining and even strengthening their ethnic identity. In other words, the content of ethnogenesis is the formation of a stable ethnocenosis with the distribution of ethnocultural niches and roles.

 

KEYWORDS: ethnogenesis, ethnocenosis, Samoyeds, Ugrians, multi-nationality

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8600-2023-3 (21)-6-44
УДК 39 (=511.2)

 

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