Galvanizing Nostalgia?
Indigeneity and Sovereignty in Siberia
By Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer[1]
ISBN13: 9781501761317
ISBN10: 1501761315
Publication date: 01/15/2022
Pages: 270
Illustrations: 21 b&w halftones, 1 b&w line drawing, 1 map
Galvanizing Nostalgia? explores critical questions for the survival of Russia in its nominally federal form. Will Russia fall apart along the lines of its internal republics, as did the Soviet Union? Based on cultural anthropology field and historical research in major republics of Eastern Siberia—Sakha (Yakutia), Buryatia, and Tyva (Tuva)—this book highlights Indigenous concerns about self-determination.
Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer suggests that a fragile and disorganized dynamic of nested sovereignties has developed within Russia. Ecology activism has grown, given new threats to the environment and accelerating climate challenges, especially in the Arctic. Focus on strategically chosen republics enables comparing and contrasting interethnic relations, language politics, and the salience of gender, demography, resource competition, environmental degradation, and increased spirituality. Republics vary in their neocolonial relationships to Moscow authorities. Some local leaders, such as a politicized shaman, use nostalgia for cultural achievements to galvanize citizens. Since the Soviet Union collapsed, cultural and political revitalization have been relatively more viable, although still difficult, in areas where Siberians have their own republics.
Contents
Introduction: Contested Ecological, Cultural, and Political Sovereignty in Russia
1. Sakha Republic (Yakutia): Resource Rich and Pivotal
2. Republic of Buryatia: Gerrymandered and Struggling
3. Republic of Tyva (Tuva): A Borderline State with Demographic Advantages
4. Crossover Trends: Eurasianism, Competition, Cooperation, and Protest
Conclusions: Federalism, Cultural Dignity, and Nostalgia
Galvanizing Nostalgia? will be an enduring study across multiple disciplines."
Elise Giuliano, Harriman Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, author of Constructing Grievance"Galvanizing Nostalgia? is a saga of spiritual revival in the least-known parts of the world. With a personal touch, Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer documents cultural traditions and emerging politics in three fascinating 'republics' of Siberia. From a self-immolated Udmurt historian to the protesting Buryat-Buddist monks to a Yakut [Sakha] shaman who challenged the Kremlin, the reader will learn the most unexpected stories of humanity, dignity, and resistance."
Alexander Etkind, European University Institute, Florence
"One of the leading scholars of Siberia, Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer has written a rich and nuanced account of the various and complex ways that ethnicity, religious practice, and environmental politics intersect in three post-Soviet Siberian republics. In this fascinating book, she draws on her extensive knowledge and decades of ethnographic experience to reflect critically on the realities of and prospects for Indigenous self-determination in Putin's Russia."
Paul Nadasdy, Cornell University
[1] Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Georgetown UniversityFaculty Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion Peace and World Affairs
co-coordinator, Indigenous Studies working group
https://indigeneity.georgetown.edu
Editor, Anthropology and Archeology of Eurasia
New Book: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501761317/galvanizing-nostalgia/#bookTabs=1
Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer is a research professor in the School of Foreign Service, co-convener of the Indigenous Studies Working Group, and a Berkley Center faculty fellow. She has been at Georgetown since 1987 in the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies (CERES) and the Anthropology Department, and has twice been a Doyle Faculty Fellow through the Berkley Center. She is editor of the Taylor and Francis journal Anthropology and Archeology of Eurasia and is author or editor of six books on Russia, Central Asia, and the Circumpolar North. Her research interests focus on the intersections of religion, politics, ecology, human rights, and comparative indigenous activism. Her latest book, based on fieldwork in three republics, is Galvanizing Nostalgia: Indigeneity and Sovereignty in Siberia (Cornell University Press, 2021).
