Ethnology 

Samburg group of KomI: origin, history and ethno-cultural processes

Istomin K.V. (Syktyvkar, Russian Federation), Liskevich N.A. (Tyumen, Russian Federation), Sharapov V.E. (Syktyvkar, Russian Federation)

In this paper, the authors attempt to reconstruct the history of the Eastern most compact group of the Izhma Komi currently known — the one living in the village of Samburg, Purovski District, Yamal-Nenets Autonomus Okrug, Russia. The authors also describe ethno-cultural processes (changes in material and spiritual culture) which have been going in the group as well as the distinct ways its members maintain, re-create and transform their ethnic identity. The research is based on the ethnographic observations and interviews performed by the authors in 2004, 2009 and 2016 as well as on published and unpublished (archival) documents. The arrival of the Komi population to the lower Pur and the establishment of the village of Samburg were related to the formation of the state reindeer herding enterprise (sovkhoz) «Purovski» in 1937. This sovkhoz was formed on the basis of the earlier «Kutopyuganski» sovkhoz, which was situated in Nadym District of YNAO. The personnel of this earlier sovkhoz, which now became the personnel of «Purovsky» enterprise, consisted of reindeer herding families originated from different villages with large Komi population situated in the former Tobolsk Gubernia. Many of these families were victims of the infamous dekulakization campaign (the campaign of political repressions, including deportations, against the wealthy peasants) of 1929–1931. Mainly due to ecological reasons, the Komi re-settlers in Samburg have not re-created the complex of settled culture and economy, which is traditional for the Izhma Komi, and have almost lost those aspects of spiritual culture that were related to this complex. At the same time, they retained and continue to retain the traditional complex of nomadic reindeer herding culture of the Izhma Komi and some elements of this complex have been borrowed by the local Nenets reindeer herders. Since the late 1930s, the Komi re-settlers maintain close contacts, including numerous inter-ethnic marriages, with the local tundra and forest Nenets. These contacts were made easier due to the Komi-Nenets bilingualism, which became widespread in the region. Currently, the majority of the local Komi live in mixed Komi-Nenets families. In these families, children are usually registered as Nenets in official documents. However, many of these Nenets unofficially identify themselves as Komi and express strong preference for Komi culture and language. Therefore, the process of assimilation of the Samburg Komi by the local Nenets is going on, but it has an interesting peculiarity: the assimilated Komi use and express their Nenets identity in official circumstances but retain their original ethnicity in the unofficial ones.

Key words: the Izhma Komi, reindeer herding, situational ethnicity, ethnic identity, sovkhoz «Purovski», Samburg.

DOI: 10.20874/2071-0437-2016-35-4-143-154

12.12.2016

K.V. Istomin

Institute of Language, Literature and History Komi Science Center, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences

Kommunisticheskaya st., 26, Syktyvkar, 167000, Russian Federation

E-mail: [email protected]

N.A. Liskevich

Institute of Problems of Development of the North, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Malygin st., 86, Tyumen, 625026, Russian Federation

E-mail: [email protected]

V.E. Sharapov

Institute of Language, Literature and History Komi Science Center, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences

Kommunisticheskaya st., 26, Syktyvkar, 167000, Russian Federation

E-mail: [email protected]