Neotraditionalism in the Russian North: Indigenous Peoples and the Legacy of Perestroika (Circumpolar Research Series)

Based on a report submitted to the Russian parliament in 1994 on the cultural, political, and economic issues guiding Russian state policy toward Siberian indigenous peoples. A team of seven translators in North America have edited and annotated it and added translations of selected recent legislation, a guide to Russian and Siberian terms, and photographs by Pika on his trips to Siberia. Pika, one of Russia's leading anthropologists, put the original collection of articles together; he died in 1995. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The advent of perestroika and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union have had an enormous impact on indigenous peoples in the Russian Arctic. Neotraditionalism in the Russian North illuminates many of the cultural, political, and economic issues guiding Russian state policy toward Siberian indigenous peoples. Growing from a report submitted to the Russian parliament, it became a major building block for new legislation on the treatment of Northern minority peoples in post-Soviet Russia. Seven translators in North America, under the coordination of Bruce Grant, have edited and annotated the original Russian text, published in 1994. They have added translation of selected recent legislation affecting Siberian indigenous peoples, a guide to Russian and Siberian terms, and photographs taken by Pika on his trips to Siberia. Boris Prokhorov addresses the changing conditions for post-Soviet research in a moving new Afterword.