Identity and Empire in North-Eastern Siberia, XVII ? XX Centuries: Exploratory Research in the Archives

Smith College, Northampton MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project is by a Small Grant for Exploratory Research proposed by Sergei Glebov, Smith College, to identify archival and oral historical sources, secure access to archives, and explore the possibility of cooperating with local scholars and community members in Yakutia, Russia on a research project that focuses on the social and political development of "modern national identity among the Sakha people of Northeathern Siberia from the 17th century to the first quarter of the 20th century" The project proposes to lay the groundwork for bringing together the growing body of literature, both theoretical and ethnographic, on Siberia that has been facilitated by the openness of access in the post-Soviet period of scholarship in Russia. The PI proposes to not only apply the theories developed by western scholars on identity formation in other regions of Russia to the Sakha, but to complement that research with ethnohistoric research on this region of Siberia in order to gain a more complete understanding of the dynamics Sakha identity. In addition, the PI will make contacts with local scholars and community residents who have interest in collaborating on the project.