Ethnology 

Krivonogov V.P.

AT THE GARIFUNA OF ST. VINCENT

The article introduces modern ethnic processes among the indigenous inhabitants of the island of Saint Vincent — the Garifuna Indian people («Black Caribs»). It is based on a 2015 ethnographic study when 10 % of the Garifuna were interviewed with the help of a special questionnaire on their ethnic territory. The Garifuna make up only 3 % of the country's population, their number which had grown during the entire twentieth century, has begun to decline rapidly in recent years. Negroes and «mix» («mixed») people are the vast majority of the population. The last ones include not only mulattos (born of one white parent and one black parent) but all the mixed population, including children of mixed marriages among the Garifuna and the Blacks. Less than a third of the Garifuna remained on their main ethnic territory, in Sandy Bay district, the others migrated to other parts of the country, and many of them moved abroad. The proportion of the Garifuna in the district is reducing, the number of Negroes and, especially, «mix» people is growing rapidly. There have been active migrations in recent years. The reason is a limited number of jobs in this agricultural district. Migrants go mainly to the South of the island, where tourist industry is actively developing. There are almost no ethnic differences left in the material and spiritual culture and in the language between the Garifuna and the majority of the surrounding Saint Vincentians (blacks and mulattos). The native language went out of use in the first half of the twentieth century. Almost all Garifuna are Christian (Catholics, Anglicans, etc.), as well as the rest of the population. The number of mixed marriages with Negroes and «mixed» people in Sandy Bay district is close to 50 %, and most of the children do not belong to the Garifuna, they join the community of the «mix» people. During the twentieth century, the situation was different: almost all Garifuna were concentrated in the neighborhood of Sandy Bay, where they were the vast majority of the population, there were significantly less mixed marriages, and children in mixed families were often consi-dered to be Garifuna. As a result, the number of the Garifuna on the island was rapidly growing, as well as their proportion in the total population. Things have begun to change only recently, in the last 20–30 years, which threatens the very existence of this ethnic group in the decades to come. At the moment, the uniqueness of the Garifuna is manifested only in their ethnic identity and some minor anthropological features, although there are little differences in appearance of the Garifuna and the Blacks (as a result of an intermixture several centuries long with the surrounding majority).

Key words: Saint Vincent, the Caribs, the Garifuna, ethnic processes, language processes, migrations, demography, mixed marriages, mestization.

Adaev V.N.

THE EVENKS OF THE LOWER IRTYSH VALLEY: A SMALL COMMUNITY ON THE PERIPHERY OF THE ETHNIC AREA

The paper presents the first compilationof information on the history and culture of the Evenks of the Lower Irtysh valley. Comparison of different information sources allowed to argue on reasonable grounds that several Evenk family groups named Likhachev and consist of 20–30 individuals migrated from Turukhansky Krai to the Demyanka-river and Turtas-river valleys in the last decades of the 19^th century. The migration was caused by the need of finding unoccupied hunting grounds. The migrants were initially characterized by well-preserved traditional culture, they led a nomadic existence and relied primarily on transport reindeer herding and hunting. The easy penetration of this community into the territory, which was already populated by other Siberian ethnic groups, was due to their occupation of vacant areas of watershed swamps. Being small-numbered the Evenk migrants were compelled to look for marriage partners among neighboring ethnic groups from the very beginning of their relocation. By the end of the 20^th century, they lost their language and almost all of their traditional ethnic characteristics. However, their ethnic identity persisted, due to a specific set of strong cultural boundaries, the composition of which have been evolved over time.

Key words: Western Siberia, ethnic identity, cultural boundaries, migration, nomads, taiga reindeer husbandry.

Nabok I.L., Serpivo S.E.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE FEMALE SPACE IN THE TRADITIONAL NENETS CULTURE UP TO THE BEGINNING OF THE XXI CENTURY

The paper addresses conditions and factors of transformation of the female space in the traditional culture of the Nenets of Yamal up to the beginning of the XXI century. It is noted that the impact of socio-economic and cultural transformations of the modern society contributes to the deformation of the traditional life supporting system and the penetration of non-traditional elements into the life of the indigenous population. The work is based on the data of the author’s sociological research conducted in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (Tazovsky, Yamalsky, Purovsky, Shuryshkarsky, Priuralsky and Nadymsky areas). Education is considered as one of the main factors of this transformation, in particular, an increase in educational level of women, leading to greater economic independence and a change in the position of the Nenets women in the family. Changes in ritual and ceremonial culture are studied as factors of transformation of the female space in the traditional Nenets culture, in particular, changes in the ceremonies of the life cycle (wedding and maternity ceremony), as well as interethnic marriages associated with intensification of industrial development of the Nenets traditional territories.

Key words: traditional culture, female space of a culture, gender approach, transformation, education, the Nenets, ethnic identity, status, interethnic marriages.

Bakieva G.T., Timofeeva A.M.

THE NATIONAL PICTURE OF THE WORLD IN SIBERIAN TATAR PROVERBS

The paper makes an attempt to highlight the most important concepts for the Siberian Tatars and to characterize a set of ethical rules and regulations specific to their culture on the basis of the analysis of their proverbs because they define the foundation of the national picture of the world, the philosophy of life. More than four hundred proverbs of the Siberian Tatars collected and published by one of the authors of the article were the source of the study. Those proverbs and sayings were collected during long-term expedition trips, in places of compact residence of the Siberian Tatars, mainly in villages in the South of Tyumen region. The proverbs were recorded as they sounded in the living speech of the Tatar speakers, thus they preserved phonetic, lexical and grammatical peculiarities of the people's spoken language. It was found out that special attention in the Siberian Tatar proverbs is paid to family, work, knowledge, friendship, fate, homeland, faith. There are a lot of proverbs which regulate relationship between a husband and a wife, parents and children, and determine rules of behavior among them. A Siberian Tatar woman was a keeper of the family foundations, she was responsible for peace and joy in the family, a husband was the undisputed family head, and the children were its main wealth. Proverbs on the topic «work — laziness» have a special place in the paremial fund of the Siberian Tatars. For them, an ability to work hard is an important, inalienable human quality; it is work that brings income. The people's wisdom teaches us not to be afraid of any work, we can judge a person looking at the results of the work he or she did. The topic «knowledge — ignorance» is of high importance in the proverbs of the Siberian Tatars. All the examples address the importance and benefits of knowledge for humans. The topic «poverty — wealth» is also central to the paremial fund. Many Tatar families had a hard life in the harsh climate of Siberia, it was difficult to earn means of living. As a result, we can find far more proverbs and sayings about poverty. As for human relations, the Siberian Tatars valued restraint, perseverance, hospitality, kindness, modesty. Excessive talkativeness, meanness, indifference, curiosity, greed, hypocrisy, envy were subject to condemnation and rejection.

Key words: Siberian Tatars, national picture of the world, folklore, proverbs, culture, philosophy, ethics, people's experience.

Khorin D.E.

MUSEUMIFICATION AS A METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN ETHNO-CULTURAL SPACE AMONG THE CHUVASHES IN THE TOBOL RIVER BASIN IN TYUMEN REGION

The article is dedicated to a cultural and anthropological description of the process of museumification among a Chuvash ethnolocal group in the Tobol river basin in Tyumen region. The paper aims to show how museumification becomes a technology of construction of modern ethno-cultural space in the group under consideration. At the end of the XX century, an urgent demand for ethnic self-determination and preservation of cultural traditions appeared among the Chuvash people in the region. In this regard, processes of ethnic consolidation activated. Museums and museum rooms in various villages of the Southern part of the region gradually start to become centers of such consolidation. They contain artifacts of the culture of daily living activities of the Chuvashes. In course of time, museumification activities of such centers rise to a new level. They begin to have a significant influence on the formation of the ethnic and cultural space of the Chuvash people in the Tobol river basin in Tyumen region through  the preservation of traditions, and innovations in cultural transmission. Similarly, private museumification begins to affect the ethno-cultural space. This is a new phenomenon for the group under consideration, and it has been not previously studied.

Key words: the Chuvash people, the Tobol river basin in Tyumen region, museumification, ethno-cultural tradition, ethnic processes.