Identity of Kazakhstan’s Uyghurs: Migration, Homeland, and Language

This article examines the ethno-national identity of Uyghurs in Kazakhstan, which, during the period of independence, has been undergoing a complex process of transformation from ‘Sovietness’ to ‘Kazakhstanness.’ This transformation is shaped by the ethnic policy of Kazakhstan, aiming for the consolidation of society and formation of a united Kazakhstani nation. Post-Soviet development not only produces threats to the Uyghur ethnic identity, but also creates new perspectives for it. The article focuses on some dimensions of the Uyghur identity determined by cross-border migration from the Xinjiang-Uyghur autonomous region of the neighboring People’s Republic of China and Soviet national policy, such as language, cultural institutions, and existence of the Uyghur district in the Almaty province. Analysis of the discourse of vätän (motherland) shows a shift to a perception of Kazakhstan as a homeland.

Keeping cultural codes: the customs and ceremonies of ethnic minorities under Russian rule

When establishing its rule over other nationalities, the Russian Empire relied on local elites, including their aristocracy, tribal chiefs, and sometimes the clergy. In addition to retaining some of their traditional privileges, they were also granted new benefits. The same paradigm applied to the ethnic policy of both the Muscovite state and the Russian Empire: a combination of nation-wide standards of citizenship and management with local traditional principles of organizing society. The cultural codes of Russian officials and settlers on the one hand and the expanding states non-Slavic population on its the eastern and southern frontiers overlapped and influenced each other. To lessen the opposition of its minorities, the empires administration often adapted new regulations to their cultural norms. For pragmatic reasons, officials acknowledged the importance of at least showing some respect to subjects who spoke different languages and professed different beliefs. As a result of this interaction, the cultures of the rulers and the non-Russian nationalities they ruled influenced each other.

Ainu in modern Japanese society: the problem of returning the remains of ancestors

The article is devoted to the issue of repatriation of Ainu ancestral remains, collected by Japanese researchers in the second half of the 19th - 20th centuries. It is the most crucial current issue for many Ainu people who are trying to regain the language, the distinct culture, and identity. The article analyzes the positions of the Japanese Government, the Hokkaido Ainu Association and Ainu rights activist groups and movements. The article examines the contradictions that arose in Japanese society concerning the process of repatriation. Discussions in Japanese society during this problem were analyzed, and its significance for the Ainu communities is revealed. It was found that the discussions mainly arise in connection with the idea of transferring the remains to the memorial hall located in Symbolic Spaces for Ethnic Harmony, which was opened in July 2020. Research also showed that the problem under study is largely related to limitations in ethnic policy implementation and realization of indigenous peoples rights in Japan. In addition, the process of repatriation of Ainu ancestral remains is compounded by the lack of unity of the Ainu as a community. Therefore, reaching agreement between the government, the academic community, and critical Ainu rights activist groups proved extremely difficult. However, it was concluded that there is a potential to resolve the issue and consensus could be reached in the near future.

Book review: Trepavlov, V.V. Simvoly i ritualy v etnicheskoy politike Rossii XVI-XIX vv. [Symbols and rituals in the ethnic policy of Russia in the 16th-19th centuries]. St. Petersburg: Oleg Abyshko Publ., 2018. 320 p.

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НАУЧНОЕ ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЙ НАЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ в 1990-е – НАЧАЛЕ 2000-х гг.: КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНЫЕ И ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛЬНЫЕ ОСНОВЫ

В статье рассматривается процесс выработки концептуальных и институциональных основ научного обеспечения государственной национальной политики в постсоветский период. Отмечается, что необходимость разработки новых подходов к анализу этнополитических процессов, совершенствования механизмов научной экспертизы была связана с резким обострением межэтнической напряженности в конце 1980-х – начале 1990-х гг. В новых условиях выдвигались концепции, подчеркивавшие значительную роль субъективного фактора в определении этнических идентичностей, возможность смены самоидентификации, изменчивость межгрупповых границ. Делался акцент на необходимость формирования гражданской нации, объединяющей россиян независимо от этнической и конфессиональной принадлежности. Идеи, связанных с указанными положениями, нашли отражение в основополагающих государственных актах Российской Федерации – Конституции 1993 г., Концепции государственной национальной политики. Воплотить в жизнь новые принципы должен был ряд законов, в частности, закон о национально-культурных автономиях 1996 г. Вместе с тем острые дискуссии в академическом сообществе по вопросу о природе этничности, постепенное снижение интереса властей к регулированию межэтнических отношений затруднили выстраивание эффективной системы научного обоснования государственной национальной политики. Существенные позитивные сдвиги в этой области происходят только в 2010-е гг. The article examines the institutional mechanisms and conceptual foundations of the scientific support of the state national policy in the post-Soviet period. The need to develop new approaches to the analysis of ethnopolitical processes and improve the mechanisms of scientific expertise was caused by the rise of interethnic tension in the late 1980s - early 1990s. The concepts proposed in the new situation emphasized the significant role of the subjective factor in ethnic identification, the possibility of changing self-identification, and the variability of intergroup boundaries. Emphasis was placed on forming a civil nation that would unite all Russians regardless of ethnicity and confessional affiliation. These ideas influenced important provisions of the fundamental state acts of the Russian Federation - the Constitution of 1993, the Concept of State Ethnic Policy. A number of laws were supposed to implement the new principles, particularly the 1996 Law on national and cultural autonomies. At the same time, heated discussions in the academic community on the nature of ethnicity, the gradual decline of the authorities' interest in regulating interethnic relations made it difficult to build an effective system of scientific support of the state ethnic policy. Significant positive shifts in this area took place only in the 2010s.

Ethnic Policy in Transbaikalia at the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries: Regional Nuances

The article is devoted to the regional peculiarities of ethnic policy having been analyzed on the example of Transbaikal region of Russian Empire. During the period under investigation it was a kind of national outlying district which lagged behind other Siberian territories in social-economic and cultural development. At the same time it was closely connected with foreign policy ambitions of the Empire which considered it as starting point for strengthening economic and political influence in Inner Asia. Geopolitical potential of the region and its unpreparedness to play the intended role defined ethnic policy mode. Frontier position of the region demanded the necessity of administrative system unification in order to provide unity of its indigenous population (Buryats) with Russian people. Nevertheless, insufficient flexibility in this issue caused protest movement growth and was the reason of region vulnerability against foreign threat. Transbaikalia economic reinforcing acceleration at last defined comparatively mild variant of relations arrangement with none-indigenous ethnic groups in spite of the exiled status and established opinion of their unreliability. Regional administration regarded them as promising colonization element, having high educational potential, as well as business experience in frames of free competition, local population having no such. This policy allowed former exiles to fit regional society organically and display their abilities to the full extent. The results obtained may be used while researching regions’ independence degree in decision making in ethnic issue and possibility of official course correction due to the status of the region and thus peculiarities of its development.

National Image Construction in Minority Theme Animation and Cigarette Painting Research

Objectives: Playing an important role in the history of Chinese animation art, the minority theme animation not only contains strong national spirit and historical tradition, but also has a close relation with social-historical evolution and the characteristics of its historical stage during its development, thus making ontology language more abundant in social changes. In this paper, the development of minority theme animation is described macroscopically according to the statistics and analysis on the output, theme and object of Chinese minority animation. The “pluralistic integration” theory-based systematic analysis on the relationship between minority theme animation and Chinese social-economical development, national literature and art, ethnic policy, ethnic culture, etc. helps us to outline the nationalimage of new China.In the development of Chinese animation, tobacco advertising is often involved in the form of anime painting. In this context, the presented cultural phenomenon and value shouldattract the attention of scholars.

German Population in the Ethnic Policy of “People’s Poland”

After the Second World War, according to various sources, there were between 3.5 and 4.5 million citizens of the former German Third Reich within the borders of Poland. According to the agreements of the so-called Big Three, made during the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, this population was to be resettled within the borders of post-war Germany. The mass deportation actions lasted from 1946 to 1949 and covered the vast majority of the population, but still about 200,000 people remained in their previous places of residence. In the following years of the existence of "People's Poland", they also gradually left the country, emigrating to the West. The primary objective of this paper was to attempt to characterize ethnic policy towards the German population in the post-war Poland. Over the years, the attitude of the state towards this group has fluctuated considerably, being characterized both by repressive measures and by the possibility of enjoying a relatively undisturbed existence.

ETHNIC NPOs AS AN ORGANIZATIONAL FORM OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF MINORITIES IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA

Ethnic parties are conventionally considered as the main form of politicization of ethnicity, but in those countries where they are absent, the social and political activity of ethnic minorities is manifested in the form of non-governmental organizations - “ethnic NPOs”. In contemporary Russia, both the main areas of activity of ethnic NPOs and the normative and institutional infrastructure of their interaction with the authorities are strongly unified by the framework of the state ethnic policy. However, an in-depth study of several cases (the sample from municipal units of Ulyanovsk and Penza regions) allows us to conclude that the most important interactions on issues, which are significant for both NPOs and the authorities, are most often carried out outside the framework of the normative and institutional infrastructure, through other channels. As a result, actual interactions vary considerably. An important factor is the resource potential of the ethnic NPO, the share of an ethnic minority in the population, as well as the presence of a strong leader. In some cases, the format of localization of an ethnic group is of key importance: if a minority lives apart from others, the resource weakness of an NPO is compensated by the concentration of resources, and sometimes by the practice of combining statuses, when the leader of an ethnic NPO occupies an important political and administrative position at the local level. In other cases, human resources come to the fore. In general, it can be argued that ethnic NPOs to some extent compensate for the absence of ethnic parties. They do not demonstrate their own political ambitions, but they are able to promote the interests of ethnic minorities using the available channels and mechanisms of political representation.

Activities of the Social-Cultural Society of Germans in Opole Silesia in the aspect of ethnic policy of the Polish state

Some of the most important principles of state ethnic policy are to ensure national and ethnic minorities possibility of continuing their national distinction and to enable them participation in public life, including political. The German minority residing in Poland, the most numerous among national minorities, participates actively in realization of the above-mentioned principles. The German minority is most numerous in Upper Silesia area where since 1990 the biggest minority organization in Poland, the Social-Cultural Society of Germans in Opole Silesia (TSKN), has been operating. The basic aim of this article was to make an attempt to describe TSKN activities in the aspect of Polish state ethnic policy assumptions. Research tools and methods used were: historical, comparative, statistical, source study and literature review. Essential research was also study of Internet sources, first and foremost Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration websites as well as TSKN websites. Research hypothesis had been formulated, according to which the Third Republic of Poland ethnic policy not only enable keeping national identity for the German minority living in the region of Opole Silesia, but also creates for the minority appropriate conditions to participate in public life of the region. As a result of research process above-mentioned hypothesis was verified positively.