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ETHNOCULTURAL ASPECTS OF LAND USE IN THE UIMON VALLEY IN GORNY ALTAI (THE END OF XIX – BEGINNING OF XXI C.) // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2017. Issue 1 (15). P. 101-107

The research studies features of the processes of settling and land use of the territory of the Uimon Valley by the Russian population with special regard to the usage of the lands for the agricultural purposes. The reflection on the historical experience of the ethnoecological adaptation is of much importance in the context of working out theoretical questions of the ethnocultural landscape, as well as defining strategies of rational usage of land resources in conditions of Siberia. The research is based on the field ethnographical materials of the author, collected in towns of Ust-Koksa District of the Altai Republic. The paper presents a dynamic picture of how the lands had been used in the end of XIX – the beginning of XXI centuries. The researcher determines particular location and management of different types of agricultural lands (plough-lands, hay-fields, pastures) in the Russian pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods, and in modern time.

Keywords: ethnocultural landscape, agricultural adaptation, agricultural lands, Uimon Old Believers, Gorny Altai

ETHNOCULTURAL IDENTITY OF THE RUSSIANS AND ITS TRANSFORMATION ACCORDING TO THE MATERIALS OF THE ALTAI ECCLESIASTICAL MISSION (THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY) // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2020. Issue 2 (28). P. 160-170

The research is dedicated to revealing and analyzing of archival materials from the fund of the Altai ecclesiastical mission (State archive of the Altai Krai, Fund 164) that concern the specifics of ethnocultural identity of the Russian population who lived at the territory (Gorny Altai and low elevational parts of the Altai) that referred to the running of this mission. The religious identity of the people is seen as closely connected to the ethnocultural identity and is its important integral part. The finding of these materials is believed of much relevance, for it allows using the method of integration of archival and field ethnographical resources and further obtaining of a more clear picture of the specific features in the ethnocultural identity of the Russians, and how it was transformed in conditions of the foreign surrounding and multiconventional environment. The study of the observations of missionaries of the 20th century is especially interesting due to its potential to reflect processes that followed the declaration of freedom of worship in 1905. The studied materials show a growing activity in the sphere of religion among Old Believers and alienation from church among the Orthodox believers. The research reveals a particular competition between the Orthodox church and the communities of Old Believers to have more parishioners, which was a specially evident problem at settlements with confessionally mixed relationships. The research discovers processes of transformation of the identity of people, such as transferring of from the Orthodox church to Old Believers and on the contrary visa versa, what is still noticed much rarer. There were cases of leaving one Old Beleivers’ community for another, and these cases most interesting explosion of the transformation processes of the ethnocultural identity. The work also names the most common reasons of these transformative changes, which were largely dependent on practical perspectives of the people, including willing to get married again, or acquiring a more lucrative economic conditions. The missionaries note in their records a number of most essential ethnocultural markers that belong to the Old Belief, such markers that not only concern rituals, but referring to the outlook of a person, his clothes, accepting or not accepting some new things in life. In general, one can say that in the beginning of the 20th century in Gorny Altai and its neighboring low elevations in Russia the ethnocultural composition of the Russian population was quite varied and was subject to different transformation processes of the ethnocultural identity.

Keywords: ethnocultural identity, religious identity, transformations of identity, Orthodox parishioners, Old Believers, Austrians, starikovschina, Gorny Altai

CHTHONIC IMAGES IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE OF THE RUSSIANS OF GORNY ALTAI: TRANSFORMATION AND LOCAL FEATURES // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2022. Issue 3 (37). P. 160-170

This study explores the use and transformation of chthonic images, specifically snakes and frogs, in the Old Believer tradition of the Russians in Gorny Altai. The research combines folklore materials, field observations, and written sources, which had not previously been represented in the academic sphere, and utilizes historical and ethnographic methods. Snake images are often associated with negative human qualities in various folklore genres, while frog images are associated with ugliness or slowness. These images appear in folk practices for avoiding snakes, treating snake bites and illnesses such as tonsillitis and back pain, and in riddles and handicrafts. The Christian content of these images is prevalent, but the perception of them varies among different local groups and individuals. It can range from seeing them as personifications of sin and posthumous punishment to viewing them as neutral creatures of nature. In the modern tradition of the Uimon Old Believers, the perception of chthonic images is milder than in the now extinct tradition of the Turochak Old Believers. This study represents the first time that the features of using chthonic images and their transformation in the Old Believer tradition have been analyzed and documented in such detail.

Keywords: Russians, Gorny Altai, Old Believers, images of a serpent and a frog, traditional culture, folklore