Language rights and education of the small numbered indigenous peoples of the European North of Russia: from the Soviet period to modern time

Abstract

The article examines the experience of Russian constituent entities (Murmansk region, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Archangelsk Oblast) in the support of indigenous ethnocultural rights in the context of current models for protection of minority languages and initiatives in the field of education. The contemporary scene of interaction between the state and indigenous minorities in the region is considered from a historical perspective. Special attention is paid to the early decades of the Soviet regime when key discussions concerning the status, way of integration with the state and direction of cultural development were established. The cultural bases and boarding schools, collectivization, forced relocations contributed to the construction of social reality of indigenous peoples which we can observe in the post-Soviet period. The specificity of modern transformation in the sphere of language and life of the reindeer herders are discussed in the context of the everyday practices of the interethnic relations of the Nenets and the Pomors of the Kanin peninsula and the northern parts of Mezen Region.