The Altai old believers — “poles” in ethnographic works of the imperial period

Abstract

The article discusses the historiographic aspect of the study of the ethnographic group — the Poles which got its name in Altai due to the resettlement of Old Believers to Siberia from Poland in the middle of the 18th century. Since the formation of the Poles settlements, they periodically began to appear in publications in ethnographic works, which formed two historical stages of research of the Old Believers of Siberia in the Russian Empire. The first stage is characterized by the indirect attention paid to Old Believers Poles in the Altai by German travelers: P. S. Pallas, K. F. Ledebur, K. M. Meyer. The second stage, in the first place, is associated with the formation of regional departments of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. In these works, Old Believers Poles appeared acted as objects of field ethnography. Also, during this period mentions of the ethnographic group were recorded in other periodicals. The authors of the study paid special attention to the issues of the confessional composition of the Poles, the peculiarities of household activities and the development of territories by them interfaith and interethnic relations. As a result, considering the work of researcher's errors were identified related to the presentation of the ethnographic group and the influence of the ideology of the imperial period on them was also noted.