Publications

“Perestroika Years in the North“ explores the causes, dynamics, and consequences of the profound political and economic transformation that swept across the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s onward on Indigenous lives and research with Indigenous partners. Through the policies of glasnost and the unprecedented opportunities they created for freedom of expression and public debate, Indigenous representatives were, for the first time, able to draw attention to the conditions that threatened their economic livelihoods, cultural self-determination, and ethnic identities. The dramatic changes of that time illustrate how mistrust and fear fostered by Soviet-era propaganda could be overcome once people were given the opportunity for greater control over their lives, thereby paving the way for mutually beneficial partnerships with Western counterparts.

Recent developments in Russia provide a compelling reason to revisit the perestroika era from this perspective, as these developments are now retrospectively assessed through the lens of emerging narratives. Particular attention is given to the voices of those who experienced these developments firsthand and continue to live in Russia. Their reflections on the aspirations and expectations inspired by perestroika, as well as the disappointments that emerged over time, offer an essential foundation for a deeper understanding of this period and its legacy.

List of Contributors  PDF

Preface  PDF

– Origins and Early Initiatives –

Dudeck, Stephan and Liivo Niglas
At the Threshold of Perestroika – Khanty Ecological Testimony and Estonian Eco-Nationalism in Lennart Meri’s “Sons of Torum”  PDF

Anna Shibarova
From “Friendship of Peoples” to “Big Problems” – Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the North in the Early Perestroika Period Press – Toward an Annotated Bibliography  PDF

Boris Chichlo
The First Congress of the Peoples of the North in the Context of Perestroika  PDF

Oran Young
East Meets West in Arctic/Northern Social Sciences: The Story of the 1991 Joint US/USSR Workshop in Moscow  PDF

– Coping with Rapid Change: Examples from Chukotka –

Nikolai Vakhtin
Chukotka after Perestroika: Social Actors and Political Power  PDF

Liliya, Mark and Eduard Zdor
Back to the Future: Ethnographic Notes from the Neshkan Community  PDF

Gavriil Malyshev
Abramovich’s Cottages: A Post-Project Analysis of Adaptation to Imported Architecture in Rural Chukota  PDF

– Reflections on International Collaborations: Examples from the Russian Far East –

Elena Dul’chenko and Oleg Zaporotskii
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Community-Driven Activities in Sustainable Economic Development in Kamchatka  PDF

Aleksandra Urkachan, Raisa Avak and Tjan Zaotschnaja
Local Perspectives on International Initiatives to SustainIndigenous Cultures in Kamchatka  PDF

Valerii Kravchenko
Beauty Protects our World: Indigenous Choreographic Culture in Kamchatka in Response to Western Contact  PDF

Erich Kasten
Anatol Donkan – A Nanai Artist Living Through Perestroika  PDF

– Retrospective –

Anna Sirina
Siberian Ethnography in the Post-Soviet Period: A View from Moscow   PDF

Erich Kasten
The Perestroika Years in the North: Crisis or Renewal in Russian Ethnography? Contrasting Eastern and Western Perspectives   PDF

Abstracts  PDF

– Appendix –

Boris Chichlo
Chronology of Significant Events During Perestroika   PDF