Ethnicity and Identity in the Circumpolar Regions　　　Takashi Irimoto

　Characteristics of people’s identity in circumpolar areas are that they emphasize the relationship between nature and humans through subsistence activities, such as hunting and herding. According to the worldview based on animism and shamanism, people recognize the original oneness of humans and animals, and forge spiritual ties with personalized animal-persons. Supported by the reciprocal relationships between animals as deities and humans, and a concept of cosmic cycling, people possess the identity that humans are part of nature. People thank nature, and perceptionally as well as realistically, they live symbiotically with nature.
　In order to deal with various problems threatening their existence concerning development and environment in the present northern areas, they use their traditional worldviews as ethnic symbols with the help of science, on which they base their identity. Their traditional worldviews, some of which are, as can be seen in Sakha (Yakut), a philosophy of “Symbiosis with Nature,” or as can be seen in the First Nations of North America, a concept of “bush” or more specifically “bush food,” are used as symbols of ethnicity and identity. Moreover, as can be observed in Saami, their identity in nature and life in it, along with a protest against historical events in which their identity was lost, while adopting forms of “literature” from outside large-scale societies, is expressed in their unique art.
　Next, in many societies in northern areas, particularly in hunting societies, people show a strong tendency of egalitarianism, and individuals tend to refuse a dominator-subordinate relationship in the outside world as well as in their society. This indicates characteristics of these societies that they have weak group cohesion, and at the same time, they are tolerant of the existence of different outside societies. Realistically, unless they accept diversity, their minority groups will cease to exist. They identify themselves as part of nature, and at the same time, as part of a diversified society. A concept of symbiosis between nature and humans is projected on perception of the relationship with other human societies.
　It is interesting to note that even if groups become larger, as can be seen from an example of the Republic of Sakha, a philosophy of the relationship between nature and humans is used as an ethnic symbol. Buryat and Mongols, who mainly engage in livestock farming as an activity of livelihood in the same manner as people in Sakha, use “Geser,” a mythical epic hero, and “Chingis Khan,” an actual historical hero respectively as ethnic symbols. This is probably because Mongols have a history of foundation of an empire, while Buryat, even though they are also Mongols, don’t have a history of independence, and though they are one of the republics in the Russian Federation, they have been strongly controlled by Russia in the past and present. On the other hand, though Sakha is also a republic, people there graze cattle and horses in a harsh northern environment, and live more dependently on nature through hunting and fishing. Therefore, it is a matter of course that they differ in perspectives on nature and worldviews.
　Generally, as societies grow larger from families to nations, group cohesion will change from natural to cultural, and constituting principles of groups will change from egualitarianism to hierarchy, and national emblems will transform from nature into heroes, who are sometimes actual human heroes or sometimes mythical figures. Among such general tendencies, people in Sakha are characteristic in terms of their use of “Symbiosis with Nature,” a philosophy of the relationship between nature and humans, rather than heroes as ethnic symbols, as well as in terms of a unique mode of life, in which they have built a republic where they earn a living by engaging in cattle breeding in Siberian forests.
　Also, during the process of changes in groups and culture, many ethnic minorities are in a period of endangerment. At the same time, under the post-colonial and post-Soviet circumstances under which people experienced drastic political and economic changes, with the collapse of the once-powerful nation’s framework, “peoples” who had been ruled started a new cultural revitalization movement to recover their identity. Cultural revitalization as a result came to be associated with once banned and persecuted religions – particularly, shamanism in northern Siberia or Tibetan / Mongolian Buddhism in Mongolia – and to be deeply involved in national politics. This movement was to recover cultural and political rights.
　The third generation of a minority in a nation after a drastic cultural change is most likely to be involved in cultural revitalization. The first generation, even in a new environment, continues to use conventional and traditional culture or languages. The second generation becomes bicultural / bilingual, and sometimes by force or sometimes according to their judgment halts transmission of traditional culture to the third generation. They choose not to dare to transmit old culture so that their children can adapt themselves to the new environment. Consequently, the third generation will emerge knowing traditional culture and languages only in fragments or not at all. Under such circumstances, some people become conscious of a question about their identity and seek an answer from ethnicity. After reevaluating their culture, they initiate a cultural revitalization movement to transmit it to future generations. In this movement, they make social and economical demands on their positions in a nation, and conflict resolution is sought through a political movement.
　Revitalized culture is not, of course, the traditional culture itself that existed in the past. A new “traditional” culture will be produced by selecting positive elements, excluding negative elements from the old one and reconstituting them. Sometimes it is used for “discourse” to make political demands as well as for tourism. Certainly, in the strict sense, images of “tradition” created in cultures are fiction identical to a utopia in messianic movements and millenarian movements. In contrast with completely unrealistic millenarian movements, however, the creation of “tradition” functions in the real world and enables people to establish relationships with others in the real world by identifying themselves. Furthermore, it enables them to establish new social relationships based on their philosophy. In terms of syncretism, this can be interpreted as a process of formation of a new third system through encounters between two different systems.
References
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　2004. Construction of a National Emblem, Decomposition of Identities and “Heroic” Millenarianism in Post-Soviet Buryatia. A Reappraisa. In Irimoto, T. and T. Yamada (eds.),Circumpolar Ethnicity and Identity. Senri Ethnological Studies No.66. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
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