On December 22, RSUH hosted a round table "The Humanitarian Dimension of Russia's Policy towards Small Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East", during which the experts discussed the tasks of preserving the languages, culture and traditions of the peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.
The event was held within the framework of the project "Interactive Atlas of the Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East".
The Table was attended by representatives of the Association of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East, as well as experts from academic institutions that are the co-authors of the Interactive Atlas. The discussion was moderated by First Vice-Rector Olga Pavlenko, who said that it was important for the project team that the first stage of implementation had been completed successfully.
Dr. Valery Tishkov, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Historical and Philological Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academic Director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke about the work that had been done to create the Atlas:
“Atlas should be close to life. It is necessary to record and reflect the life of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.”
Dr. Grigory Ledkov, President of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North and Far East of the Russian Federation, made a presentation “Views of the representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East on the development of the Interactive Atlas” and drew the attention of colleagues to the role of the social movement in promoting the importance of the views of indigenous peoples and their own position on issues where the interests of indigenous peoples are affected, including the preservation of the languages and culture of the peoples of the North of Russia.
Dr. Nina Veisalova, Vice-President of the Association of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East, praised the joint work of the Association and the academic community during the preparation of the Interactive Atlas.
“The joint work of the academic community and bearers of culture and languages is unique in the experience of creating a project that will most reliably present information about the peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East”, said Dr. Veisalova.
Particular attention was paid to the preservation of unique languages. In the presentation "Current state and issues of preservation of the languages of the indigenous peoples of the North and Far East: 2021-2024. (on the example of Nganasan, Evenk, Tundra Nenets, Kildin Sami and Shor languages)", Dr. Yuri Koryakov, Senior Researcher of the Areal Linguistics Sector of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, examined the main reasons for the disappearance of languages and proposed measures to preserve them.
