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Preface to the Special Issue “Religion and the Re-identification of Ethnic Groups”.

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In literature about missionary activities in western Siberia in the 19th – early 20th century, the natives are seen as passive recipients of the missionaries’ initiative, as victims of their endeavours. This article intends to present another view of the encounter, showing firstly why this erroneous vision developed and secondly how the Khanty and the Nenets are actually active in the interaction. It shows how in both cases, either by accepting or by refusing, the natives follow their own interests and their own decisions without submitting to stronger constraint against their will. While those who refused to accept the missionaries’ endeavours clearly expressed their independence, those who chose to convert did it sincerely, although their understanding of Christianity did not match the missionaries’ expectations. They did it for conscious reasons, not just yielding to the missionaries’ wishes but often being themselves the initiators. For them, Christianity is integrated in a worldview that is not based on dual oppositions. Therefore, while representatives of official Christianity do not see these natives as real Christians, they consider themselves to be so.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, the author(s) and users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) under the following conditions: 1. they must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor, 2. they may not use this contribution for commercial purposes, 3. they may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Authors retain the following rights:

– copyright, and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,

– the right to use the substance of the article in future own works, including lectures and books,

– the right to reproduce the article for own purposes, provided the copies are not offered for sale,

– the right to self-archive the article.

@article{JEF, author = {Aimar Ventsel}, title = { Ecoscapes: Geographical Patternings of Relations}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {6}, number = {1}, year = {2013}, keywords = {book review}, abstract = {Book review of the publication Ecoscapes: Geographical Patternings of Relations. Edited by Gary Backhaus and John Murungi. Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Oxford, Lexington Books, 2006, xxxiii+241 pp. }, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {123–124}, url = {https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/121} }

@article{JEF, author = {Indrek Jääts}, title = { Favourite Research Topics of Estonian Ethnographers under Soviet Rule}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2019}, keywords = {history of ethnology; nationalism; Estonia; Soviet Union}, abstract = {Estonian ethnography as one of the Estonia-related disciplines was tied with Estonian nationalism from the very beginning. Defined as a science investigating mainly the material side of vanishing traditional peasant culture in the 1920s, it fitted rather well with the Soviet understanding of ethnography as a sub discipline of history. Thanks to the major cooperation projects initiated and coordinated by ethnographers from Moscow, Soviet Estonian ethnographers could continue studying Estonian traditional peasant culture. Their favourite research topics (folk costume, peasant architecture and traditional agriculture) supported Estonian national identity, but also suited the framework of Soviet ethnography. Studying contemporary (socialist) everyday life was unpopular among Estonian ethnographers because the results had to justify and support Soviet policy. They did so unwillingly, and avoided it completely if possible. Despite of some interruption during the Stalin era, ethnography managed to survive as a science of the nation in Soviet Estonia.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {1–15}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/317} }

@article{JEF, author = {Vida Savoniakaitė}, title = { The Regional Studies Movement in Soviet Lithuania}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2019}, keywords = {history of anthropology, Soviet ethnography, belonging, Lithuanian nationalism, Baltic States}, abstract = {This article is dedicated to the regional studies movement in Soviet Lithuania, primarily to ethnography, and argues that Lithuanian ethnographers conducted ethnographic research in different ways. The focus is on the Ramuva movement, founded in 1970 at Vilnius University and continuing until 1994. The activities of the Lithuanian regional studies movement were characterised by diverse education and ethnographic practices. I assert that the key to the success of Ramuva’s activity was a creative circumventing of Soviet ideology and practice. Through a discussion of theoretical issues and the results of fieldwork, I analyse the following questions: How did Marxism–Leninism change ethnography in Soviet Lithuania? What were the activities, methods and theory of regional research? Was Ramuva’s policy of knowledge production in opposition to the Soviet regime?}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {71–89}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/318} }

@article{JEF, author = {Maryna Berezutska}, title = { The Development of Bandura Music Art between the 1920s and 1940s}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, year = {2020}, keywords = {}, abstract = {Bandura art is a unique phenomenon of Ukrainian culture, inextricably linked with the history of the Ukrainian people. The study is dedicated to one of the most tragic periods in the history of bandura art, that of the 1920s–1940s, during which the Bolsheviks were creating, expanding and strengthening the Soviet Union. Art in a multinational state at this time was supposed to be national by form and socialist by content in accordance with the concept of Bolshevik cultural policy; it also had to serve Soviet propaganda. Bandura art has always been national by its content, and professional by its form, so conflict was inevitable. The Bolsheviks embodied their cultural policy through administrative and power methods: they created numerous bandurist ensembles and imposed a repertoire that glorified the Communist Party and the Soviet system. As a result, the development of bandura art stagnated significantly, although it did not die completely. At the same time, in the post-war years this policy provoked the emigration of many professional bandurists to the USA and Canada, thus promoting the active spread of bandura art in the Ukrainian Diaspora.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {44–66}, url = {https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/356} }

@article{JEF, author = {Ulan Bigozhin}, title = { Sacred Geographies in the Eurasian Steppe: The Aqkol Shrine as a Symbol of Kazakh Ethnicity and Religiosity}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2019}, keywords = {}, abstract = {}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {131–133}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/342} }

@article{JEF, author = {Iwona Kaliszewska}, title = { Sacred Sites and Not-So-Dirty Money in Daghestan, North Caucasus}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2019}, keywords = {}, abstract = {}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {137–139}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/344} }

@article{JEF, author = {Sergei Shtyrkov}, title = { Sacred Landscapes Through the Lens of Religious Nationalism}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2019}, keywords = {}, abstract = {}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {140–142}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/345} }

@article{JEF, author = {Mairi Kaasik}, title = { The Category of Time in Fairy Tales: Searching for Folk Calendar Time in the Estonian Fairy Tale Corpus}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {2}, number = {2}, year = {2011}, keywords = {fairy tale; category of time; relativity of time ; folk calendar holidays; Estonian fairy tale corpus}, abstract = { The article examines how folk calendar holidays are represented in Estonian fairy tales. It introduces some views presented in folklore studies about the concept of time in fairy tales and finds parallels with them in the Estonian context. The analysis relies on the digital corpus of Estonian fairy tales (5400 variants), created from the texts found in the Estonian Folklore Archives by the Fairy Tale Project of the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu. Folk calendar holidays occur in Estonian fairy tales relatively seldom; most often these are holidays that occupy a significant place in the Estonian folk calendar (Christmas, St. John’s Day, Easter, St. George’s Day). Calendar holidays are notably mentioned more often in tale types which remain on the borderline between the fairy tale and the legend or the fairy tale and the religious tale. In Estonian fairy tales, calendar holidays are used on three levels of meaning: (1) the holiday is organically associated with the tale type; it has an essential role in the plot of the tale; (2) to a certain extent, the holiday could be replaced by another holiday having an analogous meaning; (3) the holiday forms an unimportant or occasional addition to the tale.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {47–56}, url = {https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/29} }