Etnos: A life history of the etnos concept among the Peoples of the North

Building on the observations of Ernest Gellner, that in Russia and Eastern Europe social and political thought has been incubated specifically within the discipline of ethnography, this project aims to examine the status of ethnogenetic thinking in post-Soviet Russia. The 'etnos' concept, with its radical 'primordialism' has been associated strongly with Soviet state-building creating an unarticulated assumption that theory crumbled along with Soviet institutions. It has been one of the surprises of the post-Soviet transition that 'ethnos-style' thinking not only persists but is a vibrant part of the Russian anthropological context. Given that European and North American anthropologists have traditionally interpreted etnos theory as a sort of deserted island, isolated from the main currents of the discipline, this project aims to rewrite the concept in an active mood demonstrating its evocativeness both to contemporary Russian society and to the discipline as a whole. The project will therefore make use of the interpretative ethnographic techniques developed by historians of science to examine the life history and archaeology of the concept. Although etnos theory has been widely documented and criticised in English language anthropology, this project, through making use of the archived fieldnotes of late Soviet ethnos-theorists, as well as interviewing contemporary ethnos-craftspeople, will be one of the first to write an epistemology of this tradition. To begin to build a bridge between these traditions the project will organise a set of interviews and collate some unique archival materials. Following from the fieldwork,and beyond the project, the authors will publish the work as a collective book manuscript. The impact strategy will build upon a public open-access website of primary documents, several round-table meetings involving Third sector and state representatives, and reports in the mass media.

This project is designed to stimulate public debate about the proper classification of identities within Russia and generally across Eurasia. It also attempts to engage the attention of policy makers to the rich claims for recognition on behalf of parties among the followiing groups: (1) 'Third Sector' organizations representing indigenous peoples, (2) public and non-academic ethnographic societies both in Russia and across Europe (3) policy makers.

The project has implications for interests in the private sector, although those are indirect. As the exploitation of natural resources increasingly becomes a focus and concern of government policy both within and without Russia, the claims to traditional territories of rural hunting and fishing people will increasingly become a matter of concern to both public agencies and companies using these areas.

The project has the potential to improve the sense of social justice and security both within the Russian Federation and across Europe as an integrated economic space. With a greater understanding of how the Russian state classifies and managers its nationality policy, trade and economic development can proceed at a more even pace.

We feel that a strong, informed understanding of the roots of social political discourse can only help strengthen health, wealth and culture.