Gray, Patty A. and Vakhtin, Nikolai and Schweitzer, Peter (2003) Who owns Siberian ethnography? A critical assessment of a re-internationalized field. Sibirica, 3 (2). pp. 194-216. ISSN 1361-7362

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Abstract

Although Siberian ethnography was an open and international field at the turn of the 20th century, from about 1930 until the late 1980s Siberia was for the most part closed to foreigners and therefore to Western ethnographers. This allowed Soviet ethnographers to establish a virtual monopoly on Siberian field sites. Soviet and Western anthropology developed during that period in relative isolation from one another, allowing methodologies and theoretical approaches to diverge. During glasnost’ and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Siberian field was reopened and field studies were conducted by several Western ethnographers. The resulting encounter between Western and former Soviet ethnographers in the 1980s and 1990s produced a degree of cultural shock as well new challenges and opportunities on both sides. This is an experiential account of the mood of these newly reunited colleagues at the turn of the 21st century.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Siberia; Jesup; Soviet and Russian ethnography; social and cultural anthropology; Fieldwork; Anthropological theory and method; Ethics.
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences
Item ID:	1236
Depositing User:	Dr. Patty A. Gray
Date Deposited:	03 Feb 2009 16:17
Journal or Publication Title:	Sibirica
Publisher:	Berghahn Journals
Refereed:	No
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

Available Versions of this Item

• Who owns Siberian ethnography? A critical assessment of a re-internationalized field. (deposited 03 Feb 2009 16:17) [Currently Displayed]
  • Who owns Siberian ethnography? A critical assessment of a re-internationalized field. (deposited 05 Jul 2010 18:06)

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