The ethnodemographic and social characteristics of the Anastasians of Western Siberia

The purpose of this paper is to give a general assessment of the ethnodemographic and social parameters of the movement of the Anastasians on the scale of Western Siberia in the context of the practices of the region's settlement. This article examines the Anastasians in an ethnodemographic and social aspect based on field material obtained during the 2019-2020 expedition trips to the settlements of the Anastasians in Western Siberia. The sources of study were data from the Internet sites of followers and the web pages of individual settlements. The movement of the Anastasians emerged in Russia in the mid-1990s. The followers accepted the author's mythology and program of returning to the peasant economy and natural lifestyle. The Anastasian subculture embodies a vivid example of neotraditionalism, as well as a special case of the deployment of the glocalization process. By 2020, the followers of the movement estimate the number of the Anastasians in Russia from 100 thousand to 1,300 thousand people. The implementation of the ideological program of the Anastasians involves the creation of the family estates. Ancestral settlements are represented in 62 regions of the country. There are 43 settlements at various stages of development in Western Siberia. Followers of the movement are recruited from among the citizens. Most of the settlers have a high educational level. These settlements form the self-sufficient communities with the elements of community. In general, the Anastasian movement, according to experts, is a group with the blurred borders. More than 800families live in the ancestral settlements of the Western Siberia. The demographic indicators of the Anastasian society show a high proportion of the working-age couples, a growing number of children, and a small proportion of the elderly population. The identity of the movement followers has a complex character; the ethnic composition of Anastasians is variable. The national, ethnic and quasi-ethnic self-consciousness are combined in the individual and communal self-consciousness.