The construction of sacred space in the modern social and political discourse of the Republic of Altai

This study analyzes the ethnical constructing in present political discourse of the Altai Republic. We identified the elements of ethnic identity among the indigenous Turkic-speaking people on the ground of the program reviews of cultural development, the concepts of preservation of historical and cultural heritage, the projects of tourism infrastructure development. The study of religious perspectives in formation of the ethnic group image is in focus. The clerisy of the Altai Republic extensively use the traditional spiritual values, mobilizing not only ethnic, but also religious consciousness in formulation of the ethno-national idea. The sacred place preservation, ritual activity support the ethnic specificity and form the system of values on the regional and civilization level in sacred locus, according to the symbolic elites. The objects of traditional material culture, objects of regional archaeological heritage and the environmental practices of indigenous peoples become the symbols of Altai in the reproduction of ethnicity. Coming round to the traditional religion is the guarantee of successful development of the indigenous ethnic groups of the region in the future, according to scientific and artistic clerisy. The ethno-national republican discourse state the cultural continuation of various archaeological culture in modern Altaian. They bases on the material traces - archaeological sites, elements of ethno-cultural regional landscape, objects of material culture and the traditional intangible heritage. Starting out from images of the aboriginal past they generate a list of sacred places with high semiotic status. The author analyzed the practices to describe the ethnicity socio-political discourse of the Altai Republic since early 2000s., and conclude that an appeal to the ethno-political problems turned into a symbolic space.