The northern Altai: dynamics of indigenous identities through the lens of science and politics

This article discusses changing identities of the indigenous population of the Northern Altai (the Kumandins, Tubalars, and Chelkans), resulting from political decisions and scholarly research. After enactment of the Charter on the Administration of Ethnic Monorities in 1822 as well as administrative and territorial transformations, scholars began to distinguish ethnic communities of the Northern Altai from other indigenous peoples of Southern Siberia. V.V. Radlov was the first scholar to describe the Kumandins, Black Tatars (Tubalars), and “Lebedinsky Tatars” (Chelkans). The majority of scholars focused their studies on the Kumandins who were more clearly distinguished from the ethnic point of view. The results of the All-Russian Agricultural Census of1917 indicate the popularity of such designations as “Altaian,” “Tatar, ” “Kumandin,” and “member of ethnic minority” (“inorodets”) among the indigenous population of the Northern Altai. The administrative factor stipulated a clear gradation of ethnic names along the boundaries of municipalities. Changes in the definitions ofthe Kumandins, Tubalars, and Chelkans in the 20th - early 21st century are described. These ethnic names survived in all Soviet censuses. In the 1990s -2000s, the Kumandins, Tubalars, and Chelkans were recognized as indigenous minorities; they received state guarantees on protection of their culture and living environment. In 2010, the most extensive list of ethnicities in the entire history of statistical observations in Russia was proposed. New ethnic identities of the Altaian Kumandins, Altaian Tubalars and Altaian Chelkans emerged from social and political processes in the region. In scholarly studies, the Kumandins, Tubalars, and Chelkans began to be identified again as independent ethnicities. The identity of the Kumandins, Tubalars and Chelkans changed under the influence of political decisions, adoption of laws, and administrative practices, while scholars followed political decisions.