Verbal culture of the Nanai people in museum semantic space

This article discusses a mental dimension revealed by material cultural heritage of the Nanai people in the context of semantic space of their village museums. Ethnographic studies of1998-2014 in Khabarovsk Krai revealed that logical and conceptual apparatus as well as cultural codes of the Nanai fishermen are reflected in selection of objects for museum exhibitions. Their subject matter wellfits the parameters ofverbal culture typical of all non-literatefishing and hunting communities. Its main criterion is structuring information based on development of spatial memory. Objects play several roles in this cultural paradigm, serving as mnemonic devices which help people remember events and navigate in space, keeping information about their owners, and acting as means of communication between a person and the outside world. The practice of organizing village museums, which originated in the Soviet period, resulted in the loss of significance for a number of objects common to the Nanai people. Their use as museum items entailed the loss of their economic, cultural, and social context which gives functionality to things in traditional cultures. Over time, the museum room filled with various types of objects acquired the status of a cultural mini-space, the content of which reflected the changes in the Nanai society. The most striking indicator manifesting the transformation of ideological constructs was the attitude towards shamanic paraphernalia ranging from the ban on exhibitions of ritual complexes to their return to museum space, endowing it with mystical connotation. Currently, museum collections serve as visual educational aids helping students of ethnic schools to study the Nanai language and culture. In rural museums, archaeological artifacts and written sources complement ethnographic collections and expand the boundaries for understanding the Nanai culture. Interpretation of this material creates the foundation for a new mythology, in which distant historical past and myth of the three suns become woven into the legendary history of the Nanai people.