The Tenacity of Ethnicity

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Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer combines extensive field research with historical inquiry to provide a dramatic study of the Khanty (Ostiak) of Northwest Siberia, a minority people in Russia. While indigenous peoples have often been victims of expansionist state-building, Balzer illustrates how acquiring ethnic identity can transcend victimhood. She highlights Khanty perspectives on their history and current life, showcasing various levels of cultural activism and arguing that anthropological theory should be informed by indigenous insights to support these communities. Balzer chronicles the Khanty saga over centuries, analyzing trends in Siberian ethnic interactions that have influenced minority colonization, Christianization, revitalization, Sovietization, and regionalization. These processes are intertwined with suprastate and state politics, including the detrimental impacts of the energy industry’s land thefts. Although changes may suggest a decline in indigenous ethnicity, the final chapters reveal how some Khanty have maintained their cultural values and dignity amid crises. Their identity has evolved with the politics of individuals, groups, and generations, shaped by grassroots mobilization, ecological activism, and religious revival, alongside historical memory and loyalty to their homeland. This work sheds new light on debates surrounding colonialism, conversion, revitalization, ethnicity, and nationalism, making it sig