18.12.2025
Knowledge about culture today is not a mere reference or formality, but a working tool for preserving identity and fostering mutual understanding in a multinational country.
The Interactive Atlas of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East has become a large-scale online project that has united the efforts of scientific, educational, and public organizations. One of its contributors was the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the RAS, primarily its Department of the North and Siberia. As noted by Elena Pivneva, Head of the Department of the North and Siberia at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the RAS, the Atlas texts are based on the foundation of many years of research conducted by several generations of Russian ethnographers. One of the key stages of this work was the Northern Expedition of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology that had begun in the mid-1950s. Despite their applied orientation, the expeditions also had immense scholarly significance. During the fieldwork, a vast body of materials was collected on the traditional cultures of northern peoples.
Speaking about the history of studying the peoples of the North, Elena Pivneva recalled the contributions of leading Russian ethnographers. Among them were the first head of the department, Boris Dolgikh, who led the unit from 1955 to 1965; Ilya Gurvich; and Zoya Sokolova, under whom research gained new momentum during the period of perestroika and the active inclusion of representatives of the small-numbered peoples in scholarly dialogue. Special mention deserves Yuri Simchenko, a prominent representative of Soviet ethnography, an Honorary Polar Explorer, and the initiator of the “Peoples and Cultures” series, which remains one of the key sources of knowledge for work on the atlas today.
Within the project, the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the RAS, together with colleagues from the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, was responsible for the historical and ethnographic component of the resource. Researchers prepared texts on the culture and history of northern peoples, selected photo and video materials, and collected reference information about institutions, scholars, and notable representatives of indigenous communities.
According to Elena Pivneva, the Atlas can rightfully be called a multifunctional resource, from education to public administration.
In addition, the Atlas materials are of particular importance for the small-numbered peoples of the North themselves, who today actively turn to scholarly sources in search of foundations for preserving and rethinking their identity.
