Contemporary Youth Identity in the Republic of Tuva, Russia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2017.3.3Keywords:
youth; youth of Tuva; Tuva; Tuvan culture; ethnic identity; Tuvan languageAbstract
Youth of ethnic Tuvan heritage within the Tuvan Republic (part of the Russian Federation) aged 6 to 24 represent a dynamic force which has been shaped by two factors. One is the ancient Turkic heritage of Tuvan culture. Contemporary Tuvans, including youth, display both Russian and Tuvan nationalist feelings, admire martial culture and explore their cultural uniqueness. They hold in high esteem contact sports, especially martial arts such as sambo or judo. Tuvan athletes successfully compete for Russia at international events, including the Olympics. The current Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation is half-Tuvan and extremely popular in the republic, where people see him as nothing short of a national hero.
At the same time, young multi-lingual Tuvans, who also speak Russian, and, with access to foreign language education, Korean and English, are being influenced by mediums and through technologies that are international like never before. A special focus is made on the impact of East Asian pop-culture, specifically that of South Korea. Tuva is located in Asia’s geographical center, and is a place where for many centuries Tibetan Buddhism coexisted with Shamanism. Thus, Tuvans strongly identify themselves with Asian culture. They tend to believe in metempsychosis and often tell those who take interest in Tuvan culture that they were Tuvans in their past lives. In their view, Tuvan language has preserved the features of “original” Turkic. These and many other ideas and beliefs show that historical facts and myths are closely intertwined within Tuvan identity.
Studying and speaking foreign languages helps prioritize the positive outlook in Tuvan youth, who eagerly study both English and Eastern languages.
In working with Tuvan youth, I was able to teach through games and informal conversation. I was able to meet community leaders who use language to foster lasting change in children’s perception of themselves, as an attempt to spread culture globally and to increase opportunities for the future of Tuvan youth. All my field work was conducted through informal interviews with students through VK messaging and in person during Access Summer Camp of June 2015 and a language study abroad trip to South Korea in July 2015.
References
Bogatye i bednye sem'i — reiting regionov 2016 (2016). RIA Rating. June 1 [online] Available at: http://riarating.ru/infografika/20160601/630023786.html (access date: 05.02.2017). (In Russ.).
Mongush, M. V. (2014) Evoliutsiia shamanskoi traditsii v Respublike Tuva. Kul'turologicheskii zhurnal, no. 1 (15) [online] Available at: http://www.cr-journal.ru/rus/journals/247.html&j_id=18 (access date: 05.02.2017). (In Russ.).
Valovyi regional'nyi produkt na dushu naseleniia po sub"ektam Rossiiskoi Federatsii v 1998–2015 gg. Federal'naia sluzhba gosudarstvennoi statistiki [online] Available at: http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/vvp/dusha98-15.xlsx (access date: 05.02.2017). (In Russ.).
Tuvinskie sportsmeny v chisle pobeditelei Pervenstva Rossii po dziudo (2016). TuvaOnline, April 14 [online] Available at: http://www.tuvaonline.ru/2016/04/14/tuvinskie-sportsmeny-v-chisle-pobediteley-pervenstva-rossii-po-dzyudo.html (access date: 05.02.2017). (In Russ.).
Chambal-ool, A. (2016) Artas uzhe probilsia v Rio. Tuvinskaia Pravda, January 28 [online] Available at: http://tuvapravda.ru/?q=content/artas-uzhe-probilsya-v-rio (access date: 05.02.2017). (In Russ.).
Chichkin, A. (2009) Tuva: neizvestnaia voina. Zabytyi soiuznik SSSR vo Vtoroi mirovoi. Rossiiskaia gazeta, May 6 [online] Available at: https://rg.ru/2009/05/06/tyva.html (access date: 05.02.2017). (In Russ.).
Abaev, N. (2012) Are Tuvans of Todzha direct descendants of Jochi? / transl. by Heda Jindrak. Tuva.Asia, September 17 [online] Available at: https://en.tuva.asia/241-are-tuvans-of-todzha-direct-descendants-of-jochi.html (access date: 05.02.2017).
Gertcyk, O. (2016) Focus on Tuva: Stunning Treasures – and macabre slaughter – In Siberia’s Valley of the Kings. Siberian Times, February 11 [online] Available at: http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/f0212-focus-on-tuva-stunning-treasures-and-macabre-slaughter-in-siberias-prehistoric-valley-of-the-kings/ (access date: 05.02.2017).
Sarangerel (2014) The Tuvan Legend of Genghis Khan, Using the Xinjing Tuvans as an Example. Ethnological Studies: Oirat People Cultural Uniformity and Diversification, no. 86, pp. 215–221.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Author Biography
Katherine Zeahan Leung, Independent author
Independent scholar, USA. Recipient of 2014-2015 Fulbright Teaching Assistantship Grant and Fulbright Critical Language Enhancement Award.
Bachelor of arts in Russian Language and Culture from the University of Texas at Austin 2014. Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the University of Texas at Austin 2014. Presented "Tuvan Youth Identity Identity Formation" working draft at Association for the Study of Nationalities conference at Columbia University May 4-6, 2017.
E-mail: leungk@utexas.edu
Author(s) license holder(s) grant rights for their work to the journal (grantee of a license) under the simple non-exclusive open license in accordance with Art. 1286.1 «Open license for a research work, work of literature or fine arts», Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
New Research of Tuva publishes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (CC BY-NC).
Since it is an open license, author(s) reserve the right to upload the article to their institutional repository, submit it to another journal (if it allows republications), or republish it on their own website (in full, or in part).
However, several conditions apply here:
a) The republished version must always contain the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s), the original title and the hyperlink to the original version on the New Research of Tuva website;
b) It must be in open access, free of charge, and no category of readers must be in any way whatsoever advantaged over general readership.
c) should the contribution be submitted elsewhere by its author(s) without substantial modification (30% or more of original text unchanged), the body of the article should contain a disclaimer that the original version was published in New Research of Tuva (with a link to the respective page)
The CC-BY-NC is a non-revocable license which applies worldwide and lasts for the duration of the work’s copyright.
