Work on the project of Digitalization of the Linguistic and Cultural Heritage of Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic in the Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenets Municipal District

The UNESCO Chair of the North-Eastern Federal University being the main executor of the project “Digitalization of the linguistic and cultural heritage of small indigenous peoples of the Arctic” annually organizes expeditions to places of compact residence of indigenous minorities of the North. The relevance of the project is dictated by the need to preserve native languages in the context of globalization. The problems of preserving and developing native languages and the unique culture of small indigenous minorities of the North are an important component of our country's state policy.

On September 30 - October 7, information collection activities were carried out in Dudinka, Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenets Municipal District, Krasnoyarsk Krai. To replenish the collection of video materials about the linguistic and cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of Taymyr three members of the UNESCO Chair of the North-Eastern Federal University were sent from 30.10.23 to 07.10.23.

Work was carried out with 23 informants. Recordings were made at the Taymyr House of Folk Art, Taymyr College, and Uokhtala clan community. Agreement was established with the City Folk Art Center and the Taimyr Museum of Local Lore, and the museum's expositions and exhibition collections were recorded.

The recorded informants are representatives of the Nenets, Nganasan, Dolgan, Even and Enets peoples of the Taymir.

During the period of expeditionary work the department staff collected materials:

1. About the traditional life of Nenets, the informants' family, their life in nomadic conditions, about the current state of the Nenets language, about Nenets clothing, traditional toys, recorded folk tales and legends, about rituals from informants Yaptuney Rosa Yankovna, Savicheva Elena Nikolayevna, Yaptuney Raisa Pekhedomovna, Yarotskaya Anna Pavlovna; also Yaptuney Sergey Vasilievich told about the state of reindeer breeding and the impact of climate change, Evai Elena Kumivna told about the Nenets family club “Mai'ma”.
   
   
2. Svetlana Sygakovna Aksenov, Alexey Nikolaevich Chunanchar, Evgenia Chebyakovna Sidelnikova, Lidia Kundyleevna Aksyonova told about the origin of Nganasan people, traditional way of life, present situation of the people, the state of language, traditional clothes, kind of informants, folklore.
   
3. Dolgan songs, traditional dwelling, traditional clothes, some sacral places, customs, rituals, fairy tales and legends, proverbs, state of language, traditional food, bone-carving art were recorded from Roganina Evgeniya Innokentyevna, Stolypina Lyubov Aleksandrovna, Barbolina Anna Alekseevna, Siguney Svetlana Mikhailovna, Batagai Vasily Ivanovich, Kirgizov Nikolai Mikhailovich, Kirgizov Nikolai Olegovich, Chuprin Dimitry Vasilievich.
   
4. Bolina Zoya Nikolaevna, Bolin Peter Nikolaevich, Saktobergenova Anna Ivanovna enlightened about their clan, the state of Enets language, personal memories from the traditional way of life, religious outlook, rituals, traditions, clothing, traditional crafts, fairy tales and legends.
   
5. Yarotskaya Nina Gennadyevna and Konstantinova Evdokiya Vasilyevna told about the peculiarities of the Taimyr Evenks, personal memories and experiences of the traditional way of life, about the language of Evenki dance, about traditional clothing, about the actualization of the native language, they also performed Evenki songs.

Also, the following activities were organized and carried out within the framework of the business trip:

1. Meeting with staff and students of the Taymyr College and presentation of the Arctic Council project “Digitalization of the Linguistic and Cultural Heritage of Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic”. A.V. Zhozhikov and A.N. Konstantinova spoke about the project.
   
2. Meeting conducted by A.V. Zhozhikov with native language teachers from the Taimyr College and secondary schools in Dudinka. Discussed issues of participation in the implementation of the digitalization project.
   
3. Participation in the V International Conference “Synergy of Languages and Cultures: Interdisciplinary Studies”, which was held at St. Petersburg State University on October 5, 2023, in the section “Peoples of the Arctic: Modern Sociolinguistic Space”, where Zhozhikov A.V. delivered a report “Linguistic and Cultural Diversity of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East in the Global Internet”. The conference was connected to the Taymyr College, as a result of which the staff and students of the college were able to listen to the reports of the conference.
   
4. A cooperation agreement was officially signed between Taymyr College and the UNESCO Chair of the M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University on the Arctic Council project “Digitalization of the Linguistic and Cultural Heritage of Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic”.

Thus, in the course of the business trip, considerable material was collected, which will be added to the content of the Arctic multilingual portal www.arctic-megapedia.com where all forty indigenous minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation are represented in one or another way or another in eleven sections.