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In the next two decades, the Republic of Sakha will be the scene of ambitious
socio-economic and socio-cultural transformations, which may drastically
change the living conditions of the local indigenous communities. In keeping
with the federal government’s Strategy for Socio-Economic Development
of Russia’s Far East and the Baikal Region through 2025, the gross regional
product is expected to grow 8.5-fold on the year 2005. That growth could be
provided primarily by large mining and transportation projects -- the driving
force behind the republic’s future industrial advancement.
The potential threat to the reproduction and existence of sub-Arctic indigenous
communities is determined by three “waves” in Yakutia’s cultural and economic
development in the years to come:
1) New industrialization, that is, operations in the republic’s territory of large
Russian, foreign and transnational corporations (predominantly companies
involved in mining);
2) Innovative progress, that is, high-tech projects to be launched by the
government and the business community, and the introduction of new
production lines and services relevant to the post-industrial stage;
3) Acculturation on the part of major world players, such as the United States
and the Eurozone countries, who have a strong influence on global media and
the Internet. They will try to impose their culture and value systems on the
indigenous population, making extensive use of postmodernist humanitarian
techniques, aimed at destroying traditional cultures and building a globalist,
consumption-driven society.
In these conditions, the very vitality of the indigenous communities’ traditional
economic patterns and their mechanisms for intergenerational transfer of
cultural heritage and value systems will be put to test.
The related problems include:
• dilution of indigenous communities’ livelihoods against the backdrop
of large-scale development of local natural resources by large
corporations;
• exacerbation of social and environmental problems arising from the
narrower spread of traditional occupations and the impossibility of
the native population’s full-fledged integration into the emerging
industrial and postindustrial realities;
• young people’s loss of ethnic identity and breakaway from their native
culture (including language, communication and conduct patterns,
as well as value systems, under the pressure of mass culture and
consumerism);
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