All-Male Warrior Dances and Men's Groups Coping with the Decline of Manhood and Immigration in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

Abstract

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, much of social research on contemporary Russia focused on transformations of gender relations brought about by the closure of many state enterprises. In particular, scholars posited that men were experiencing severe insecurity about their gender identity, which they termed a “post-Soviet masculinity crisis.” However, little research has since been carried out to catch up with these findings. How have men's experiences of gender insecurity developed? How have they responded? This article addresses these questions drawing on newly active Sakha (Yakut) men's groups and shows how they are also arising and forming their consciousness in reaction to the immigration of male Muslim workers from Central Asia.