Ethnicity and Regional Self-Identity of Young People in the Euro-Arctic Periphery of Russia (The Case of Arkhangel´sk Oblast)

Abstract:This article describes the current content and components of ethnic, civil, and regional (self)identification among inhabitants of Arkhangel´sk oblast, one of the most ethnically homogenous provinces of Russia, with a population that is as much as 93 percent ethnic Russians. Despite its rather peripheral position within the Russian Federation, the oblast is among the areas that have been assigned a key role in the formulation of Russian Arctic Policy. The article compares the results of the author's recent (2021) sociological survey with those of several studies on ethnicity, ethnic tensions, and tolerance performed in 2003–16. The comparison confirms that ethnic identity is less and less an issue of concern for the region's youth. Furthermore, the notion of "Russian" is becoming increasingly de-ethnicized: where it formerly referred to ethnic Russians only, it now applies to the wider group of those "who speak Russian," "who do something good for the state/country," "for whom Russian language and culture are native independently of his/her ethnicity" or even to any citizen or resident of Russia. This shift corresponds neatly to the definition of the "state-forming people" as given in the new Russian Constitution adopted in 2020. The "transitional" and "post-soviet" generations of Russian citizens who are poised to take over key positions in the state administration, politics, and business during the next decade seem to be mentally prepared to accept this definition. The study also confirms a very low level of ethnic tension in Arkhangel´sk oblast. Moreover, the results suggest that the "Pomor Renaissance Project," the regional initiative of the early 2000s that sought to get the "Pomor people" accepted as a separate ethnos with the legal status of the Small Aboriginal People of the North, has lost its appeal for the region's youth. Most young people believe that Pomors are in fact ethnic Russians; furthermore, for them the word "Pomor´e" (the land of the Pomors) lacks an ethnic connotation, referring rather to Arkhangel´sk oblast as a whole or to the area adjacent to the White Sea. At the same time, the region's youth often assess negatively the state of the regional economy and social sphere as well as the level of security and the state of the job market. These negative assessments correspond to the readiness of young people to migrate to other provinces. This poses a threat to the human potential and sustainability of Arkhangel´sk oblast as a stronghold of the Russian Arctic Zone.