Abstract

SUMMARY:

The article by Olga Khristoforova discusses the modern nationalistic movement in the Mari El Republic, and in particular neo-paganism as its ideological basis. The author examines anthropological documentaries on the Mari produced in different settings (TV stations, a museum, and a technical school and university). Khristoforova analyzes how the authors of these films envisage the future of the Mari people, and comes to the conclusion that for some representatives of the ethnic elite this imaginary future looks like the idealized historical past. This discussion is linked to a lager problem of nationalist movements in the Volga region.

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