The Socialist Way of Life in Siberia: Transformation in Buryatia

Contents

Table of Contents Notes on Transliteration and Translation xi Acknowledgements xiii Introduction 1 Modernization and Soviet Success 3 Institutions and the Culture of Progress 13 Buryat Exceptionalism and Advancement 17 Outline of Chapters 21 CHAPTER 1 The Buryats of Siberia: From Imperial Russia to the Soviet State 25 The Mongols of Siberia and Russian Expansion 26 Buddhism in Buryatia 29 The Buryats and the Imperial Government 32 Buryat Intellectual and Political Activity 41 The Civil War and the Competition over Siberia 46 Autonomy and Korenizatsiia 53 Conclusion 58 CHAPTER 2 Stalinism in Buryatia 61 Collectivization and the End of Nomadism 63 Terrorizing and Purging the Buryat Elite 71 Territorial Changes to Divide the Buryats 76 Laying the Foundations for a New Culture 78 Industrial Immigrants 85 Conclusion 87 viii Table of Contents CHAPTER 3 The New Buryats 89 The Postwar Buryat Migration 91 Buryat Professionals 95 Buryat Women 103 Political Leadership 109 Conclusion 114 CHAPTER 4 Education for Change 117 Building Soviet Education in Eastern Siberia 120 Buryat National Schools 124 Teaching Progress, Patriotism, and the Friendship of Nations 140 Teachers and Parents 147 Education and High Culture for Young and Old Alike 151 Conclusion 156 CHAPTER 5 Buryat Literature for a New Society 159 Producing High Culture Through Literature 160 Geser: The Story of a National Epic 165 Getting It Right: Censorship and Acceptable Narratives 176 The Decline of Buryat Language Publishing and Literature 188 Conclusion 191 CHAPTER 6 A Means to Modernity: Newspapers, Radio, and Television 193 The Local Press in Buryat and Russian 196 The Development of Broadcast Media 211 Radio and Television Programming 218 Conclusion 225 Contents ix CHAPTER 7 Reform, But What Kind? 227 Glasnost’ and the Buryat National Movement: 1986–89 231 The Competition Heats Up: 1990 241 The Buryats and the End of the USSR: 1991 252 Conclusion 258 Conclusion 261 Bibliography 273 Index 291 ...