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The Buryats are a Mongolian population in Siberian Russia, the largest indigenous minority. The Socialist Way of Life in Siberia presents the dramatic transformation in their everyday lives during the late twentieth century. The book challenges the common notion that the process of modernization during the later Soviet period created a Buryat national assertiveness rather than assimilation or support for the state.
List of contents
Notes on Transliteration and Translation, Acknowledgements, Introduction, Modernization and Soviet Success Institutions and the Culture of Progress, Buryat Exceptionalism and Advancement, Outline of Chapters, Chapter 1 The Buryats of Siberia: From Imperial Russia to the Soviet State, The Mongols of Siberia and Russian Expansion, Buddhism in Buryatia, The Buryats and the Imperial Government, Buryat Intellectual and Political Activity, The Civil War and the Competition over Siberia, Autonomy and Korenizatsiia, Conclusion, Chapter 2 Stalinism in Buryatia, Collectivization and the End of Nomadism, Terrorizing and Purging the Buryat Elite, Territorial Changes to Divide the Buryats, Laying the Foundations for a New Culture, Industrial Immigrants, Conclusion, Chapter 3 The New Buryats, The Postwar Buryat Migration, Buryat Professionals, Buryat Women, Political Leadership, Conclusion, Chapter 4 Education for Change, Building Soviet Education in Eastern Siberia, Buryat National Schools Teaching Progress, Patriotism, and the Friendship of Nations, Teachers and Parents, Education and High Culture for Young and Old Alike, Conclusion, Chapter 5 Buryat Literature for a New Society, Producing High Culture Through Literature Geser: The Story of a National Epic Getting It Right: Censorship and Acceptable Narratives, The Decline of Buryat Language, Publishing and Literature, Conclusion, Chapter 6 A Means to Modernity: Newspapers, Radio, and Television, The Local Press in Buryat and Russian, The Development of Broadcast Media Radio and Television Programming, Conclusion, Chapter 7 Reform, But What Kind? Glasnost' and the Buryat National Movement: 1986-89 The Competition Heats Up: 1990 The Buryats and the End of the USSR: 1991, Conclusion, Conclusion, Bibliography.
About the author
Melissa Chakars is Assistant Professor at St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia.
