Этническая культура (Dec 2019)

Preservation of the Chuvash Ethnic Culture in the Conditions of the Moscow Region Diaspora Group

  • Marina V. Kutsaeva

DOI
https://doi.org/10.31483/r-64078
Journal volume & issue
no. 1 (1)
pp. 27 – 39

Abstract

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The article deals with the problem of preservation of Chuvash ethnic culture in the conditions of diaspora. The purpose of the article is to determine the prospects of preserving the ethnic culture of the members of the Chuvash diaspora in the framework of integration processes in the multicultural environment of the Moscow region. Methods. The author of the article conducted a sociolinguistic survey in the Chuvash diaspora of the Moscow region; the selective sampling included 100 respondents (85 respondents belong to the first generation of the Chuvash diaspora, 15 – to the second). One of the aspects of the survey was to study the respondents’ language loyalty, which indirectly manifests itself in in the knowledge and observance of ethnic traditions and customs. The respondents were asked questions concerning the criteria of their belonging to the Chuvash ethnic group, observance of national traditions and customs, features of the Chuvash ethnic culture, intergenerational transmission of ethnic culture. Based on their answers, tables on age cohorts for representatives of both generations were compiled. Results. More than half of the respondents in the sampling in the first generation (55%) observe Chuvash traditions and holidays, especially representatives of younger and middle cohorts; in the second generation, ethnic culture is somewhat fading (27%). More than half of the respondents in the first generation (58.6%) intend to transmit knowledge about their ethnic culture to children. Women in the sampling rather tend to transmit material culture, while men spiritual one. The author concludes that, despite the fact that living far from the small homeland affects the preservation of ethnic culture, however, at present, in the conditions of polycultural urban environment, the diaspora is the most demanded form of social adaptation, especially among the younger generation, among whom many demonstrate an active life position and involvement in the process of preserving Chuvash ethnic culture in the Moscow region.

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