Buddhist Cossacks: The Transformation of Traditional Culture in Modern Conditions

Альманах
Key words
Modern Cossackdom, revival of traditional culture, Buryat, Buddhist Cossacks, national policy
Author
Adrianna R. Margoeva
About the Author
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9816-2758
E-mail: margoeva.adrianna@gmail.com Tel.: +7 (495) 250-61-02
6–2, Miusskaya sq., Moscow, 125047, Russian Federation
Analyst, Teaching Scientific Center of Social Anthropology, Russian State University for the Humanities
Received
Date of publication
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26158/TK.2022.23.4.009
Acknowledgements

This article was prepared within the framework of the project “The Role of the Ethnic Factor in Ensuring the National Security of the Russian Federation and the Socio-Economic Development of the Border Territories of Siberia and the Far East” (part of the fundamental and applied scholarly research program “The Ethnocultural Diversity of Russian Society and Strengthening of All-Russian Identity,” 2020–2022).

Body

The history of Buryat Cossacks traces back to the seventeenth century, and Buddhism always played a paramount role in its development. Against the background of the revival of the predominantly Russian Cossack heritage in the twentieth — twenty-first centuries the heritage of the Buryat Cossacks is under-researched, despite the fact that there is a similar process of renewal among Buryat Cossacks. Although the Cossack identity almost ceased to exist in the 1920s and 1930s, this group of Buryats continued to pass on Cossack culture within the family. This culture is not material, but spiritual, centered in the desire to serve the state and protect its integrity. However, today Buryats prefer to serve in official state structures rather than associate themselves with the Cossack movement. The interest in reviving traditional Cossack songs and dances do not make hereditary Buryat Cossacks want to join Cossack societies. Nevertheless, despite certain difficulties, they do strive to defend their right to be called true Cossacks.

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For citation

Margoeva A. R. Buddhist Cossacks: The Transformation of Traditional Culture in Modern Conditions. Traditional Culture. 2022. Vol. 23. No. 4. Pp. 101–110. In Russian.