Ethnocultural Projections of Nanai Identity: The Use of Symbols of Ancestral Belonging

Abstract

conversations with respondents, during the author’s work at ethnic cultural centers, and at several ethnographic museums, and the museums of local history organized by the Nanai peoples of Khabarovsk region who live in Troitskoe, Naikhin, Daerga, Low Manoma, Sikachi-Alan, Low Tambovka, and Kondon villages. The study draws on the following theoretical concepts: 1) the concept of ethno-cultural heritage as a worldview basis of identity, 2) the notion of ethno-cultural projections, and 3) the idea that a person can transfer real or mythical events to the present in order to strengthen the authority of their clan or ethnos.