| This dissertation examines the relationship between the Soviet-Russian governments and the Northwest Siberian indigenous peoples, the Khanty, Mansi and lamalo-Nenets, from the Imperial Russian period to the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the intensive oil and gas development implemented by Khrushchev and to the present. At the core of this analysis is the determination of how the Soviet-Russian policies of industrial and resource development in Northwest Siberia has effected the cultures, languages, traditions and social organizations of the Khanty, the Mansi and the Iamalo-Nenets. Intertwined with the oil and gas development is its impact on the environment and, subsequently, the effects on the way of life of these indigenous peoples.;This dissertation is supported by primary and secondary sources, relying on community-based interviews and surveys in several aboriginal communities in Northwest Siberia.;I conclude by analyzing the processes by which Northwest Siberian indigenous peoples, specifically the Khanty, Mansi and Iamalo-Nenets have organized and mobilized to improve their position within a Russian dominated society and polity, thus becoming politicized. I argue that indigenous peoples of Northwest Siberia root their politicization in their remembered and re-invented, traditions, language and culture. |
