THE ETHNIC IDENTITY OF YUKAGHIRS OF YAKUTIA IN SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE OF THE XIX – BEG. XXI C.
On the basis of the review of scientific literature and archive materials that also include the material that is being introduced into scientific discourse for the first time, the fundamental principles are presented these principles concerning the questions of ethnic identity of the Yukaghir of Yakutia were elaborated by the members of the important research initiatives in the XIX – beginning of XXI century. In connection to this there has been made an analysis on dynamics of scholars on the status of a number of markers, that include “purity of blood”, the level of proficiency in the native language, distinctness of anthropogenic activities and culture, self-consciousness. The “negative” trend has been predominating through much of the studied period, that was established by the scholars during estimation of the perspectives of the Yukaghir people’s existence in the rapidly changing environment and their preservation of the ethnic distinctness. The accumulated research material on steady degradation of a complex of objective signs which was firstly conditioned by the intense assimilation processes and then by the processes of globalization was the basis for this approach. At the same time, the significant changes were noted in the approaches used by scholars; these changes happened in the last decades and they have been accompanied by the increased attention to the subjective factors in functioning of ethnic identity of the Yukaghir. Moreover, the significant role of scholars’ activities in designing the ethnic selfconsciousness of the modern Yukaghirs is noticed.