The research legacy on aboriginal peoples of Narym krai of Macarius (Nevski) (1835-1926): to theoretical approaches problem

The researchers note a high actuality and significance of works that contain information about the traditional culture (of the second half of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century) of North-West Siberian non-literate indigenous peoples. We can find plenty of such data in the records of orthodox missionaries, which are largely ignored by the recent Russian historiography of the problem. Among them are published records of Makarius (Nevsky) (1835-1926) on the indigenous peoples of Narym krai. Meanwhile we encounter foreign scholars' references to his records in the Samoyedology sphere since the 1920s. Foreign historiography shows interest in his works. At that point, linguistic materials are evaluated as relatively high-quality. H. Katz associates their high quality with the previous experience of Makarius (Nevsky's) studies in the field of Turkic languages. He was really a missionary of the Altai ecclesiastical mission whose scientific and translation activities in Turkic sphere is well known to the present Russian scholarship. But it was not born from the scratch. The researchers noted the links between Altai missionaries and A.K. Kazembek (1802-1870), N.I. Ilminsky (1822-1891) belonging to the Russian tradition of Oriental studies. The emergence and development of the tradition was in Kazan in the period from 1807 to 1855. At the same time Kazan became a Russian centre of the Orthodox missionary (usually since 1842, when the Kazan ecclesiastical academy was revived with missionary goals). Scientific Oriental studies advances within the area of Turkic languages, especially in the syntax, opened the way to begin translations into the North West Siberian peoples languages, which attempts had been ineffective before. N.I. Ilminsky theoretically rethought the scientific achievements of Russian Oriental studies researchers to solve the issues of the Russian missionary work. He succeeded in the creation of the inorodets translation system that had proven to be effective for practical translation into unwritten Siberian aboriginal languages. There are following principal characteristics of this system: the translation into people's everyday ordinary language, the adherence to etymology and syntax of the popular style of speaking, the distinguishing of perceptual features of every people (pragmatics). In each concrete case the translation was not only to convey a formal sense, but to produce the perception corresponding to the one produced by the original. The system of N.I. Ilminsky included a gradual plan for the creation of a collection of books in aboriginal languages: from account of the events of the Holy Scripture to spiritual and moral and dogmatic teaching literature. A starting point for consistent account of the most important Biblical events was to be a proper indigene's worldview. On the whole, they should have known the religious life of people, everyday life, family and social relationships, their most important aspects as viewed by the people, perceptual psychology and national character. They recorded data as accurately as possible. Thus, published works of Makarius (Nevsky), though not very large, are valuable not only as eyewitness reports but also as research papers. The research value of his works lies in the fact that orthodox missionary work of the 19th century objectively involved the problem of creating writing systems for non-literate cultures of North-West Siberian peoples whose languages are radically different from European. The solution of this problem became feasible through the achievements of the Russian oriental studies school which included Kazan missionary reformers. The papers of Makarius (Nevsky) are based on the theoretical approaches of Makarius (Gluharev), N.I. Ilminsky and his more than thirty years' personal experience among Turkic peoples. The latter fact gave opportunities to use the comparative-historical method widely. For the first time the missionary paid attention to the study of the religious life and linguistics, the most important aspects of everyday life of aboriginal peoples of Narym krai. He mentioned Khanty (Vasyugan), Selkup (Ob, Tym, Ket). His published materials include separate information on such relevant subjects of Russian his-tonography as shamanism, folklore, counting, naming ceremony, family relations, kinship terminology, calendar system and so on. Their special value is accentuated by linguistics data.

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