Transformations of ethnic identity in descendants of Belarusian peasants-migrants in Siberia and the Far East

The aim of the article consists in the research of transformations of ethnic identity in descendants of Belarusian peasants-migrants of Siberia and the Far East. The source basis of the research includes field data collected by the author in ethnographic expeditions on the territory of 12 regions of Siberia and the Far East during the period from 2009 to 2017, the national structure of the explored regions reflected in population censuses from 1897 to 2010 and also publications about local history of different years. Results of the research indicate that at the time of mass agrarian migrations of the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries the ethnic identity of most Belarusians was not created yet. Due to the internal nature of migrations, peasants identified their homeland with Russia. Their identity had regional rather than ethnic differentiation. In Siberia Belarusian migrants began to live near the Russian old resident population and received a new social and cultural status which found reflection in the wide use of the name "samokhod" (lit. "self-movers"). After the establishment of the Soviet power, administrative and political factors initiated the process of belarusization. Results of the All-Union population census of 1926 showed that most migrants already identified themselves with Belarusians. In the 1930s-1940s the socio-political and economic factors of collectivization and industrialization as well as the consequences of World War II led to serious demographic changes in places of compact accommodation of Belarusian peasants-migrants. As a result of urbanization and modernization of the way of life of the Soviet village in the second half of the 20th century, most descendants of Belarusian peasants-migrants began to identify themselves with Russians or just did not think about their ethnic origin. Since the 1990s, the author observes a growth of interest of professional researchers and amateur enthusiasts in the history and traditional culture of Belarusian peasants-migrants as in historical and cultural heritage. On this background, the Bela-rusian ethnic identity begins to develop again among people who are interested in traditions of their ancestors. Today, mediated information dominates in its formation rather than intergenerational historical memory. The author comes to a conclusion that during different periods of time a number of demographic, political, social and cultural factors had impact on features of ethnic identity of descendants of Belarusian peasants-migrants. Therefore, today it is considered more suitable to use the concept "descendants of Bela-rusian peasants-migrants" rather than the ethnonym "Belarusian" when referring to offsprings of people who moved from Belarus to Siberia and the Far East in the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries.

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