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Over a period of 70 years, the lifestyles and belief systems of indigenous Siberian peoples were transformed by Soviet policy, based on the idea of assimilation and homogenisation of the peoples in its territory, in compliance with the idea of a 'people's friendship'. The fall of the Soviet Union has given people the opportunity to rebuild their identity, as well as to provide a means of cultural revival for each ethnic community. The case study of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in northern Siberia shows a new relationship, already started during perestroika and developing between the Russian Federation and its peoples. This relationship favours the development of each people's culture within the broader context of their integration into Russian society. The issue of the instrumentalisation of indigenous peoples' cultural and religious heritage is part of a broader picture of a global affirmation of peoples' indigenousness. The identification of ethnic Sakha (Yakuts) with other northern peoples is a means of entering the international political arena, pushing far away the geopolitical and cultural boundaries imposed by the Russian Federation and highlighting the idea of a circumpolar civilisation.

L’ethnographie des Iakoutes, éleveurs de chevaux et de vaches au nord-est de la Sibérie, témoigne d’un système complexe de mise en parallèle de la communauté humaine et des espèces animales, en grande partie basé sur un rapprochement de l'homme avec le cheval. Cet animal constitue une figure transversale, support identificatoire pour divers âges et genres. Il se situe à la frontière entre le monde sauvage et la sphère domestique, comme le montre l'analyse de la figure du chamane, qui entretient une relation particulière avec les animaux de la taïga.

Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines 49 | 2018 Human-environment relationships in Siberia and Northeast China. Knowledge, rituals, mobility and politics among the Tungus peoples, followed by Varia

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