Country: Russia

Group: Nenets

Date Finalized: 04/06/2022

Name : Alicia Hernandez (lead), Hannah Goldman , Anusha Natarajan, Jacob Kebe

Content Warning: n/a

Approximate Time Period: The beginning of the 20th century- Present time

The Nenets are a small ethnic group in Northern Russia. According to the 2010 census there are 44,640 Nenets in Russia (Minority Rights Group, 2015). The majority of the Nenets population resides in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and they have traditionally lived by reindeer herding (Minority Rights Group, 2015; Degteva & Nellemann, 2013).

Russia took control of the Nenets territory in the 16th century and has taken a number of actions leading to ethnocide among the Nenets. In the 20th century, the Soviet Union attacked the Nenets shamanism religion (Minority Rights Group, 2015) and forced Nenets children to attend government schools where they couldn’t use their religion and language (Degteva & Nellemann, 2013).

Finally, government exploitation the Yamal region where many Nenet reside has threatened their nomadic lifestyle and livelihood, as mining, oil drilling and pollution have disrupted Nenets migration routes (Minority Rights Group, 2015; Tuisku, 2002; Degteva & Nellemann, 2013). This has led to 13,000 Nenets relocating because of the damage and impact on their lives and environment (Minority Rights Group,  2015).

Data Quality: This data includes specific examples and reasoning that supports ethnocide within the Nenets from reliable sources and therefore, the data quality is a rating of three out of three.

Sources

  1. Degteva, A., & Nellemann, C. (2013). Nenets migration in the landscape: Impacts of industrial development in Yamal peninsula, Russia. Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice, 3(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/2041-7136-3-15
  2. Minority Rights Group. Nenets. (2015, June 19). https://minorityrights.org/minorities/nenets/
  3. New World Encyclopedia . Nenets. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nenets#:~:text=Communism%20in%20the,to%20the%20next
  4. BBC (n.d.).  Tribe – Nenets. BBC. Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/tribes/nenets/
  5. Tuisku, T. (2002). Nenets Reindeer Herding and Industrial Exploitation in Northwest Russia. Human Organization, 61(2), 147–153.