Country: Russia

Group: Lezgins

Date Finalized: March 14, 2022

Team: Mason McNeel (lead), Anusha Natarajan, Jacob Kebe, Lauren Poklar

Content Warning: n/a

Approximate Time Period: 1920s – present

The majority of the Russian Lezgin people live in their ancestral homeland of Dagestan, a region near the Russian-Azerbaijan border (Minority Rights Group International, 2020). The Russian government included the Lezgins in the 2010 national census, estimating their population to be 473,722, or about 0.1% of the national population. Throughout the Lezgins’ history in Russia, the government has enacted political initiatives that have challenged the Lezgins to maintain their culture, language, and identity (Minority Rights Group International, 2020; Minorities at Risk Project, 2003). The data quality is evaluated as a 3/3. Many credible sources have detailed the Lezgin experience in Russia.

The Lezgin language is legally recognized but not supported by Russian society. During Soviet control, the government imposed heavy restrictions on the Lezgian education system and only allowed Russian to be taught (Minorities at Risk Project, 2003). Presently, the Russian government has left the Lezgin culture and language unsupported, allowing individuals to be educated in Lezghian, but in reality use of the language is limited to family spheres (Sayfutdinova, 2021; UNPO, 2017).

Sources

  1. British Broadcasting Company (BBC). (2018, January 17). Dagestan profile. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20593383
  2. Minorities at Risk Project. (2003). Assessment for the Lezgins in Russia. RefWorld.org. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.refworld.org/docid/469f3ac8c.html
  3. Minority Rights Group International. (2020). Lezgins. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/lezgins-2/
  4. Sayfutdinova, L. (2021, May 14). Ethnic Boundaries and Territorial Borders: On the Place of Lezgin Irredentism in the Construction of National Identity in Azerbaijan. Cambridge.org. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/ethnic-boundaries-and-territorial-borders-on-the-place-of-lezgin-irredentism-in-the-construction-of-national-identity-in-azerbaijan/DDC998BA8823E50ECE79D8A5835A15BC
  5. Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO). (2017, October). Lezghin. https://unpo.org/members/15284