Urbanisation and the Shifting of Boundaries: Contemporary Transformations in Kinship and Child Circulation amongst the Sakha

• Main Authors: Zoya Tarasova, Elena Khlinovskaya Rockhill, Oktyabrina Tuprina, Vladimir Skryabin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Sakha; Siberia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09668136.2017.1375462

In this article, we outline some of the most salient features of kinship transformations amongst the Sakha of northeastern Siberia, including the creation of new social and symbolic boundaries between individual subgroups and members of extended family groups leading to de-traditionalisation of Sakha kinship practices. We specifically focus on the shifts in people’s views on personhood and children. One of the key mechanisms of maintaining kinship-based economies and relations, ‘child circulation’ is losing its previous value in an urban environment. We suggest that these transformations have become more visible as a result of the mass migration of a traditionally rural population to towns.