ETHNOGRAPHIC EXPEDITION OF THE UDMURT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE (EE OF THE USRI - 70)

The article is devoted to the initial stage of the author’s research activities in Udmurtia, namely arranging and holding the first ethnographic expedition of the Udmurt Scientific Research Institute under the Council of Ministers of the UASSR (EE of the USRI - 1970). The expedition’s goal was to confirm (to clarify or to deny) traditional opinion of pre-revolutionary time about strong russification of the northern Udmurts in comparison to the southern groups. It turned out that this opinion is highly exaggerated since northern Udmurts had preserved a lot of original local cultural features which had been lost among other neighboring ethnic groups, whereas the Russian impact, as well as the Turkic one, happened far earlier. Special attention was paid on Besermyans - an enigmatic people dwelling among the northern Udmurts for a number of centuries but preserving the features of the southern Udmurt speech. Later observations of the Besermyan household and culture were summarized in my article; I made an assumption about their ethnogenesis. In spite of a great number of today’s scientific ideas, the Besermyans’ ethnogenesis, in my opinion, still remains hypothetic.