Alekseev-Apraksin, A. (2024) Altai-Kizhi, the Oirats of the Altai Mountains – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Anatoliy M. ALEKSEEV-APRAKSIN
Saint Petersburg State University
7-9, Universitetskaya embankment, Saint Petersburg, 199034 Russian Federation
Professor of Department of Russian Philosophy and Culture
Shuya branch of Ivanovo State University
24, Kooperativnaya st, Shuya, 155908 Russian Federation
Professor of Department of Cultural Studies and Fine Arts
Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov
11, Pushkina st., Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, 358000 Russian Federation
Visiting Researcher
Doctor of Science (in Cultural Studies)
e-mail: a.alekseev-apraksin@spbu.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-5009-1110

Alekseev-Apraksin, A. (2024) Altai-Kizhi, the Oirats of the Altai Mountains

Abstract: This article studies the Altai-Kizhi people who define themselves as the Oirots. Studying this most representative part of the autochthonous inhabitants of the Altai Mountains is an important academic task. It also offers a solution to the problem of the Altai people's self-identity. The author suggests that the search for answers to existing questions should be carried out not through a distinguishing method of identifying specifics of ethnic practices and clans’ local ways of life but by considering the Altai-Kizhi as a part of the larger community of Oirat (in the Turkic vocalization, Oirot). The first written mentions thereof are contained in the Secret History of the Mongols (13th century). The Oirats had already formed a community before being mentioned in the chronicle. Modern ethnosophy traces early Elets back to the ancient Eloji people and attributes the beginning of the Oirat ethnogenesis to the middle of the first millennium BC. However, the general history of the Oirats is long enouph even without this ancientization. On the wave of the passionate upsurge in the 17th century, a part of the Oirats migrated to the Caspian steppes and created the Kalmyk Khanate. Another part moved to the Lake Kukunor in Eastern Tibet and formed the Khoshut Khanate. People who stayed in the area formed the basis of the Dzungar Khanate. In the course of further historical development, these khanates fell, and the ties between the peoples were broken. Large and small groups of Oirats, whose total number today is about a million people, settled in different regions, mainly in Russia, Mongolia, and China. Research shows that Altai-Kizhi, Kalmyks, Western Mongols, and other Oirats, having survived various historical trials and speaking different languages, retain many common cultural features. Reconstruction of their common history and application of comparative methods of studying mythology, folklore, and traditions opens up the possibility of filling existing gaps in the cultural memory of each of the Oirat peoples. According to the author, a natural basis for the further development of the Oirats can be formed by establishing interactions between the Altai-Kizhi and their fellow tribesmen scattered over thousands of kilometers, for they managed to preserve certain parts of their common and quite rich cultural heritage.

Key words: Altai-Kizhi, Oirats, Oirots, Dzungarian Khanate, Torgut Khanate, Khoshut Khanate, buddhism, nomadism, identity.

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For Citation:

Alekseev-Apraksin, A. (2024) Altai-Kizhi, the Oirats of the Altai Mountains. International Journal of Cultural Research, 3 (56). 95–112. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2024_3_95

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2024_3_95