Vol. 8 · No. 1 · 2004

Peter Jordan

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Introduction
This paper is about the Siberian Khanty, their land and culture, and the long-term potentials for their ethnic survival. The Khanty — along with other mobile indigenous peoples of Western Siberia — have long been under intense assimilation pressures, which have included centuries of direct political subjugation, forceful inclusion into state economic structures, imposition of Russian language boarding schools and repeated assaults on traditional religion. Despite these challenges, many Khanty communities continued to maintain their own unique cultural traditions by remaining out in the remote forests. In recent years rapid oil development has resulted in massive environmental devastation in these remaining Khanty homelands, threatening the long-term cultural survival of these nomadic communities.