Photo: Marko Junttila.
In her doctoral dissertation Karolina Sikora examines how the Indigenous Izhma Komi people perceive and engage with diverse forms of cultural heritage, such as folklore, and reindeer herding, that are governed by formal and informal normative systems. Sikora explores states laws, alongside customary norms, tacit agreements, and ad hoc practical solutions that have developed among the Izhma Komi population, particularly in the Komi Republic. The research draws on anthropological field methods, including semi-structured interviews and participant observations.
The Izhma Komi people are a Finno-Ugric ethnic group who inhabit the northwestern European part of Russia. Although they speak a distinct dialect and practice nature-based traditional livelihoods, Russian federal law does not recognise them as part of Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East, placing them in a legal grey zone.
Karolina Sikora argues, that freedom from codified laws can offer advantages in people’s daily life. Indigenous small-numbered peoples framework should not be understood as the equivalent of Indigenous rights in the West. It is not just a legal category – but also an identity category which advantages are too easily taken for granted.
“Interlocutors often noted that they are ‘Indigenous’, yet ‘not small-numbered’, a term that still carries connotations of ‘backwardness’, not only among the majority of Russian society, but also, among some of the Izhma Komi themselves,” Sikora explains.
On the contrary, Izhma Komi within the ‘shatter zone’ established a space to exercise some degree of self-determination in matters that undoubtedly relate to their internal and local affairs, like their cultural survival. That space is filled in with informal regulatory mechanisms, such as customary norms, tacit agreements, and other socio-legal behaviours that are rooted in shared values and the feeling of responsibility for the community and the common cause. While these informal systems interplay with official laws, they often adapt, circumvent, or ignore them to meet some of the local needs.
Yet, behind these rules, values, and practices are concrete individuals who make decisions – both personal and collective – that guide their behaviours. Sikora emphasizes that this is a process, not an outcome, in which small, everyday actions become significant.
“One belongs to the culture, and the culture belongs to oneself,” she notes.
This dynamic foster both a sense of responsibility for preserving the culture and the belief that it serves the community's needs.
Ethnographic approach matters in studying normative orders
Legal ethnography, as a complex process of knowledge production, always involves exploratory and nuanced reportage. It captures the human element that is so often overlooked in more abstract approaches in studying legal pluralities. By immersing oneself in the everyday interactions and practices of people, a researcher is able to see the world as another sees it, and understand choices based on those perceptions.
“Ethnography is not just about ‘hanging out’ with field partners, Sikora notes. It is a process of mutual understanding and meaning-making between a researcher and their field partners, grounded in trust and shared responsibility.”
Information on the public examination
The academic dissertation “The realities of law in the Russian North. Examining the human right to cultural heritage among the Izhma Komi people" – by Karolina Sikora, will be publicly examined in the Faculty of Law at the University of Lapland on Friday 20 December 2024 at 12, in the lecture hall B127.
The opponent is Professor Otto Joachim Habeck from the University of Hamburg and the custos is Professor Kamrul Hossain from the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland.
The public examination can be followed online at https: https://blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi/ulapland/
The language of the public defence is English.
Information on the doctoral candidate
Master of Law Karolina Sikora has been working at the Arctic Centre/Arctic Anthropology Research Team for the past seven years. She also held a Researcher position at the Graduate School “The Arctic in a Changing World” of the University of Lapland. Sikora specialises in legal anthropology, working with the Izhma Komi people particularly in the Komi Republic. She has been using the anthropological field method of participant observation in understanding changing cultures and livelihoods in the Arctic.
Further information
Karolina Sikora
+358 40 484 4269
karolina.sikora(at)ulapland.fi
Information on the publication
Karolina Sikora (2024) “The realities of law in the Russian North. Examining the human right to cultural heritage among the Izhma Komi people”. Juridica Lapponica, 52. ISBN 978-952-337-462-1, ISSN 0783-4144. University of Lapland 2024.
The permanent address of the publication: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-462-1