Ethnic processes among the Taz people at the beginning of the 21st century in connection with ethnic history

The aim of this work was to characterize the state of the culture of the Taz peoples (an indigenous, numerically small nation of Primorsky Krai) at the turn of the 20th to the 21st century. Starting from the 1990s, the peoples of the Russian Federation actively manifested their culture in the mass media and public spaces. While the Taz peoples did engage in such activities in the administrative sphere (resulting in their recognition as a small-numbered indigenous people of Primorye), they very minimally popularized their culture. Key research directions included the problems of the "invisibility" of Taz culture, clarity of self-awareness and representation of ethnic boundaries, as well as gold identity. Taz representatives do not engage in active activity on social media or other media outlets, publishing articles that would allow representatives of other peoples to familiarize themselves with their culture. At the same time, they possess a clear self-awareness and a representation of "their" and "foreign" rituals, holidays, dishes, etc., contrasting themselves with the Udege, Chinese, Russians, Koreans, Nanai, and others. Gold identity acts as an intra-Taz identity, characteristic of the activists of this movement. The study included two parts. The first was conducted using content analysis of the community page of the Association of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of Primorye on VK (March-May 2024); the second involved semi-structured interviews during a field trip to the Olgin District of Primorsky Krai (July 2025). The main conclusions of the study describe the state of Taz culture based on the results of the 2024 field season. The culture retains features of "invisibility," which is partly explained by its ethnic history (strong sinicization of the Taz, which led to their identification with the Chinese) and partly by the special status of activists who possess a gold identity. At the same time, gold identity is opposed to Nanai identity (officially: gold is an outdated name for the Nanai), but is considered related to Taz identity. Thus, Taz identity is clearly recognized by its bearers; however, it does not fit within the frameworks established by ethnographer researchers. The authors see their contribution to the discussion as showing the complex composition of Taz culture, which is not merely a fusion of Chinese and Udege cultures, but also includes Korean, gold, and possibly Manchurian elements.

Primorskiy Krai, indigenous minority peoples, Tazy people, Goldi people, multiple identities, ethnic history, ethnic borders, cyber-ethnography, Udege people, ethnoactivism