Regional Aspects of Demographic Modernization of the Buryat Population: Case of Irkutsk and Chita regions in the second half of the XXth – beginning of the XXIst centuries

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2020-50-2/241-254

Abstract

The paper studies the demographic transition among the Buryats in Irkutsk and Chita regions in 1959-2010-s. The authors consider influence of social, economic, historical and cultural processes on demographic dynamics of the Buryat population in these regions and compare it with demographic situation in Buryat Social Soviet Republic (later Republic of Buryatia). The article focuses on territorial differences in number of inhabitants, vital statistics and pace of demographic modernization of the Buryats in the Irkutsk and Chita regions. Results of the research confirmed that intensity of demographic transition among the Buryats was different though this process had many similarities in all areas of primary settlement. In all the three regions it corresponds to a “Japanese-Mexican” model that is typical for societies with catching-up economies. The differences appeared mainly due to specific historical development of Irkutsk and Chita regions in the XXth century.
Demographic development of the Buryats in Predbaykalye was influenced by historically tight contacts with Russian population. It resulted in intensive development of agriculture and Russian language dissemination. Besides, Irkutsk region historically was one of the most industrially developed regions of Siberia. All these factors had indirect impact on social and educational composition, cultural development and reproductive processes of the Buryatian population. Demographic transition went slower in Chita region. In Irkutsk region it was first much faster than in the Republic of Buryatia but since the middle of the 1970-s the pace of demographic transition has been equal there.

References

1. Bazarov, B.V., and L.V. Kuras. 1996. K voprosu o sovershenstvovanii mezhnatsional'nykh otnoshenii v Respublike Buriatiia [Modern situation of the Buryats people and perspectives of their development]. In Sovremennoe polozhenie buriatskogo naroda i perspektivy ego razvitiia. Iss. 2: 12–18.
2. Baldano, M.N. 2002. Osnovnye tendentsii izmenenii sotsial'noi struktury v postsovetskii period [Newsletter of the Buryat State University]. Vestnik BGU. History 4: 81–89.
3. Basaeva, K.D. 1980. Sem'ia i brak u buriat. Vtoraia polovina XIX – nachalo XX veka. [Family and Marriage among the Buryats. Second half of the XIX^th-beginning of the XX^th centuries]. Novosibirsk, Science.
4. Belova, V.A. 1975. Chislo detei v sem'e. [Number of children in a family]. Moscow: Statistics. 176 p.
5. Bruk, S.I. 1981. Naselenie mira. Etnodemograficheskii spravochnik. [World Population]. Moscow: Science.
6. Dolgikh, B.O. 1960. Rodovoi i plemennoi sostav narodov Sibiri. 55. Moscow: Izdatelstvo AN USSR.
7. Zhukovskaia, N.L. 2013. O buddizme i buddistakh. Stat'i raznykh let: 1969–2011. [About Buddhism and Buddhists. Papers of different years: 1969–2011]. Moscow: Orientaliya.
8. Zateev, V.I., B.V. Kharaev. 2002. Demograficheskie aspekty etnosotsial'noi struktury Buriatii [Demograpfic Aspects of Ethno-Social Structure of Buryatia]. In Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniia 5: 115–121.
9. Zoriktuev B.R. 1982. Sovremennyi byt buriatskogo sela [Modern everyday life of the Buryatian village]. Novosibirsk: Nauka.
10. Isupov,A. (ed.) 2011. Migratsiia naseleniia Aziatskoi Rossii: konets XIX – nachalo XX vv. [Migration of Population of Asian Russia: end of XIX-beginning of the XX-th centuries]. Novosibirsk: Parallel.
11. Dameshek, L.M. (ed.) Istoriia Ust'-Ordynskogo Buriatskogo avtonomnogo okruga. [History of Usty-Ordynsky Buryatian Autonomous Circle]. Moscow: Progress.
12. Kozlov, V.I. 1982. Natsional'nosti SSSR. Etnodemograficheskii obzor. [Nationalities of the USSR. Ethnical demographical Review]. Moscow: Finances and statistics.
13. Mangataeva, D.D. 1995. Naselenie Buriatii: tendentsii formirovaniia i razvitiia. [Population of Buryatia: tendencies of formation and development]. Ulan-Ude: Buryatian National Scientidic Center of the SB RAS.
14. Nimaev, D.D. 1989. Etnodemograficheskie protsessy v Buriatii v XIX – nachale XX vv. [Ethnodemographic processes in Buryatia in XIX-beginning of XX]. In Buriatiia XVII-nach.XX vv. Ekonomika i sotsial'no-kul'turnye protsessy [Buryatia of XVII-beginning of XX centuries. Economics and social cultural processes], 69–84. Novosibirsk.
15. Okladnikov, A.P. 1937. Ocherki iz istorii zapadnykh buriat-mongolov (17-18 vv.). [Sketches of Western Buryat-Mongols’ history]. Leningrad: Sotszkgiz.
16. Sanzhiev, B.S. 1974. O konsolidatsii buriatskoi sotsialisticheskoi natsii kak sostavnoi chasti novoi istoricheskoi obshchnosti sovetskogo naroda. In V bratskoi sem'e narodov. [In brotherhood family of the peoples], 80–89. Ulan-Ude: Buriatian Publishing House.
17. Tarmakhanov, E.E., L.M. Dameshek, and T.E. Sanzhieva. 2003. Istoriia Ust'-Ordynskogo buriatskogo avtonomnogo okruga. [History of Ust-Ordynsky Buryatian Autonomous Circle]. Ulan-Ude: Izdatelstvo of Buryat State University.
18. Tokarev, S.A. 1953. O proiskhozhdenii buriatskogo naroda [About genesis of the Buryats]. In Sovetskaia etnografiia 2: 37–52.
19. Tumunov, Zh.T. 1988. Ocherki iz istorii aginskikh buriat. Ulan-Ude: Buriat. kn. izd.-vo.
20. Khankharaev, V.S. 1993. O nekotorykh tendentsiiakh demograficheskogo razvitiia buriatskogo etnosa v 90-e gody [About several tendencies of demographic development of the Buryatian ethnos in 1990-s]. In Etnosotsial'nye obshchnosti v regione Vostochnoi Sibiri i ikh sotsial'no-kul'turnaia dinamika. [Ethnical social groups in Eastern Siberian region and their social cultural dynamics], 115–117. Ulan-Ude.
21. Shagdarov, B.Sh., Zh.D. Dorzhiev. 1970. Aga stepnaia: Ocherki [Stepp Aga: Sketches]. Ulan-Ude: Buruatian Publishing House.