Opening of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032

The meeting was a continuation of the scientific and practical conference “Folk art and preservation of cultural traditions: problems and prospects of development”, held on March 29 in the OTSST. The participants of the round table in full-time and in absentia were managers and specialists of cultural institutions, archives, education, language activists and public figures from the native speakers of the indigenous peoples of the Sakhalin North from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Noglik, Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk. The agenda of the round table included issues related to the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, which will be held in the Russian Federation in 2022-2032. The problems and prospects of preserving the language and cultural identity of the indigenous peoples of the Far East, the basic principles of interdepartmental interaction, generalization of work experience and popularization of practices for the preservation, revival and promotion of the indigenous peoples of the North were discussed at the meeting. They also discussed the implementation of measures in the field of digitalization of culture, book publishing and mass media. During the almost three-hour discussion, 12 reports were made. Sergey Nikiforov, Chairman of the Association of the CMNS of the Selemdzhinsky district of the Amur Region, member of the Council of Representatives of the CMNS of Siberia and the Far East in the Amur Region under the Government of the Amur Region, spoke about the critical state of the Evenk language in the Amur region. Olga Morozova, Head of the Department of Foreign Languages of Amur State University, Candidate of Philological Sciences, shared her experience of holding the international Olympiad in the language and culture of the Evenks, Evens of Russia and Orochens of China in her video report. The preservation and development of the languages of the indigenous peoples of Sakhalin was the topic of a speech by the leading methodologist of the Sakhalin Regional Museum of Local Lore Fedor Mygun, who identified a number of acute problems associated with the revival of the languages of the Sakhalin aborigines, and made many proposals to eliminate them. The continuation of this topic was the experience of the Regional Folk Art Center related to the culture of indigenous ethnic groups, which was shared by Olga Khuryun, a leading methodologist of the Department of Culture of Indigenous Peoples of the North of the Sakhalin Regional Folk Art Center. Elena Nitkuk, head of the Department of Regional Art Projects of the Regional Art Museum, told about the museum projects “Abc of the Arts of the Indigenous Peoples of Sakhalin”. Head of the Department “Center for Information and Bibliographic Services, Bibliography and Local History” Far Eastern State Scientific Library (Khabarovsk Krai) Marina Balashova presented the experience of the library as a center for the preservation and popularization of the cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of the North. Director of the Noglika Centralized Library System Olga Rozhnova made a report “Providing the basis for the restoration of the Nivkh and Uyltyn languages: informatization within the framework of multicultural library activities”, in which she revealed the multifaceted activities of Noglika librarians – shooting cartoons based on Nivkh fairy tales and the release of an electronic English-Russian-Nivkh dictionary. Olga Borodina, director of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Centralized Library System, told about the release of a number of publications, including a collection of oral works of the ancient Sakhalin ethnos “Fabulous Paths of the Ainu”. Kim Chang Ok (Tamara Gilevna), Head of the Department of Information, Publication and Scientific Use of documents of the State Historical Archive of the Island Region, spoke about the role of the historical archive in preserving the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Sakhalin North and about the funds containing little-known information on this topic. Specialists of the Sakhalin Regional Universal Scientific Library Alena Poznykhova and Elena Khrustaleva made reports on the library’s experience in promoting literature in the languages of the Sakhalin CMNS in the digital environment.