Biography in the context of identity formation (the case of the Izhma Komi ethnic group)

Abstract

The paper examines the role that biography plays in the ethnic identity formation. The study is concerned with the Izhma Komi ethnic group. The author analyzes respondents’ biographies in the context of the institutionalization of this ethno-social group. Various practices that provide the formative basis for the further social cleavage were found in the biographies. The following types of cleavage were revealed during the interviews with respondents: city-village, North–South, and local–stranger. The author concludes that in the long run these cleavages, especially the local-stranger cleavage, were crucial to forming the modern Izhma Komi identity.