http://national-mentalities.ru/en/diversity/nacionalnopsihologicheskie_osobennosti_etnosov_rossii/the_urals_and_siberia/kuznecov_d_a_a_survey_introduction_to_the_ural_mentality/

Electronic Database

National Mentalities:

Studies in the Context of Globalization and Interaction of Cultures

Edited by Anna Pavlovskaya and Grigory Kanarsh
The site was developed with the support of the Russian Foundation for the Humanities (project №13-03-12003).

Main/Ethnic and Cultural Diversity of Russia/Ethnopsychological Features of the Peoples of Russia/The Urals and Siberia /

Kuznetcov D. A. A Survey Introduction to the Ural Mentality

The Ural mentality is endowed with different characteristics by researchers — landscape, nature-correlated, national or myth-real. It is characterized by great diversity: ten ethnic groups, symmetric river basins in the West (Volga-Kama) and in the East (Ob’-Irtysh), opposite conditions of the opposition "cold-warm" on the Polar and Southern Urals. All this makes it difficult to develop only one line of thought on national characters, originating in the ideas of the French Enlightenment with its interconnectedness between landscape and character. Complex landscape configuration will mean a complex selection of character traits. With all the contradictory descriptions of themselves, such character features of the Urals peoples can be noted: resourcefulness, ingenuity, cunning. Diligence, kindness, respect. The ability of self-control is a characteristic of the Nenets, it grows out of polar nomads’ patience and contemplation. The Mansi can evade personal sphere, leaving into the so-called "inner man", but they are active in public sphere. Russian craftsmen of the Urals developed not only a number of ores and mines, but they also developed the concept of mastership. The Russians were ready to remake the Urals, but they were ready to change themselves in accordance with the region.

Keywords: the Urals, mentality, Ural Character, Ural peoples.

Full text in Russian

Print version