Cultural backwardness (russian: культурная отсталость) was a term used by Soviet politicians and ethnographers. There were at one point officially 97 "culturally backward" nationalities in the Soviet Union.
[Martin, 167] Members of a "culturally backward" nationality were eligible for preferential treatment in university admissions. In 1934 the
Central Executive Committee declared that the term should no longer be used, however preferential treatment for certain minorities and the promotion of local nationals in the party structure through ''
korenizatsiya'' continued for several more years.
Characteristics
The
People's Commissariat for Education The People's Commissariat for Education (or Narkompros; russian: Народный комиссариат просвещения, Наркомпрос, directly translated as the "People's Commissariat for Enlightenment") was the Soviet agency charge ...
listed five official characteristics of culturally backward nationalities:
* An extremely low level of literacy
* An extremely low percentage of children in school
* Absence of a written script connected to a literary language
* Existence of "social vestiges" (oppression of women, racial hostility, nomadism, religious fanaticism)
* An extremely low level of national
cadres
List of "culturally backward" nationalities
In 1932 the People's Commissariat for Education published an official list of "culturally backward" nationalities:
[
* Abkhaz
* Adyghe
* Adjarians
* ]Aleut
The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...
* Assyrian
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
* Azerbaijanis
Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They are the second-most numer ...
* Avars
* Baksan (a tribe of Balkars)
* Balkars
* Bashkirs
* Besermyan
The Besermyan, Biserman, Besermans or Besermens (russian: бесермяне, besermyane singular: besermyanin, udm, бесерманъёс, tt-Cyrl, бисермәннәр, translit=bisermännär) are a numerically small Finnic people in Russia ...
* Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
* Buryats
The Buryats ( bua, Буряад, Buryaad; mn, Буриад, Buriad) are a Mongolic peoples, Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the oth ...
* Chechen
* Cherkes
The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia in ...
(Adyghe)
* Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
* Chud
Chud or Chude ( orv, чудь, in Finnic languages: tšuudi, čuđit) is a term historically applied in the early East Slavic annals to several Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Estonia, Karelia and Northwestern Russia.
Arguably, the ...
* Chukchi
* Chuvans
Chuvans (russian: чуванцы) are one of the forty or so "Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East" recognized by the Russian government. Most Chuvans today live within Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the far n ...
* Chuvash
* Dargins
Dargins or Dargwa (, ''darganti'') are a Northeast Caucasian native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus, and who make up the second largest ethnic group in the North Caucasian republic of Dagestan. They speak the Dargwa language. The ...
* Dolgans
* Dungans
Dungan, Xiao'erjing: ; zh, s=东干族, t=東干族, p=Dōnggān zú, w=Tung1kan1-tsu2, , Xiao'erjing: ; russian: Дунгане, ''Dungane''; ky, Дуңгандар, ''Duñgandar'', دۇنغاندار; kk, Дүңгендер, ''Düñgende ...
* Eskimo
Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...
* Giliaks (Nivkhs)
* Golds (Nanai)
* Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
* Ingush Ingush may refer to:
* Ingush language
* Ingush people
The Ingush (, inh, ГIалгIай, translit=Ghalghaj, pronounced ) per Oxford dictionary "a member of a people living mainly in Ingushetia in the central Caucasus." Ingushetia is a federa ...
* Izhorians
* Kabardin
* Kaitaks (now classified as Dargins)
* Kalmyks
The Kalmyks ( Kalmyk: Хальмгуд, ''Xaľmgud'', Mongolian: Халимагууд, ''Halimaguud''; russian: Калмыки, translit=Kalmyki, archaically anglicised as ''Calmucks'') are a Mongolic ethnic group living mainly in Russia, w ...
* Kamchadals
* Karachays
* Karagasy (Tofalars)
* Kara-nogais
* Karakalpaks
* Karelians
Karelians ( krl, karjalaižet, karjalazet, karjalaiset, Finnish: , sv, kareler, karelare, russian: Карелы) are a Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russi ...
* Kazakhs
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
* Kets
Kets (russian: Кеты; Ket: Ostygan) are a tribe of Yeniseian speaking people in Siberia. During the Russian Empire, they were known as Ostyaks, without differentiating them from several other Siberian people. Later, they became known as ''Ye ...
* Khakas
The Khakas (also spelled Khakass; Khakas: , ''khakas'', , ''tadar'', , ''khakastar'', , ''tadarlar'') are a Turkic indigenous people of Siberia, who live in the republic of Khakassia, Russia. They speak the Khakas language.
The Khakhassian p ...
* Komi-Permyaks
The Komi ( kv, комияс, ' also ', also called Komi-Zyryans or Zyryans, are an indigenous Permian ethnic group whose homeland is in the northeast of European Russia around the basins of the Vychegda, Pechora and Kama rivers. They mostl ...
* Komi-Zyrians
The Komi ( kv, комияс, ' also ', also called Komi-Zyryans or Zyryans, are an indigenous Permian ethnic group whose homeland is in the northeast of European Russia around the basins of the Vychegda, Pechora and Kama rivers. They mostly ...
* Koryaks
* Koreans
Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula.
Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply refe ...
* Krymchaks
* Kumandins
* Kumyks
* Kurds ug:كۇردلار
Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...
* Kurd-ezid (Yazidis)
* Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan
*Kyrgyz people
*Kyrgyz national games
*Kyrgyz language
*Kyrgyz culture
*Kyrgyz cuisine
*Yenisei Kirghiz
*The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China
...
* Laks
* Lamuts
The Evens ( eve, эвэн; pl. , in Even and , in Russian; formerly called ''Lamuts'') are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of t ...
(Evens)
* Lezgins
* Lopars (Sami)
* Manegry (Evenks)
* Mari
* Moldovans
* Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
* Mordvins
* Nagaybak
* Negidals
Negidals (; Negidal language, Negidal: ''элькан бэйэнин'', ''elkan bayenin'', "local people") are a people in the Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, who live along the Amgun River and Amur River.
The ethnonym "Negidal" is a Russification ...
* Nenets
* Nogais
* Oirats
Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia.
Histor ...
* Oroch
* Orochen (Orochon, a tribal division of Evenks)
* Ossetians
The Ossetians or Ossetes (, ; os, ир, ирæттæ / дигорӕ, дигорӕнттӕ, translit= ir, irættæ / digoræ, digorænttæ, label=Ossetic) are an Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the no ...
* Ostyak (Khanty)
* Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
* Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
(Gypsies)
* Rutuls
Rutuls, Rutulians ( rut, Мыхабыр, Mykhabyr) are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native to Dagestan and adjacent parts of Azerbaijan. According to the 2010 Russian Census, there were 35,240 Rutuls in Russia. In 1989 Soviet Census in A ...
* Samagir (Nanai)
* Shapsugs
The Shapsug ( ady, шапсыгъ , russian: шапсуги, tr, Şapsığlar, ar, الشابسوغ, he, שפסוגים) (also known as the Shapsugh or Shapsogh) are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes. Historically, the Shapsug tribe ...
* Shors
Shors or Shorians ( Shor: , ''shor-kizhi'', , ''tadar-kizhi'', , ''shor'', , ''tadar'', , ''shor-kizhiler'', , ''tadar-kizhiler'', , ''shorlar'', , ''tadarlar'') are a Turkic ethnic group native to Kemerovo Oblast of Russia. Their self design ...
* Soyot
The Soyot are ethnic group of Turkic origin live mainly in the Oka region in the Okinsky District in the Buryatia, Russia. According to the 2010 census, there were 3,608 Soyots in Russia. Their extinct language (partly revitalized) was of a Tur ...
* Tabasarans
Tabasarans are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native predominantly to southern part of the North Caucasian Republic of Dagestan. Their population in Russia is about 150,000. They speak the Tabasaran language. They are mainly Sunni Muslims. ...
* Tajiks
Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajik ...
* Taranchi
Taranchi () is a term denoting the Muslim sedentary population living in oases around the Tarim Basin in today's Xinjiang, China, whose native language is Turkic Karluk and whose ancestral heritages include Tocharians, Iranic peoples such as Sak ...
s
* Tats
* Tatars
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different (outside of the Tatar ASSR
The Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (russian: Татарская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Автономияле Совет Соци ...
)
* Tavgi
The Nganasan language (formerly called , ''tavgiysky'', or , ''tavgiysko-samoyedsky'' in Russian; from the ethnonym , ''tavgi'') is a Endangered language, moribund Samoyedic languages, Samoyedic language spoken by the Nganasan people. In 2010 it ...
(Nganasans)
* Teptyars (now classified as Bashkirs)[Wixman, p. 190.]
* Teleuts
* Tungus (Evenks)
* Turkmen
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
* Tuvans
The Tuvans ( tyv, Тывалар, Tıvalar) are a TurkicOtto Maenchen-Helfen, Journey to Tuva, p. 169 ethnic group indigenous to Siberia who live in Russia (Tuva), Mongolia, and China. They speak Tuvan, a Siberian Turkic language. They are als ...
* Udege
* Udmurts
* Ulch
* Uyghurs
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
* Uzbeks
The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...
* Vepsians
* Voguls
The Mansi (Mansi: Мāньси / Мāньси мāхум, ''Māńsi / Māńsi māhum'', ) are a Ugric indigenous people living in Khanty–Mansia, an autonomous okrug within Tyumen Oblast in Russia. In Khanty–Mansia, the Khanty and Mansi lan ...
(Mansi)
* Votes
* Yakuts
The Yakuts, or the Sakha ( sah, саха, ; , ), are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenk Districts ...
* Yukaghir
See also
* Affirmative action
Notes
References
*
*
Affirmative action
Ethnic groups in the Soviet Union
Soviet phraseology
{{USSR-stub