Voices of Khakassia

Leonid Yeremin, 38. Kazanovka village, Askizsky region. Employed at the Institute of Sayan-Altay Turkology.

I was attracted to Khakassia from Petersburg because of archaeology, and I loved it so much here that I moved for good. There are many reasons for living a long way from the noisy capitals, but for me, as a historian of Khakassia and the Khakass people, it really is a matter of preserving what remains of this exceptional culture. 

The question of preserving ethnicity and its heritage is a matter of preserving the language. And the prognosis is rather dismal on this front – things essentially come down to the next generation. The reality is that the majority of Khakass do not teach the Khakass language to their children, as they don’t see any need for it.