In her doctoral dissertation Karolina Sikora examines how the Indigenous Izhma Komi people perceive and engage with diverse forms of cultural heritage, such as folklore, and reindeer herding, that are governed by formal and informal normative systems. Sikora explores states laws, alongside customary norms, tacit agreements, and ad hoc practical solutions that have developed among the Izhma Komi population, particularly in the Komi Republic. The research draws on anthropological field methods, including semi-structured interviews and participant observations.

The Izhma Komi people are a Finno-Ugric ethnic group
who inhabit the northwestern European part of Russia. Although they speak a distinct
dialect and practice nature-based traditional livelihoods, Russian federal law does
not recognise them as part of Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North,
Siberia and the Far East, placing them in a legal grey zone. 

Karolina Sikora argues, that freedom from codified laws can offer
advantages in people’s daily life. Indigenous small-numbered peoples framework
should not be understood as the equivalent of Indigenous rights in the West. It is
not just a legal category – but also an identity category which advantages are too
easily taken for granted. 

“Interlocutors often
noted that they are ‘Indigenous’, yet ‘not small-numbered’, a term that still
carries connotations of ‘backwardness’, not only among the majority of Russian
society, but also, among some of the Izhma Komi themselves,” Sikora explains.

On the contrary, Izhma Komi within the ‘shatter zone’ established
a space to exercise some degree of self-determination in matters that undoubtedly
relate to their internal and local affairs, like their cultural survival. That space
is filled in with informal regulatory mechanisms, such as customary norms, tacit
agreements, and other socio-legal behaviours that are rooted in shared values and
the feeling of responsibility for the community and the common cause. While these
informal systems interplay with official laws, they often adapt, circumvent, or
ignore them to meet some of the local needs.

Yet, behind
these rules, values, and practices are concrete individuals who make decisions –
both personal and collective – that guide their behaviours. Sikora emphasizes that
this is a process, not an outcome, in which small, everyday actions become
significant. 

“One belongs to the culture, and the
culture belongs to oneself,” she notes.

This dynamic foster
both a sense of responsibility for preserving the culture and the belief that it
serves the community’s needs.

Ethnographic approach matters in studying normative
orders 

Legal ethnography, as a
complex process of knowledge production, always involves exploratory and nuanced
reportage. It captures the human element that is so often overlooked in more
abstract approaches in studying legal pluralities. By immersing oneself in the
everyday interactions and practices of people, a researcher is able to see the world
as another sees it, and understand choices based on those perceptions.

“Ethnography is not just about ‘hanging out’ with field partners,
Sikora notes. It is a process of mutual understanding and meaning-making between a
researcher and their field partners, grounded in trust and shared
responsibility.”

Information on the public
examination

The academic dissertation “The
realities of law in the Russian North. Examining the human right to cultural
heritage among the Izhma Komi people” – by Karolina Sikora, will be publicly
examined in the Faculty of Law at the University of Lapland on Friday 20 December
2024 at 12, in the lecture hall B127. 

The
opponent is Professor Otto Joachim Habeck from the
University of Hamburg and the custos is Professor Kamrul Hossain
from the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland.

The public examination can be followed online at https: https://blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi/ulapland/ 

The language of the public defence is English.

Information on the doctoral candidate

Master of Law Karolina Sikora has been working at the Arctic
Centre/Arctic Anthropology Research Team for the past seven years. She also held a
Researcher position at the Graduate School “The Arctic in a Changing World” of the
University of Lapland.  Sikora specialises in legal anthropology, working
with the Izhma Komi people particularly in the Komi Republic. She has been using the
anthropological field method of participant observation in understanding changing
cultures and livelihoods in the Arctic.

Further information

 Karolina Sikora
+358 40
484 4269 
karolina.sikora(at)ulapland.fi 

Information on the publication

Karolina Sikora (2024) “The realities of law in the Russian North.
Examining the human right to cultural heritage among the Izhma Komi people”.
Juridica Lapponica, 52. ISBN 978-952-337-462-1, ISSN 0783-4144. University of
Lapland 2024. 

The permanent address of the
publication: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-462-1