Russian-Language Tatar Bloggers Promote Many of the Same Things Tatar-Language Ones Do but Reach a Broader Audience, Kazan Ethnographer Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 17 – Liliya Sagitova, an ethnographer at the Tatarstan’s Academy of Sciences, says that her research shows that Russian-language Tatar bloggers in fact promote many of the same ideas and subjects that Tatar-language ones do but reach a broader audience, something that is important in promoting ethnic tourism.

            Many Tatars, especially living outside of Tatarstan, do not speak Tatar but they are interested in Tatarstan and its culture; and Russian-language Tatars reach them and thus encourage ethnic tourism and even cultural survival, she continues (milliard.tatar/news/blogery-tatarstana-etnicnost-v-trende-a-tatarskii-yazyk-7680).

            Sagitova says that the Russian-language Tatar Bloggers help satisfy what she says is a growing interest in all things Tatar among these groups and may become a bridge to their learning Tatar rather than a purveyor of Russianization and Russification as many Tatar-speaking Tatars assume.

            At the same time, she continues, it is important that Kazan come up with new and better ways to support Tatar bloggers who use one or the other language, recognizing that each plays a role which supports the republic and the nation because they together play complementary functions.