The history of field studies in the Komi ethnography dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. That was the time of growing interest to ethnic cultures in general, and in Komi that process was also stimulated by the growth of educational level of people, especially in towns. The first scientific field research of folklore and its further analysis is connected with the known scholars Klavdij Popov, Pitirim Sorokin, Vasilij Nalimov, A. S. Sidorov and others. The first monographic work on the ethnography of the Komi culture was the book by Klavdiy Popov "Zyryane i Zyryanskiy krai" (The Zyryane and the Zyryan country) (Moscow, 1874) in which he collected all sorts of data published in newspapers and magazines. Popov did not actually gather field information himself. He compiled various data written down by his predecessors and contemporaries, mostly published later in the "Vologodskiye Gubernskiye Vedomosti". Though being a compilation this book played a great role in the process of popularization of ethnographic knowledge and, still more important, it greatly stimulated further interest to folklore studies. Popov’s approach may be called positivistic as he hardly gave any interpretation of the field data.
Also positivistic but much more analytic was the approach pursued by Pitirim Sorokin. It was Sorokin who on the basis of his rich fieldwork experience created a detailed program (questionnaire) for collecting ethnographic data in Komi (Jarensk, 1918). Some of the questions formulated in the questionnaire sound rather straightforward now. This especially concerns those questions that were intended to reveal rudiments of the ancient forms of marriage the way it was understood by Tylor ("Primitive Culture", vol. 1-2, London, 1871), the existence of which was one of the main postulates of evolutionism. These views were set forth by Sorokin in his article K voprosu ob evolutsii semji i braka u zyrjan" (To the question of the evolution of family and marriage of the Zyrjane; Izvestiya Arhangelskogo Obshchestva Izucheniya Russkogo Severa, 1911, N 1,5).
Vasili Nalimov, who was a professor of Moscow University from 1922 to 1938, can be called an opponent of evolutionist views of Sorokin. With great perspicacity Nalimov described the complex of traditions and rites associated directly or indirectly with so-called "sexual dimorphism" in modern psychology. In his fundamental 3-volume work (which is kept in Helsinki in the scientific archive of Finno-Ugric Society) he described numerous examples of the principle of the sexual division in the Komi folklore at the beginning of the 20th century. This is the most complete compendium of ethnographic data, though it has not been published yet.
Nalimov cooperated with Sirelius and acquired much of the methodology from the Finnish school of map-making. He followed the traditions and approaches of that school in his studies concerning geographical distribution of household articles and of the spiritual culture of the Komi-zyrjane. Supposedly the greatest advantage of Nalimov’s research is the map-making approach to the recording of the data. Nalimov’s field studies greatly influenced the range of directions of research which was taken up by the scholars of the Department of Ethnography and Folklore of the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Komi Science Center in late 80's and early 90's.
One more important name in field studies of the Komi folklore is A. S. Sidorov who in 1924 published a questionnaire, perhaps the widest one, for gathering field data. On the basis of this questionnaire he wrote his pioneer monograph "Znaharstvo, koldovstvo i porcha u naroda komi" (Sorcery and evil witchcraft of the Komi people) (Leningrad, 1928).
The tradition of field studies were broken in the middle of the 30's when ethnographic studies were considered as "dangerously close" to the "bourgeois cosmopolitanism". The Society for Studies of the Komi region was closed down and many members of it were subjected to repression. These studies were rehabilitated at the end of the 50's beginning of 60's due to V. N. Belitser, L. P. Lashuk, L. N. Zherebtsov. Significant achievements and findings were connected with the name of Belitser, who carried out wide studies of Perm peoples and spent much time in the field. Her research embraced a wide range of problems, such as ethnic culture, contacts of ethnoses, social organization and others. Her book "Ocherki po etnografii narodov komi, XIX-nachalo XX vv" (Ethnographic Studies of the Komi peoples; Izdatelstvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, Moskva 1958) is up to now an important source of ethnographic data. It was the second generalizing work on the Komi ethnography after the work by K. Popov. Both works recorded and described many sides of culture and may be called rather wide than deep.
As it was mentioned above in the 70's and 80's there appeared scholars who undertook a more specialized approach in ethnographic and folklore studies. Lyubomir Zherebtsov, for instance, undertook a special research of the traditional Komi dwelling. Moreover, he studied ethnocultural contacts with neighbouring peoples. Lyubov Gribova has focused on arts, Nikolai Konakov on hunting and food fishing, and Yuri Rochev on children’s folklore. It must be emphasized that these researchers, carrying out thorough and specialized studies, tried to preserve a common approach in the frame of which each particular phenomenon was considered in the wide cultural context.
At present each researcher of the Department of Ethnography and Folklore of the Komi Science Center carries out his or her own field research according to the purposes of the particular investigation and programs and questionnaires used are designed for their specific purposes. Some of the questionnaires are very long and detailed and consist of several hundred questions.
Besides the Department of Ethnography and Folklore, two more centers of collecting folklore materials in the field must be mentioned. The first of them is the Scientific research laboratory of folklore and archeographic researches at the Syktyvkar State University. It started its work in 1985. This laboratory follows the traditions of collecting folklore materials developed by the Leningrad Conservatoire and up to now maintains contacts with it. The initiators of creating the lab were the professors of the University A. Vlasov and T. Volkova, and the idea was supported by the outstanding Russian scholar Dmitri S. Likhachev. The laboratory also maintains contacts with the Institute of the Russian Literature (the Pushkin House) in St. Petersburg, the Institute of the World Literature in Moscow, and the Scientific Council for Folklore. This year the laboratory got the status of a Folklore Center. In this Center there has been created a folklore archive where there are audio- and videotape recordings and hand-written materials collected in the field by professors and students of the University.
Field studies have been carried out on the territory of Komi, in the North of Kirov region and also in Archangelsk and Vologda regions. Since 1985 about 40 field expeditions have taken place. Before each field expedition students and professors study the peculiarities of the local dialect and also the materials of the region or district collected earlier. Questionnaires are not often used as the technique of all-round questioning is applied. Recordings are made without switching off the camera, and this allows the recording of the background. When recording songs the technique of multichannel recording is applied.The archive is organized and the materials are classified according to the principles of systematization of field materials worked out by folklorists of the Baltic countries on the territorial principle.
Another center of folklore data collecting is the Laboratory for Traditional Culture of Komi at the Center of Folk Arts. It was established three years ago and since that time there has been formed an archive of more than one hundred audio and forty video cassettes. In the field recordings are made on the audio and video tapes simultaneously so they are duplicated. The materials are grouped and classified geographically, on each village separately. Usually the technique of all-round collection is applied. First the informant is asked about his or her biography, following questions concerning all folklore genres. Thus many different genres are represented in the archive: songs, calendar rites and poetry, family rites, children’s folklore and games, prose, tales. On the basis of the data collected special questionnaires are made up for every performer. These questionnaires are distributed among those who come to annual seminars held at the laboratory. At the seminars those people who are interested in collecting folklore materials are consulted and given questionnaires. Thus people from different regions are involved in the field work and their recordings are sent back to the laboratory. The disadvantage of this way of data gathering is that the recordings are non-professional but it is compensated by the volume of the materials.
Much attention nowadays is given to engaging young people in the process of gathering field folklore data. There exist specialized classes at secondary schools for those children who have special interest to it and who devote much time and effort to the studies of folklore.
These are some notes on how field research developed and is nowadays carried out in Komi.
Dmitri Nesanelis
Nadezhda Slepchina
Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, Russia