St. Petersburg to Host International Seminar on the Preservation and Popularization of the Arctic Indigenous Languages

The International Seminar on the Preservation and Popularization of the Arctic Indigenous Languages will take place in St. Petersburg on 17–18 March. The seminar will be held as part of the main events of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council as well as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages in 2022–2023. The Roscongress Foundation manages all events associated with the chairmanship.

The seminar will be attended by representatives of the federal and regional authorities, indigenous organizations, scientists, educators, IT project developers as well as young people from nine Arctic regions of Russia.

Participants will include:

• Nikolay Korchunov, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials and Ambassador-at-Large for Arctic Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Igor Barinov, Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs.
• Anna Degteva, Executive Secretary, Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat.
• Grigory Ledkov, President, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON); Senator of the Russian Federation.

“Preserving native languages is a shared task of the Indigenous Peoples of all countries in the Arctic region, which is why the Russian participants will present a number of initiatives for joint implementation at the seminar,” Barinov said.

The seminar programme includes thematic sessions in such areas as “Digitalization of the Arctic Indigenous Languages”, “Methodological Support for Teaching the Arctic Indigenous Languages”, and “Promotion of the Arctic Indigenous Languages: Social initiatives and Media”.

The following sectional meetings are also planned: “Capabilities of IT Technologies to Preserve the Arctic Indigenous Languages”, Creative Writing in the Indigenous Languages, Presentation of the Educational Project “The Voice of the North” Literary Competition, and “Publication of Literature in the Arctic Indigenous Languages: Current State and Prospects”.

The seminar will also include master classes on pedagogical technologies, literary creativity, and IT technologies. There will also be an exhibition of textbooks and teaching aids on the indigenous languages of the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation.

The programme will feature a separate discussion of the Arctic Council’s project “Digitalization of the Linguistic and Cultural Heritage of the Arctic Indigenous Peoples”.

The Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs is organizing the seminar.

An online broadcast of the conference will be available on the official website of Russia’s chairmanship:

https://arctic-council-russia.ru/en/events/

Media contacts:

Maria Istomina, +7 967 130-11-14

media@arctic-council-russia.ru

Accreditation is available until 18:00 on 16 March.