The second issue of the journal “Ethnography” has been released in 2026

Why did Pomor ritual pastry become one of the symbols of the Russian North? What can 19th‑century ship’s logs tell us about the life of the Pomors? And how are ethnographic studies moving into the digital space — from Soviet animation to modern video games? The new issue of “Ethnography” features intriguing research that will be of interest even to those who are far from academia.

The journal brings together studies devoted to a wide range of approaches to the study of culture. Among them is an article on Vladimir Pekar’s “ethnographic cartoons,” created based on the scripts of the outstanding orientalist and Kunstkamera researcher Mikhail Rodionov, to whose memory the authors dedicate their work. An unexpected perspective on the image of the Russian North is offered by an article on video games, which focuses on the representation of the region in contemporary gaming culture. In addition, the issue includes studies on magical objects in Karelian rituals, the funeral and memorial traditions of the Kabardians and the Old Believers of Ust‑Tsilma, Grigory Verbov’s nomadic expedition in the Bolshezemelskaya Tundra, as well as genealogical memory — from Turkic epics to modern DNA communities. The range of topics once again demonstrates how diverse contemporary ethnographic research is.