Authors

Discussion

This paper examines the attitudes of Sakha intellectuals toward Russian colonialism during a period of imperial transformation in the Sakha (Yakut) region, focusing on the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It analyzes the impact of penal and resource colonialism, the Sakha intellectuals' response to potential settler colonialism, and their advocacy for the sedentarization of Yakutia's population. The article highlights that Sakha intellectuals not only resisted Russian colonial policies, but also appropriated colonial rhetoric to promote the Sakha people's status as a settled, modern population in the late imperial and early Soviet periods. This strategic reframing challenged imperial "civilizational" representations of the Sakha as a "backward" people and positioned indigenous actors at the forefront of regional modernization. By examining the role of sedentarization in reshaping Yakutia's socio-political environment, this paper deepens our understanding of colonial processes and indigenous agency in the late Russian Empire and early Soviet Union.