Language and Cultural Planning in Siberia: Boarding School System Represented in the Texts of the Siberian Indigenous Writers

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the language and cultural planning in Siberia, mainly the boarding school system created within the background of Soviet and Post-Soviet era. This paper analyzes the texts written by the Siberian indigenous writers, and discusses how they describe and narrate the boarding school system in their work. It claims that such school system actually destroys indigenous cultural codes instead of revitalization. This paper further indicates that nomadic school system might be a solution for co-existence of “traditional” and “contemporary” values for the indigenous peoples in Siberia. It is assumed that the practice of boarding school and nomadic school systems in Siberia can serve as an example to enlighten the current Taiwan indigenous language and culture planning work.