Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the reclamation and revitalization of Sakha algys (blessing poems) among contemporary speakers, and their use in new contexts; it focuses on how shared affect and intersubjective states are produced through the creation, circulation and performance of algys poetry.

Paper long abstract:

The revitalization of the Sakha language in Russia's Far Eastern Federal district has included a focus on many traditional poetic genres; while Olonkho (epic poetry) is often seen as central to this movement, other genres have also re-emerged in the public spheres and become vehicles for language reclamation. In recent years, Sakha algys (pl. algystar) or blessing poems/prayers have seen a marked resurgence; they are now found circulating online on social media in textual form, and showing up in the linguistic landscape of the city of Yakutsk as well as being performed at both public and private gatherings. The case of algys also sheds light on tensions between concepts of tradition and innovation, and blurs the lines between public and private meanings. This presentation argues that while their revitalization is a highly salient symbol of an ethnic revival movement, it is also a deeply personal 'technology of the self' (Foucault 1984; cf. Hirschkind 2006) that shapes and develops individual and communal systems of belief (Sakha iteghele). Examining how algys produce shared affect and 'intersubjective states' (Wilce 2012) between speakers and hearers illustrates how connections are fostered between the human and other-than-human; the sharing of algystar, whether written or spoken, also reveals ways in which Sakha speakers use algys to enact visions of positive futures amongst conditions of social and political uncertainty.