Informant38

Ethnic Self-Consciousness

What causes ethnic Tatars to lose their ethnic self-consciousness? Among many possible reasons, cultural indoctrination is probably the most important one. When a Russian high school history textbook depicts Tatars as barbarians who did nothing but kill, rape and pillage, and at the same time describes ancient Slavs as "tall, blond, beautiful people" always preoccupied with noble cultural pursuits, the only conclusion that a Tatar schoolboy can make is this: "It is bad to be a Tatar." Very often Tatar school children in Russian schools become targets of ridicule during history lessons. Such cultural indoctrination usually leads to low self-esteem, an ethnic inferiority complex, and an unwillingness to identify oneself as a Tatar. Young people are especially susceptible to such indoctrination.