Television and problems of interpretation of cultural phenomena among eastern Khanty

Abstract

The paper investigates how television and the watching of TV become one of the forums where the Khanty fight their symbolic struggle against a colonising culture, which stands at a higher technological level. The scope of this cultural struggle reaches beyond the practice of watching television and results in more serious changes in the Khanty worldview. Author observes and analyses how watching TV verifi es, modifies and develops beliefs; how elements of the Khanty identity are summoned while watching TV; and how television programs are related to the people’s time management.