This article examines the Ulaanbaatar phenomenon. The capital city of Mongolia actually contains all the external ideas about the country, but in essence it is not Mongolia, being a kind of city-state that exists separately in the country's socio-cultural space. The author defines the significance of the metropolitan ethnocultural space, its images and meanings in the self-identification practices of modern Mongols. A brief historical overview of the urban planning tradition of the Mongols is offered, which shows an active external influence and an almost complete absence of local character in this process. This is not unique to the nomadic culture, which denies any urban settlement, static and immobile. Based on opinion polls and qualitative observations, attention is drawn to one important paradox of the modern Mongolian society. It boils down, on the one hand, to the stable appeal of the older generation to nomadic, pastoral traditions as the basis for the existence of the modern Mongolian nation and civilization. On the other hand, it is associated with the desire to organize the life of their descendants in the city and not pass on to them the values of the nomadic society. In conclusion, it is summed up that it is the city that enables the former Mongolian steppe, who moved here to a potential permanent residence, to feel in its entirety the identity of a nomad, not limited by the framework of livestock farming, but filled with images and ideas about their own traditional culture. These are the ideas about their culture, expressed most often in the understanding of nomadism as a mobile pastime, that determine the current ethnicity of the Mongols.

The article introduces written and visual materials from the center for Oriental Manuscripts and Woodcuts of the Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the SB RAS archival collections related to the 1930 expedition to the Evenks of Lower Tunguska. Ethnographers Poltoradnev P.G. and P.P. Khoroshikh from Irkutsk worked as the members of the expedition. In the personal archive of P.P. Khoroshikh a map-scheme of the route, field records about the material, ritual and everyday culture of the Evenks, drafts of articles on the results of the expedition, as well as photographs and drawings with explanations by the author were revealed. The narrative part of the travel diary is compiled in chronological order of visiting camps and localities, contains various details of a complex and long journey. For the first time, the text of travel notes “Under the Arctic circle” is published, compiled in chronological order of visiting camps and localities and revealing various details of a complex and long journey. The subject matter of the identified materials fully reflects both the tasks set for the expedition and the professional interests of the team members – this is an information about the settlement of families, the peculiarities of making homes (chums), boats, utensils, clothing, crafts, rituals, etc. The collected information is supplemented by numerous photos of the region's aborigines, objects and localities, as well as drawings and diagrams of the location of objects with dimensions, orientation to the cardinal directions, location relative to each other, Evenk names and translation into Russian. The authors have formulated the questions, the answers to which have not yet been found in the archive materials – about the future fate of the collected collections, about the actual distribution of the responsibilities in the expedition, about a small number of publications on its results.

The article examines the forms of social organization of the small-numbered indigenous peoples of the North of Sakhalin in the field of traditional fisheries and entrepreneurship in the context of legal pluralism. This method allows us to analyze the coexistence of state and customary law, moral norms and the principles of social entrepreneurship. Methods of legal and social anthropology are used. The study uses the approaches of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Field materials are interpreted in academic and aboriginal discourses. Federal and regional legislation are evaluated through the study of local practices. A study of the impact of new social institutions on technical equipment and internal legal regulation of economic activities, forms of interaction between fishermen and commercial enterprises, contradictions between aboriginal fisheries and the official environment was conducted. The article is written on the basis of observations and expert interviews collected on Sakhalin Island (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Poronaysky, Noglik, Okhinsky districts) in 2014 and 2019. The reasons for doing business were studied. An assessment is given of modern aboriginal fisheries, based on both traditional knowledge and skills, as well as modern technologies. The article explores the characteristics of indigenous entrepreneurship, which combines commercial and social goals, exchange of gifts and market relationships. Special attention is paid to the evaluation of poaching. Aboriginal entrepreneurship is seen as a means of sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The conclusion proposes measures for the legal regulation of aboriginal fisheries and recommendations developed during consultations with leaders of fishing organizations.