Crimean Tatars - Kinship, Marriage, and Family

The most important kinship group in Tatar history has been the family. Under the khanate the family was extended and patrilocal, with great clans dominating society. The power of the clans was severely diminished following the Russian conquest, but they continued to enjoy social prominence as a reward for service to the Russian government. Although no systematic study has been done of the social and familial consequences of the repeated waves of mass emigration, the evidence indicates that they weakened the extended character of Tatar families. Interestingly, the family has been rendered all the more socially significant since 1944 because of Soviet policies that have done little to support the cultural and social identity of the Crimean Tatars. The family has been the preserver of group memory, cultural legacy, and language. Since the Tatars have not been the subject of statistical or socioanthropological examination for nearly half a century, information relating to the whole range of kinship and familial practices and concerns is unavailable. They are, however, one of the most endogamous peoples in the former USSR, with up to 91 percent of those who marry doing so within the group.