Varshaver, E., Khabibullin, A., Samosudova A., Shults A. (2024). "From Father" or "From Both Parents"? Variations of the Descent Classificatory Rule Regulating Membership in Ethnic Categories in Modern Dagestan. Mo­ni­to­ring of Pub­lic Opi­ni­on: Eco­no­mic and So­cial Chan­ges, 1, 176–201.  [in Russian]

The article studies the transmission of membership in ethnic categories in modern Dagestan, focusing on families where parents belong to different nationalities. Based on the material of 133 interviews conducted in urban and rural settlements of Dagestan, the authors demonstrate that two main classificatory rules coexist in the republic. The first, patrilineal, assumes that nationality is transmitted through the father, and the nationality of the mother does not play a role. The second, ambilineal, assumes that a child in a mixed marriage is classified as a representative of both paternal and maternal nationalities. Such a child is often defined by informants as “mestizo”, and there is a tendency toward the ethnicization of this category. The results of the study are presented in two parts. The first part describes, based on informants’ narratives, the functioning of the descent-based rules of nationality transmission. In the second part, based on the analysis of a data set created through coding and quantification of the interviews, the authors demonstrate that patrilineal rule is widespread mainly in rural areas, while ambilineal rule is prevalent in cities. The discussion presents hypotheses describing the origin of both rules in Dagestan, clarifies the relevance of the study of the descent classificatory rules for the modern constructivist theory of ethnicity, and shows how, due to the spread of the ambilineal rule, ethnic classification might become irrelevant.