Udmurt - Kinship, Marriage, and Family

Kinship and social organization in general revolve around the extensive clan system, the council of clan elders in each village called the kenesh, and a system of mutual assistance known as veme. Little is known of traditional Udmurt marriage and family life, although it is likely that the large, perhaps extended, farm families became smaller and nuclear in form under Soviet control.

Socialization. Teachers of Udmurt ethnicity have been trained since the second half of the nineteenth century in the Kazan Ethnic Teacher Training Institute. Several course books had been published in the Udmurt language before 1917, but the systematic study and evaluation of these is still to be accomplished. After 1917 an attempt was made in elementary education to increase use of the Udmurt language, even in the teaching of science, but, because there were not enough qualified teachers, bilingualism (Udmurt and Russian) became the typical policy in the newly established schools. Later the Udmurt language was gradually and purposefully pushed into the background and today is used only in the lower grades and in the teaching of Udmurt language and literature. In addition to an Udmurt Teacher's College founded in 1934, the Udmurt State University was established in 1970. Both provide schools with teachers of Udmurt.