Local gender contracts and the production of traditionality in Siberian Old Believer places

This chapter focuses on Siberian settlements of the Old Believer Chasovennoe (from Russian “chasovnia”—chapel) denomination as sites of disputed traditionality. This group of Old Believers is often considered as an example of what “classic” Old Belief is supposed to look like, which is mostly driven by implication of the so-called traditional local gender contract. As I elaborate in the ongoing paragraphs, it was Soviet modernization that extensively impacted the current state of Old Believer tradition. In particular, it means that certain territories associated with exploitation of natural resources required such a division of labor as that provided by the traditional gender contract.