North Asia is a geographical region that is implied in the delineation of the world into continents with cardinal directions. The space to which that refers has been most widely known as “Siberia” or the “Far East”, both are interpretations produced in a colonial interaction. Contemporary political borders often reduce the understanding of the space synonymizing it with “Russia”, occluding the multiplicity of lived experiences and histories of the region.

Russian imperial expansion into North Asia dates back to the 16th century and corresponds well with the broader timeline of European colonial history. These stories, however, still remain obscured from most academic and artistic inquiries into the global history of Indigenous dispossession and settler colonialism. Haranhuj Üe – translates to “Dark Ages” both from Sakha and Buryad languages, despite them belonging to different language families. The expression provides a fascinating example of the shared history of the people of North Asia beyond (and before) their colonial relationship to Russia.

With this event, we aim to present a vision of (and for) North Asia held by the people of the region, platform the voices of activists that are shaping the local and global discourses on it, and learn together about the complexities of (de)colonial history. We hope to help foster global Indigenous and decolonial solidarity, presenting a case that often gets left out of such projects.