This thesis is mainly focused on theoretical and methodological study of ethnicity and indigenousness, with some particular attention to language and politics. Some aspects of identity building and self-awareness among the Veps people living in Karelia (the northern district of the Russian Federation) will be in focus. First of all, the research project is interdisciplinary and thus also methodologically plural though the primary approach to ethnic identity is based on idea that ethnicity is socially constructed image. The main organization, The Vepsian Cultural Society, and other actors of the movement are nowadays engaged in the creation of ethnic markers, such as a common group name (Veps), elements of common culture and a common history (or a myth of common origin and, hence, a myth of the Finno-Ugric world). This project aims to discuss these issues related to history and general ethnopolitical development in Karelia (modern stage and historical course). The relations between the majority (Russians) and minorities (Finno-Ugric ethnic groups: Karelians, Veps and Finnish people) in Karelia will be of importance, as well as a discussion of definitions (firstly and mostly, ethnicity definition) and identification process. The leading question is who are the Veps, and it will be in focus through the whole manuscript. What does ethnicity mean for the politicians, journalists, ethnic elites, intellectual workers and ordinary people in this regard? How do different national institutions and societies, politicians and mass-media tools make the Vepsian people aware of their ethnic identity within the Russian majority and how different actors of the revitalizing movement objectify ethnic identity? Then I compare this to how the Vepsian people identify themselves and present their ethnic identity in everyday life, how important it is for them to show their ethnic belonging and how much they involve themselves in the process of revitalization of culture and, hence, language. A discussion about different symbols of ethnicity which can be the tools of revitalizing work will lead to the conclusion that the most urgent issue for the Veps is to preserve their dying-out language. And consequently, the language is only one marker of their distinctive culture, ethnicity and group in general that has survived through the centuries of assimilation and can be the main claim in the struggle for cultural rights nowadays.