This study investigates the genetic effect of an indigenous tradition of deliberate and controlled interbreeding between wild and domestic Rangifer. The results are interpreted in the context of conservation concerns and debates on the origin of domestic animals. The study is located in Northeastern Zabaĭkal'e, Russia at approximately 57 degrees North latitude. Blood and skin samples, collected from wild and domestic Rangifer, are analyzed for their mtDNA and microsatellite signatures. Local husbandry traditions are documented ethnographically. The genetic data are analyzed with special reference to indigenous understandings of the distinctions between local domestic types and wild Rangifer. The genetic results demonstrate a strong differentiation between wild and domestic populations. Notably low levels of mtDNA haplotype sharing between wild and domestic reindeer, suggest mainly male‐mediated gene flow between the two gene pools. The nuclear microsatellite results also point to distinct differences between regional domestic clusters. Our results indicate that the Evenki herders have an effective breeding technique which, while mixing pedigrees in the short term, guards against wholesale introgression between wild and domestic populations over the long term. They support a model of domestication where wild males and domestic females are selectively interbred, without hybridizing the two populations. Our conclusions inform a debate on the origins of domestication by documenting a situation where both wild and domestic types are in constant interaction. The study further informs a debate in conservation biology by demonstrating that certain types of controlled introgression between wild and domestic types need not reduce genetic diversity.

During the post-Soviet period, fishery became one of the main sources of income for the inhabitants of Evenki villages in the northern Baikal region. When a number of villagers lost their official jobs, they managed to earn money by selling fish. Most people are required to fish during a particular season and to follow official quotas. Special indigenous Evenki quotas, however, are usually in excess of regular official guidelines and those who can use these quotas usually exceed them. This results in a tension between the way local Evenki people judge their own actions and the way their actions are judged by the official authorities. The law never covers all the areas of human activities, and in these gaps regular people manage to control certain institutions, knowledge and the use of landscapes themselves. In a discussion of the northern Baikal area, I employ the term 'free spaces', that describes the weakening of external control over the sphere of activities which are essential for local people's survival. This lessening of control has led people to regulate the fishing situation locally, resulting in many violations of fishing laws not being registered in official documents. The purpose of this paper is to to discuss a case of 'free spaces' in the post-Soviet Evenki village, with particular focus upon the village's non-compliance with official fishery regulations. This article investigates the reasons for, and the social mechanisms guiding, non-compliant behaviour in a northern Baikal Evenki village. It argues that non-compliance with fishery regulations should be interpreted within the context of local mechanisms of social control, market relations, reciprocity and cooperation.

Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines 43-44 | 2013 Le pastoralisme en Haute-Asie : la raison nomade dans l'étau des modernisations

No abstract

В статье рассматривается роль инфраструктуры в повседневных практиках эвенков Восточной Сибири в контексте их постоянных перемещений. Мобильность эвенков анализируется как рефлексивный и креативный процесс, основанный на обработке большого количества постоянно обновляемой информации об окружающей среде, погодных условиях, перемещениях людей, техники, а также диких и домашних животных. Она является результатом синтеза традиционных технологий и инноваций. Исторически эвенки осваивали пространство посредством оборудования временных баз, на которые они периодически возвращались. Инф раструктура, появившаяся в ходе реализации проектов индустриального развития, а также политики перехода к оседлому образу жизни, была прагматически инкорпорирована эвенками для решения своих повседневных задач: она использовалась как источник строительных материалов, топлива, в качестве мест для ночлега, хранения вещей и организации перемещений. Все это служит рационализации мобильности и получения энергии, являясь результатом рефлексивного процесса, который не проводит четкой границы между природным и антропогенным ландшафтом.