Chukotkan reindeer husbandry in the post-socialist transition

Abstract

Reindeer herding in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, as in many other regions across the Russian North, has been experiencing a progressive collapse since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The collapse is typically blamed on Russia's privatization programme, which broke up collectivized reindeer farms into supposedly privatized enterprises. While this process did indeed bring significant changes to the practice of reindeer herding in Chukotka, this paper argues that a more fundamental issue is the political and economic change at the local level that most likely makes the collapse irreversible. Áccording to the rhetoric of the new “democratic” framework, the majority rules, and their priorities take precedence. As a result, the indigenous peoples and their priorities ‐ chief among which is reindeer herding ‐ have been squeezed into the political margins. This has been exacerbated by the development of a relationship of internal colonialism between dominant urban Russians and village‐dwelling indigenous reindeer herders, which has led to greater inequalities between the two groups as the Russians monopolize both resources and power in the region.

Multiscale Analysis of the Dynamics in Reindeer Herding in Arctic Regions: Geographical Shifts and Intraregional and Local Differences

“…Original material for the research included data from the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry [22][23][24], international scientific reports [19,21], and scientific publications [7,18,25] on the reindeer livestock dynamics in select Arctic countries. The official statistics published by the Federal State Statistics Service [13] and Ministry of Agriculture [10] were used to examine the industry dynamics in Russia.…”

Savoirs et représentations du renne des Tchouktches éleveurs

“…Mais, parmi les problèmes auxquels fait face cette activité, au coeur de ce qui nous intéresse ici, se trouve la question de la transmission des savoirs et des changements survenus dans la relation homme-animal. En effet, pour les éleveurs d'aujourd'hui, une des principales conséquences de la répression durant la période de collectivisation est bien la perte des meilleurs éleveurs car, de l'avis de tous, ceux qui avaient de grands troupeaux, Sur la situation de l'élevage en Tchoukotka, on peut se reporter notamment aux travaux de Chichlo (1996) et Gray (2000Gray ( , 2004.…”