Technologies of Modern Reindeer
Abstract This article explores how reindeer science in Circumpolar Russia is a field of constitutions of indigenous people and animal subjectivities. It is based on empirical research of selective breeding of the Evenki breed of reindeer in the specialised Soviet literature and in the Re...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Norwegian Bokmål |
| Published: |
Scandinavian University Press
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.idunn.no/nat/2020/04/technologies_of_modern_reindeer |
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| Summary: | Abstract
This article explores how reindeer science in Circumpolar Russia
is a field of constitutions of indigenous people and animal subjectivities.
It is based on empirical research of selective breeding of the Evenki
breed of reindeer in the specialised Soviet literature and in the
Reindeer Herding Enterprise in the village of Surinda, Evenki Municipality.
Reindeer herding has historically played a significant role for
the majority indigenous Evenki people. Neat classification of reindeer
into distinctive breeds was completed in Soviet time, when “proper”
selective breeding technologies were established. This article looks
into some of the basic assumptions about animals, humans, and society
that such breed classification and selection methods reveal. I analyse
the role of scientific knowledge in the Soviet era to better understand
why selective reindeer breeding appears more attractive to state
authorities than to support indigenous reindeer husbandry, which
has been experiencing a serious crisis since the early 1990s. I
explain the local politics of reindeer herding and agricultural
science through the contextualisation of the field case within Soviet
and contemporary Russian Arctic and indigenous governance, trying
to contribute to the broader issue of post-Soviet perceptions of animal
husbandry, selective breeding and reindeer. |
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| ISSN: | 0802-7285 1504-2898 |