Nenets reindeer herding and industrial exploitation in northwest Russia

Human Organization, Summer 2002 by Tuisku, Tuula

Exploration and extraction of mineral resources threaten reindeer herding, a traditional livelihood of the Nenets, the indigenous population of the Nenets Autonomous District in northwest Russia. Reindeer herders are worried about the degradation of the environment and encountering oil workers on the tundra. Based on previous experience they feel they cannot influence development despite new legislation, which is supposed to take into account traditional livelihoods.

Key words: reindeer herding, industrial development, decision making, Nenets, Russia

The Nenets Autonomous District (okrug) in northwest Russia has rich oil and gas resources located on the tundra, which is home to Nenets1 reindeer herders. When these two different modes of resource use are practiced in the same territory, conflicts are inevitable. Based on their previous experience with industrial development, the Nenets are anxious about the future of reindeer herding and the tundra. This article is based on my fieldwork among reindeer herders in the central part of the district in 1996 and 1997 (Figure 1).

Traditionally, Nenets have subsisted on nomadic hunting, fishing, and, most importantly, reindeer herding, which was collectivized in the 1930s and 1940s. Reindeer became the property of collective farms, and herders were organized into brigades (working teams). Collectivization in the Nenets District was quite successful, and today reindeer herding remains almost purely a Nenets occupation. Nevertheless, during the second half of the 20th century the majority of the Nenets population settled (or was born) in villages established for collective farms. Despite this fact, reindeer herding is revered by the whole of Nenets society. The Nenets have a special relationship to the tundra, which they consider home, and all are anxious about the future of reindeer herding (Golovnev 1995:198).

At the beginning of the 1990s, the district's ten reindeer herding kolkhozes (collective farms) and three sovkhozes (state farms) were reorganized, or rather renamed, into seven joint stock farms (KDKH, kollektivno dolevoe khoziastvo), two joint-stock enterprises (KDP, kollektivno dolevoe pred-piiatie), two agricultural production cooperatives (SPK, sel'skokhoziastvennui proizvodstvennyi kooperativ) and one community (obshchina.) These units can be called collective farms because reindeer are owned by the farm, which pays herders, who can also own personal reindeer at the same time. Two new units have emerged-lamb-To and Erv-in which all reindeer are privately owned. The lamb-To community was established for those Nenets who did not join collective farms during the Soviet period. Erv is a group of herders who set up a private association of reindeer herders. I have conducted fieldwork in two collective farms, Kharp and Vyucheiskii, and in Erv.

Reindeer herding units consist of herders, who work on the tundra, and administration, which is based in the villages. Kharp's and Erv's central farms are based in the village of Krasnoe, and Vyucheiskii's is in the village of Nelmin Nos. In collective farms there are also other workers living permanently in the villages. Administrators represent the whole unit in public and in negotiations about development.

Reindeer herding is the main form of land use in the Nenets District, and reindeer pastures occupy 73.4 percent of the territory (Andreeva 1999:37). Reindeer migrate and change pastures seasonally; however, people control the migration route. In the Nenets District many reindeer herding units spend the summer on open tundra, and in the winter they migrate to the forest-tundra. Reindeer herding requires large areas for pastures, and migration routes can be several hundred kilometers long. Although reindeer migrate, they use the same pastures year after year, and, like their herders, reindeer have an identity based on place (Fondahl 1997:72).

For reindeer herding the quality of pastures is more important than the quantity (Svensson 1987:135). The availability of lichen pastures is crucial for herding: it is the main nutrition during the winter. During the summer reindeer do no eat lichen, but trample it, so summer pastures must be located further from lichen areas.

Reindeer provide herders with essential material for dwellings, clothing, and basic nutrition. They are the source of cash income whether herders receive a salary for herding or sell meat and hides. The most important means of transport on the tundra are still reindeer, although modern mechanized means are used to connect the tundra with the villages.

Methods

Material for this research was collected during fieldwork for my doctoral thesis on Nenets reindeer herders' adaptive strategies in 1996 and 1997. The language of fieldwork was Russian, which is the lingua franca in the area. I lived in two villages and in two reindeer herding camps. In the villages, I interviewed administrators of the reindeer herding units and reindeer herders, who were there for different reasons. In the villages I obtained information mostly by talking with people. Most interviews were informal; while I was working alongside people or drinking tea, people told me about their lives. Some interviews were unstructured, when we really sat down to talk only about reindeer herding, but I knew I could come back the day after if something was unclear. With officials I conducted semistructured, audiotaped interviews. Generally, people did not like to be interviewed, at least not taped, but they were not against talking about their lives if it happened when and how they wanted it.