Human-Animal Relations in Pastoralism

Abstract

Humans and Reindeer on the Move, this special issue of Nomadic Peoples. carries a challenging intent of purpose. It aims to give a state-of-the-art, comparative perspective of reindeer management spread around the circumpolar rim. Reindeer-related livelihoods encompass the topic in such diverse and multiple ways that movement becomes not only the overarching 'glue" of this special issue; it also invites us, together with the authors, to contribute theoretically to our understanding of the move. The title 'Humans and Reindeer on the Move" stands therefore for a theoretical framework in several dimensions. Movement of humans and reindeer is understood by the authors of this volume in multiple ways including the literal sense, namely migrations of pastoral nomads with reindeer, but also as the constant move between engaging with wild and domestic reindeer. Movetnent is also the transition from a Soviet planned economy to a market-oriented one. which finds expression in the movement of goods and gifts within various spheres of exchange. Finally, we can attempt to clarify the importance and essence of movement in pastoralists' minds, as compared with categories of mobility created by non-pastoralists. All these multiple facets are covered by the contributors to this volume, while we focus in this introduction on the move between what we will call symbiotic domestication in human-reindeer relations, and rationalisation leading to full resource use at the cost of intimate human-animal relations.The contributions, all thoroughly grounded in fieldwork data, were carefully chosen to provide such a broad regional distribution. However, more than this, our reason for focus on reindeer-based economies and livelihoods was precisely to highlight important variables of significance in the study of pastoralism in general. We maintain that the human-reindeer relationship, or rather its various changeable relationships, pinpoint determinants of principle in the development and practice of all forms of pastoralism (and other humananimal-based partnerships or modes of exploitation). These principles might not be apparent through the study of reindeer systems of livelihood alone, but they certainly shine forth prominently there, because of the unique spread over wild, feral, and domestic conditions of the species Rangifer tarandiis, and the many associations these different populations have with humans -it might well be that some of these Rangifer populations are exploited as objects of the hunt and others of domestic herding by the satne people at the same time (see. for example, Ventsel, this volume). The reindeer-human connection thus brings together a remarkable laboratory for the study of key determinants in many of 6

Resonance Strategies of Sámi Reindeer Herders in Northernmost Finland during Climatically Extreme Years

“…The adaptive capacity, vulnerability, and resilience of reindeer herding to global change have been studied in northern Fennoscandia, northwestern Russia, and Alaska in various interdisciplinary and intercultural projects (e.g., Beach and Stammler, 2006;Stammler and Beach, 2006;Tyler et al, 2007;Moen, 2008;Rees et al, 2008;Rattenbury et al, 2009;Turunen et al, 2009;Hovelsrud and Smit, 2010). It has been shown that reindeer herders' traditional responses to changes are greatly dependent on flexibility in herding practices.…”

Dynamic Mutual Adaptation: Human-Animal Interaction in Reindeer Herding Pastoralism

“…No commonly accepted definition of this term exists at this time. However, Beach and Stammler (2006) have recently claimed that this term actually refers to behavioral differences between controlled and uncontrolled reindeer. Our material supports this claim, but with an important correction.…”

Sun, Xiaogang, Naoki Naito (eds) (2007), Mobility, Flexibility and Potential of Nomadic Pastoralism in Eurasia and Africa

“…Thus, it is difficult to meaningfully extend these findings. Surprisingly, in her discussions of human-animal relations, Kazato also fails to draw upon major works on the topic, such as those by Tim Ingold (1986Ingold ( , 1988Ingold ( , 2000 or more recent articles such as Beach and Stammler (2006), which appeared in this journal.…”