Komi reindeer herding: the effects of socialist and post-socialist change on mobility and land use

Abstract

This paper contributes to the discussion concerning the way in which Soviet state policies have influenced the lives, social organization, economy and culture of a group of indigenous Komi reindeer herders of northern Russia: its main focus is to explain how these policies have changed the herders' patterns of migration and land use. Extensive anthropological fieldwork-to determine current and past herding practices-was carried out and archives were thoroughly investigated to document land use changes in relation to state reindeer herding policies. It was found that compared with those of several decades ago, the migration routes are now much shorter, as the herders have abandoned large areas of winter pastures located in the southernmost part of their herding territory. This "abandonment" phenomenon is endemic amongst reindeer herders generally, throughout the Komi Republic. Whereas the reasons for the abandonment of winter pastures are diverse, they can be attributed mostly to the state sedentarization policy, which has modified the family structures of herders, and the continuing decreases in state subsidies that have changed the balance between state and private ownership of reindeer. Both these factors have greatly contributed to the herders' dependence on visiting towns, where they now own flats, and on selling reindeer products, upon which they are increasingly reliant for financial security.

Theories of Nomadic Movement: A New Theoretical Approach for Understanding the Movement Decisions of Nenets and Komi Reindeer Herders

“…Considering that vörgas run parallel to one other from south to north -the distance between two neighbouring paths ranging from between two and 12 km at any given location -a pasturing corridor typically has to be shared by two brigadas (see Dwyer and Istomin 2006). The current length of the paths can reach at least 450-500 km, so that the Komi travel up to 1,000 km per year; there is evidence that this figure was considerably larger in the recent past (Dwyer and Istomin 2008). Along the vörgas, established camping sites (chom mesta) are situated at a distance of 10-13 km from one another; this distance is known as lunkost (daytrip), and the brigadas' migration usually consists of moving from one camp site to the next.…”

The Shrinking Resource Base of Pastoralism: Saami Reindeer Husbandry in a Climate of Change

“…Less conspicuous but no less pervasive were-and still are-the effects on reindeer pastoralism of the loss of pasture and the disruption of movement of herds and herders owing to the expansion of infrastructure and commercial, military and private activity into reindeer pasture areas. Modern examples include the direct and cumulative impact of oil, gas, mining, wind-and hydro-electricity and other infrastructure developments in northern pasture areas since the 1970s (Dwyer and Istomin, 2009;Forbes et al, 2009;Degteva and Nellemann, 2013;Tolvanen et al, 2019). We return to this below.…”

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“…Это вызвано, по-видимому, как стремлением различных этноареальных групп ижемцев приспособится к эколо-гическим условиям новой родины и влиянием на них культуры и экономики местного населения, так и государственной политикой в отношении оленеводства, в особенности политикой совет-ского времени (в отношении регионов расселения коми см. : [Dwyer, Istomin, 2009]). Главную же роль, пожалуй, сыграло то, что технологические особенности ижемского оленеводства в Боль-шеземельской тундре определялись и, вероятно, поддерживались прежде всего товарным ха-рактером этой отрасли, ее ориентацией на максимизацию рыночной стоимости продукции.…”

“…Действитель-но, насколько нам известно, ни ижемцы, ни кто-либо другой не занимаются сейчас оленеводст-вом так, как их предки во второй половине XIX -начале XX в. В частности, различия с олене-водством начала XX в. велики и в самой Большеземельской тундре: отказ от зимнего кочевания на фоне перехода к моторизированному выпасу оленей [Истомин, 2015;Istomin et al, 2017] яв-ляется одним из таких различий, хотя есть и множество других (см. анализ: [Dwyer, Istomin, 2009]). В этом отношении технология оленеводства, применяемая в настоящее время, скажем, на нижнем Пуре, ближе к «ижемскому оленеводству», но отличия велики и там.…”