Pre‐Soviet pasts of reindeer‐herding collectives: Ethnographies of transition in Murmansk region

Konstantinov, Yulian

doi:10.1080/08003830008580511

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Although the few remaining sovkhoz and kolkhoz collectives in Kamchatka have changed as a result of perestroika and the transition to new markets, their continued presence in rural villages reflects an unwillingness to abandon the institutional structures of labor, ownership, and authority established during the Soviet era (Konstantinov 2002;Vladimirova 2006). At the same time, the presence of privatized collectives that operate more or less like any other company creates a clear contrast between Soviet-era cultural norms and values and those that are emerging in the post-Soviet era.…”

Section: Collective Institutions and Legacies Of Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…If these collectives effectively restrict an individual's ability to achieve personal profit at the expense of the group, then framing public goods games should increase cooperation. However, closer inspection reveals that these institutions often succeed or fail to the extent the collectives enable members to build and maintain their own social networks, creating a complex balance between individual incentives and common benefits (Konstantinov 2002;Vladimirova 2006). These networks overlap imperfectly within collectives and extend beyond their boundaries, suggesting the appropriate arena for investigating group-level benefits may not be the collectives but the networks they sustain.…”

Section: Theories Of Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Cooperation in Context

Gerkey

2013

Current Anthropology

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Economic game experiments have become a prominent method among social scientists developing and testing theories of cooperation. These games provide a valuable opportunity to generate measures of cooperation that can be compared from one place to the next, yet challenges remain in how to interpret cross-cultural differences in these experiments and connect them to cooperation in naturally occurring contexts. I address these challenges by examining framing effects in public goods games (PGGs) with salmon fishers and reindeer herders in Kamchatka, Russia. Combining standard versions of the game with versions that refer to post-Soviet institutions coordinating fishing and herding, I show that ( 1 ) average contributions in the PGG in Kamchatka are substantially higher than reported elsewhere and (2) framing the PGG alters the relationship between contributions and expectations, shifting strategies away from unconditional generosity and toward conditional cooperation. My analysis, by synthesizing quantitative analysis of PGG data with long-term qualitative ethnography, including extensive postgame interviews with participants, supports the notion that cooperation in economic games increases along with cultural norms, values, and institutions that emerge from economic interdependence. Framing effects suggest that researchers should devote more attention to investigating the relationship between contributions and expectations.

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Section: Collective Institutions and Legacies Of Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Theories Of Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Cooperation in Context

Gerkey

2013

Current Anthropology

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“…This model -in respect of transformation of property regimes -can be posited, therefore, as a heuristic device applicable to a wide and diverse variety of cases. In what follows we provide ethnography illustrating why a form of privatisation (hidden privatisation) may prefer an ideally indefinite preservation of some reinterpreted form of a socialist enterprise -a strategy, conceptualised as sovkhoism (Konstantinov 1997;15-16;. The specific ethnographic topic is suggested by the significance of heavy-track vehicles (Rus.…”

Section: 'Installations' • •mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Performative Machine: Transfer of Ownership in a Northwest Russian Reindeer Herding Community (Kola Peninsula)

Konstantinov

Vladimirova

2006

Nomadic Peoples

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The article is ba.sed on longitudinal fieldwork with reindeer herders in the Kola Peninsula, northwest Russia. Its main ethnographic focus is SKhPK 'Tundra' (sel'sko khoziastvennaia ptoizvoditet'naia kooperatsiia -agricultural producing cooperative) of Lovozero. The main argument is that a state of communal affairs under the dominance of the state farm isovkhoz). during the Soviet period, privileged domestic economies of the farm workers to be supported by the collective assets of the farm. The authors sec this state of "private-in-the-collective" arrangement as "sovkhoisni" and view the present variety of rural organisational forms in Russia as greater or lesser departures from it.

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“…One example, which has received relatively little detailed attention, is the impact that Soviet/Russian state policy has had on the land use strategies and migration patterns of northern nomadic reindeer herding peoples. It has been documented that the central Soviet administration generally regarded nomadism as a backward way of life, which, although tolerated for economic reasons, was generally viewed as being inconsistent with modernity and destined to disappear (Fondahl 1989; Slezkine 1994; Vakhtin 1994; Golovnev & Oshirenko 1999; Konstantinov 2002). Therefore, up until the beginning of the 1980s, local authorities throughout the Russian North were urged to apply policies that would foster sedentary living.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Dwyer

Istomin

2009

Polar Research

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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.

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Pre‐Soviet pasts of reindeer‐herding collectives: Ethnographies of transition in Murmansk region

Cited by 16 publications

References 4 publications

Cooperation in Context

Cooperation in Context

The Performative Machine: Transfer of Ownership in a Northwest Russian Reindeer Herding Community (Kola Peninsula)

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

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