Landscape Approach to the Anthropological Study of Reindeer Herding in the North of European Russia and Western Siberia

In order to test the utility of the landscape approach in anthropological studies of traditional economies, this study analyzes three local variants of tundra reindeer herding - that of Taz Tundra, Nadym Tundra and Kola Tundra - as reindeer herding landscapes. The later are understood as territories where a unique constellation of three basic elements - people, reindeer and natural environment - emerged as a result of the unique local history of their interplay and mutual influence. The analysis demonstrates how the interaction between people and reindeer produces new behavioral models both in the herders (new herding techniques) and in the reindeer (behavioral traditions). Furthermore, these models are formed in a cyclical manner: new herding techniques of herders produce new behavioral traditions of reindeer, which in their turn open the way for further modification of herding techniques to make them more effective, etc. Similarly, migrations of the herders with reindeer and reindeer grazing modify the environment by producing new (e.g. migration paths) and modifying old (e.g. vegetation distribution) elements of it. These changes also impact back on the behavior of people and reindeer. As a result, people, reindeer and environment “adapt” to each other more and more creating a unique reindeer herding landscape. Understanding this process as well as its cumulative result is of both theoretical and significant practical importance.

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