Description
Book SynopsisMultispecies Households in the Saian Mountains brings together new ethnographic insights from the mountains of Southern Siberia and Mongolia. It examines Indigenous ideas of what it means to make a home alongside animals and spirits in changing alpine and subalpine environments. Set in the Eastern Saian Mountain Region of South Central Siberia and northern Mongolia, the book covers an area famous for its claim as the birthplace of Eurasian reindeer domestication. Going beyond reindeer, the authors explore the less known role of yak, horses, wolves, spirits, fish, and many other sentient beings, all of which co-constitute local notions of ‘home places.’ In their contributions, the authors reach beyond conventional categories of wild and tame in a region that is increasingly hostile toward its own inhabitants as the result of global efforts to create protected nature reserves. Through its ethnographic nuance, the reader comes to appreciate many connections existing between human and other households — networks of relationships that transcends idioms of dominance or mutualism.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Figures Introduction: On Making Home Together Alex Oehler Part I - Tozhus, Tozhu District, Republic of Tyva Chapter One: The Wolf-Pack Approach: Tozhu Hunting Strategies in the Siberian Taiga Tayana Mongush-Arakchaa Chapter Two: Predatory Relations of Tozhu Hunter-Herders Aivaras Jefanovas Chapter Three: Emplacing Herder-Horse Bonds in Ak-Erik, South Tyva Victoria Peemot Part II - Tofas, Tofalaria, Irkutsk Oblast’ Chapter Four: People, Reindeer, and All the Others: The Shared Taiga as Common Tofa Household Konstantin B. Klokov Chapter Five: On the Role of the Horse in Tofa Households Alex Oehler and Igor Rassadin Chapter Six: Taking Stock: Tofa Reindeer Herding Today Alex Oehler Part III - Dukhas, Khövsgöl Aimag, Mongolia Chapter Seven: Householding as a More-Than-Merely-Human Improvisation Amidst Manifold Frontiers in a Boundless Home(land) Nicolas Rasiulis Chapter Eight: “I Can’t Leave My Erens”: Living in a Spirited Geography with Reindeer Selcen Küçüküstel Chapter Nine: Killed by Mutton: On the Powers of Animal Products in Dukha Households Benedikte Møller Kristensen Part IV - Soiots, Okinskii District, Republic of Buriatiia Chapter Ten: Jade Hunters: Local Connections to Land and Resources in Okinskii District of Buriatiia Anna Varfolomeeva Chapter Eleven: Falling In and Out of Rhythm Alex Oehler Conclusion: The Calls of Homeland Anna Varfolomeeva Index Notes on the Contributors
