Peoples of the Tundra: Northern Siberians in the Post-Communist Transition [Paperback]

John P. Ziker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1577662121 | ISBN-13: 978-1577662129 | Publication Date: April 1, 2002

On ethnographic grounds alone, Ziker's book is a unique and valuable contribution. Despite increased fieldwork opportunities for foreigners in the former Soviet Union in recent years, much of Russia and Siberia remains terra incognita to Western scholars, except for specialists who know the Russian literature. Ziker's account of the Dolgan and Nganasan peoples of the Ust Avam community is a fascinating analysis of how people adapt their hunting, fishing, and herding not only to the demanding Arctic environment but also to enormous economic and political adversities created in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. In this sense, the book fills a gap in the ethnographic literature on Siberia for Western students and, at the same time, serves as a microcosm of the devastating changes affecting rural communities and indigenous peoples generally in a disintegrating former superpower: that is, increasing isolation and a shift to nonmarket survival economies. Includes student study guide.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Titles of related interest from Waveland Press: Balikci, The Netsilik Eskimo (ISBN 978881334357); Brody, Maps and Dreams: Indians and the British Columbia Frontier (ISBN 9780881339659); Jarvenpa, Northern Passage: Ethnography and Apprenticeship among the Subarctic Dene (ISBN 97800881339901); and Kawagley, A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit, Second Edition (ISBN 9781577663843).

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577662121
• ISBN-13: 978-1577662129
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #533,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book of the Month, December 3, 2004

By 

Gail Fondahl "fondahl" (British Columbia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peoples of the Tundra: Northern Siberians in the Post-Communist Transition (Paperback)

1 May 2003
Gail Fondahl, University of Northern British Columbia
John Ziker's Peoples of the Tundra provides an informative account of post-Soviet adaptations in the remote indigenous community of Ust-Avam on the Taymyr penisula. He suggests that, counter to global trends of even remote communities becoming increasingly linked with the world economy, in this region, isolation and independence is on the rise. Ziker pays specific attention to the evolution of property rights and land use, noting the significant disjunction between new legal provisions for land rights, and preferred property arrangements in situ.

Ust-Avam, populated mainly by Dolgans, Nganasans and Russians, has watched its connections to the `outside' atrophy, as the state has withdrawn transportation subsidies, and as the hunting enterprise which organized economic activities during the Soviet period has languished. Some scholars have argued that the post-Soviet transition toward a market economy will mean a partial return to `traditional' ways of life (e.g., Pika 1999). The Russian government in fact has allowed for land claims to be pursued on the basis of what some ethnographers have argued was the predominant pre-Soviet indigenous land tenure system, founded around the obshchina. Ziker asks why few native families have pursued such obshchina lands, and why most have made no attempt to gain formal title to land in this part of Russia. This is the core theme of his book; however his broader intent is to introduce the Dolgans and Nganasans, peoples poorly documented in the English language.

Ziker has directed his book toward an undergraduate anthropology audience, aware that it will also attract scholars of indigenous peoples in Russia. After outlining his general argument, he introduces the geography and basic economy of the region, focussing especially on the diversity of hunting techniques and hunted species. We then receive a historical overview of changing property relations in Taymyr since Russian penetration, with emphasis on the Soviet period of settlement and collectivization. The Volochanka Rebellion, a long-shrouded example of resistance to early Sovietization, is covered more thoroughly here than in other English-language sources (cf. Anderson 2000, Golovnev and Osherenko 1999). Ziker also underscores how many Native individuals view the late Soviet as the golden age - though he might have accentuated for an undergraduate audience that this remembering and re-presentation of that period must be considered in the face of current woes.

Chapter 4, curiously titled "Alcohol and Violent Death' records a much more comprehensive story of demographic changes in Ust Avam. Ziker reveals a substantially reduced birth rate since 1993. His discussion of mortality exposes differences along axes of gender and ethnicity: especially interesting is the comparison of Dolgan and Nganasan mortality. The grim picture of increased alcohol abuse, foreshadowed in the chapter's title, is all too representative of villages across northern Russia.

In Chapter 5, Ziker turns to a short introduction of Dolgan and Nganasan spirituality, discussing shamans and sacred places. It would have been interesting to have this discussion linked to the over-arching theme of the book, by noting whether any attempt has been made to claim and/or otherwise protect sacred places through new property systems. Chapter 6 attends specifically to property relations. It is here that scholars of Russia may find the most interesting material. Ziker reflects on why informal institutions of property division and common-pool resource management are supplanting Soviet property institutions, in direct contrast to global trends of formalization of property relations and erosion of common-pool resource management. He explains the lack of interest in indigenous `land claims' in terms of risk-minimizing strategies. Moreover, Ziker lucidly recounts how the several levels of government (federal, territorial, district) have viewed the roles and purposes of obshchinas differently - and their views have shifted over time - a factor also influencing locals' receptivity to `land claims'. Rather, locals fear that such land allocations may limit access to migratory resources. The few land claims which have been pursued reveal a geography of proximity to urban centers. Beyond these more easily accessed lands, as state controls and supports wither indigenous hunters and trappers rely not on the fixed land claims which new laws allow (and officials may permit), but on kinship relations that provide access to a wide range of hunting and foraging places. These observations challenge seemingly universal patterns of evolving property relations, and warrant more attention!

Ziker ends his book with a bit of a potpourri: Chapter 7 deals with social/kinship organization of the Dolgans and Nganasans (including quantitative measures of relatedness); and a quick introduction to recent trends in the political organization of indigenous peoples across Russia. He notes rightly that while indigenous organization activities have expanded rapidly, as has international cooperation, the regions receive little benefit. This in fact is a predicament acknowledged by the top leaders of the Russian indigenous leaders.

A study guide consisting of discussion questions aids the utility of Peoples of the Tundra for an introductory anthropology course. The book is nicely illustrated with numerous photos, helping the reader to better understand the people and landscapes discussed. (That there are five times as many pictures of men as of women does seem curious, especially for a book pointed at an early undergraduate audience.) Unfortunately, the maps are poor, containing inadequate or ambiguous information, and some are not introduced early enough. Most frustrating for the specialist is the lack of clarity in terminology during discussions of property relations: Ziker uses the term "ownership" (e.g. p.136), but it is not clear whether this is his translation of vladenie or soobstvennost' - a nuance perhaps lost on early undergraduates but of critical importance to specialists. Yet these and other minor editorial oversights don't jeopardize the book's utility for either readership. It is not easy to maneuver between producing a book for one's colleagues and a text for early undergraduates. Peoples of the Tundra provides the latter with an accessible text that challenges some widely held lore on global processes. It whets the specialists' appetite for further development of Ziker's original observations and arguments in forthcoming academic articles.

References
Anderson, D.G. 2000. Identity and Ecology in Arctic Siberia. The Number One Reindeer Brigade. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Golovnev, A. and G. Osherenko (1999) Siberian Survival. The Nenets and Their Story. Ithaca: Cornell University Press

Pika, A. (editor). 1999 [1994]. Neotraditionalism in the Russian North. Indigenous Peoples and the Legacy of Perestroika. Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars unorganized, November 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Peoples of the Tundra: Northern Siberians in the Post-Communist Transition (Paperback)

This book is poorly written. Ideas are vague and never expanded to completion. Ziker seems adept at starting one topic, and then branching off into so many other aspects that one gets lost and is unable to follow the original point of the discussion. I never got a feel for the people or their lifestyle except for the rare generalized glimpses that Ziker offers into their basic behavior. For a man that lived among these people, he doesn't leave the impression that he got to know them at all. Unless this is required text I would pass.