Customer Reviews

The Reindeer People: Living With Animals and Spirits in Siberia

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I don't know where exactly to put this book - it is partly a memoir, a travelogue, an anthropological study for the lay reader...

Vitebsky spent a number of summers with different bands of Eveny, a Tungus tribe in mid Siberia. These Eveny were all associated with a 'State Farm', a Soviet era relic that regulates the use of the territory assigned to the bands, shipping of reindeer meat and antlers and bringing in supplies. The Farm was in this case controlled by an incompetent, alcoholic director and his cronies, who had been responsible for a number of disastrous decisions that had a big impact on the region as a whole.

Eveny have been hit hard by Soviet times and even harder in the chaos of the perestroika. They lost their shamans and the number of men willing to spend their winters herding reindeer in the forbidding sub sub zero taiga is decreasing, especially as the women refuse to leave the relative comfort of villages for the traditional nomadic way of life. As Vitebsky trails the herders on their annual migration, he is witnessing the impressive array of skills these people have to survive in one of the most inhospitable regions n this planet; slowly, as he is taken into their confidences, he also sees a part of their life that is hidden from the casual visitor. Although their shamans have all been killed, and the rituals all but stamped out, a number of folk 'superstitions' control all areas of Eveny life. Propitiating spirits of the land, dead ancestors, interpreting omens and dreams all play a central role in Eveny activity. There is a number of striking similarities with NA Indians in the relationship to the land, their respect of silence, mutual assistance and the non verbal communication that happens in that silence. Like the Indians, Eveny don't speak much, but when they do, the words mean something... like the Indians, the Eveny are getting destroyed by alcohol.

Vitebsky is mostly interested in social aspects of contemporary Eveny life - social tensions, alliances, intrigues and gossip. Given the tools he has he does a good job in bringing us a portrait of a native community deep in Siberia. Unlike what one might expect, his eveny are no ignorant herders - these guys have been around in schools, the military, they read astronomy, Wittgenstein and Mme Blavatsky and listen daily to radio Moscow; they seemed to be way better informed about the world situation than your average American (which doesn't say a lot).

Nevertheless, given its ambitious title, the book somehow does not deliver what it promises, at least it not for me. 'Living with animals and spirits' was missing something, i guess it was animals and spirits. Above all, Vitebsky is all too careful to approach these except through his informants. Now I also know why I am not an anthropologist. It would be very difficult for me to watch the State Farm director destroy people's lives without getting involved in some way; well, V. is an anthropologist and documents the disintegration that occurs with professional detachment. Still, there is good stuff in there and if you are interested in reindeer, this is the book to read.

Vitebsky's book is a wonderful look at the life, lives and living conditions in an area of the world most of us would consider uninhabitable. While it is an anthropological study, it overflows with human feelings and contact that make this a truly unforgettable read. This truly shows the need for humans to coexist with nature, not rule it.
Read this book.

For someone who has only traveled so far as a few hundred miles in a sedan, my world is mind-numbingly small. Logistically, I rely on MapQuest to get me from "Point A" to "Point B"... and hopefully back in one piece. Without truly comprehending the land and life enveloping me in a "rural-suburban" town located somewhere in the cesspool of Bowash, I sorely needed a wake-up call to the raw emotion and spirit that has been inherently ingrained in the Eveny people, their reindeer, and their relationship to the expanses of Sakhan Siberia. As Vitebsky relives such experiences in The Reindeer People, his strikingly vivid account of living side-by-side with the Eveny not only intrigues, but brings to light the troubles faced by indigenous people that have been perpetuated by the Soviet era as well as its horrendous aftermath. Vitebsky's tale of the inevitable downfall of what was once a pristine way of life for these people offers a poignantly bittersweet glimpse of what is becoming all but history. Without a doubt, this is one of the greatest books to come my way in a long time!

I learned here that Reindeer herding for the commercial meat market has been a staple of Artic communities throughout the 20th Century (hence the effort to translpant it to Alaska in the 1920s).

This is an amazing story of a British anthropologist's 25+ years visiting and documenting the life of some of the last indigenous Siberian people to herd domestic reindeer. We meet many keenly individual men women and children, from the university-trained to the descendants of shamans. I was reminded of the Mongul family in the documenary movie "The Weeping Camel," and of Amundson's antarctic expeditions, which used native skills while Scott died using modern mechanical aids. We learn what it was like to live under Soviet rule (when labor camps drove the meat markets); we watch Perestroika as it affects both animals and people, and we witness the region's disastrous ecological and economic decline under Putin's Russia.

Fascinating historical and factual account of the animal itself but more over, an incredible view of how they have influenced the social evolution of a huge part of the world. Very informative. Affords the reader a rare glimpse into a world (mostly Siberia) that so few us have any comprehension of.

This book is about the author's life among reindeer herders in Siberia. It mostly documents the devastating results of collectivization on their culture, especially family life. With the fall of Communism, the situation has not changed appreciably, as their lives are irrevocably disrupted and they still suffer from bureaucracy. One is left with a profound sadness at the herder's situation. The book is well-written and the author is obviously sympathetic to the native peoples and their plight.

My son is a history major at college and needed this book for class. The price was affordable and a book he will have for many years to use in his teaching career.

This book is NOT like a novel it's like a textbook. You will not find this interesting unless you have a liking to caribou.