Abstract
Contemporary rural Viliui Sakha of northeastern Siberia, Russia, are a Turkicspeaking people practicing horse and cattle breeding in the subarctic. This article details their story of survival in the north as one not only of adapting a southern subsistence to an extreme climate but also to the effects of Russian colonization, Soviet collectivization, and post-Soviet decentralization. In the post-Soviet period a majority of rural Viliu Sakha adapted to the loss of a centralized agro-industrial state farm system by developing a smallholder food production system relying on cattle husbandry supplemented with other subsistence sources including fish, game, forage, other domesticates, and garden products. In the twenty-first century, this “cows-and-kin” system represents a resilient smallholder adaptation based on reviving pre-Soviet production knowledge, recalling ecological knowledge, and relying on kin. The article concludes with a discussion of the future of cows-and-kin by exploring issues of alienated youth, accessing land and the overwhelming concern of inhabitants about the local effects of global climate change.
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Notes
In the late twentieth century archaeological remains of an entire cattle and horse raising settlement in the central regions of Sakha dating back to the thirteenth century added archaeological evidence for these migration (Gogolov 1993:3).
There is only one other case of people in the world having kept cows in a subarctic climate, and they have long vanished due to their inability to adapt to local conditions once the climate changed (McGovern 1980: 245–275).
It is quite feasible to assume that these two subsistence modes were practiced simultaneously as one became more favorable due to fluctuation in local climatic (Krupnik 1993).
This aboriginal breed is now being raised at three locations in the Sakha Republic.
Additionally, it also heavily impacted fur-bearing animal populations in the Viliui and across Siberia which, beginning in the mid-1600s, was Imperial Russia’s main source of economic growth, based on the abundance of “soft gold,” or sable and other precious fur-bearing animals, but was thrown into economic decline began in the early nineteenth century due to over exploitation of those fur resources (Bassin 1991).
I collected the main data for this specific study with Viliui Sakha households in Elgeeii and Kutana villages of the Suntar region, Sakha, between July 20, 1999, and June 16, 2000. I used both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies including household surveys, time allocation observations, household economic diaries, sequential elder life history interviews, archival research necessary to fill out the local historical record, and semiformal interviews with local, regional, and state specialists. I administered a survey to a random sample of 30% of all households in both villages (n = 289).
It is important to note here that although all households do not keep cows, the majority access cow products and the other supplemental sources important to household food production via kin households that do produce these products.
Non-cow households are often called upon to help cow households, especially when they have an interdependent relation with them—they get products in return for labor.
During my 1999–2000 full year of research, I contracted 11 household heads to maintain an economic diary for the full year including all expenses and income, domestic production, trade and bartering, social events and weekly menu. I chose these households to represent a range of household make-up, economic and productive activity, and sources of kin relationships.
Not including 10 weeks of non-laying.
There are also some species that the more ‘expert’ berriers forage for, including ‘dog’s paw,’ ‘crow berry,’ and ‘boney berry.’
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Acknowledgements
I first and foremost acknowledge the people of the Viliui regions of western Sakha, Russia without whom my ongoing research would not be possible. I also acknowledge my funders. The research for this article is a consolidation of work for the last 15 years and was funded by a 3 year National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs, Arctic Social Science Program Grant #0204845 (May 2003–May 2005); #0532993 (May 2005–May 2006); a Social Science Research Council Dissertation Write-up Award; a UNC Latane Interdisciplinary Summer Research Grant; American Association of University Women Dissertation Write-up Grant; UNC Smith Graduate Research Fund Grant; National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Award; Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Research Abroad Award; Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Field Research Fellowship; International Research & Exchange Board Individual Advanced Research Award; John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (1994–1997); and an International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) On-Site Language Training Grant. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the above funding agencies. I also acknowledge the anonymous reviewers who provided constructive and useful comments to make this article stronger.
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Crate, S.A. “Eating Hay”: The Ecology, Economy and Culture of Viliui Sakha Smallholders of Northeastern Siberia. Hum Ecol 36, 161–174 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-007-9138-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-007-9138-1