Nenets reindeer herders on the lower Yenisei River: traditional economy under current conditions are responses to economic change

The article is dedicated to the problems of survival and development among the aboriginal peoples of northern Russia in the context of current conditions. Data collected in the western art of the Taimyr Autonomous District allowed us to divide the non-sedentary population of this territory into three groups differentiated by overall way of life, land use and economic “calendar.” These groups are: the nomadic reindeer herders of the tundra (about 250–300 people), the semi-nomadic fishermenherders of Yenisei delta (about 500), and the nomadic herders of the forest-tundra (300–350). The economy and ways of life of the three non-sedentary groups are described. Communities whose traditional subsistence base is reindeers have entered a crucial period. In response to the pressure of the dominant society, these peoples have three possible strategies: isolation, passive adaptation and active adaptation. Only the last strategy can preserve their culture, and create a “neoculture”. Now, however, passive adaptation predominates. The mutual, bi-directional process of cultural integration needs to reinforce positive aspects of acculturation and promote active, rather than passive, adaptation. A necessary condition for this is the appearance among the Nenets of an intermediate social stratum which maintains close links to nomadic reindeer-husbandry and is simultaneously integrated into the dominant society