Mobility and Economy of the Evenkis in Eastern Siberia

• Main Author: Mertens, Karl
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ScholarWorks 2015
• Subjects: Forager mobility; time allocation; pastoral mobility; foraging; reindeer herding; subsistence economy; Anthropology; Evenki; Siberia
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/td/1049; https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/context/td/article/2051/viewcontent/Mertens_Karl_thesis_December_2015.pdf

Mobility is an aspect of human activity that is highly contextual but also in need of a framework for comparative analysis through time and space. This thesis examines Evenki mobility patterns and how these patterns relate to the economic practices of hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding, and utilizes a framework for considering mobility cross-culturally. The Evenkis are an indigenous minority living throughout central and eastern Siberia in the Russian Federation. In the fall and winter of 2011/2012, fieldwork among two groups of Evenkis documented patterns of resource use, foraging, and mobility. One group lives in a village and disperses to the outlying area during the hunting and fishing seasons. The other group migrates year-round with their reindeer for hunting, trapping, fishing, and pasturage. Both groups are integrated into market and government systems through exchange of forest products for industrially produced goods, employment, taxes, and permitting. The information gathered through this research sheds light on contemporary indigenous mobility patterns connected to a variety of ecological, social, and economic factors.