| Summary: | For a long time, the forest environment west of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia has been home to very small acephalous hunting groups, including indigenous Buryat groups, the Ehirit-Bulagat. They gradually became horse breeders like their Mongolian parents, then farmers like the Russian settlers, while remaining faithful to the values of hunting almost until the Soviet era. They were seen as hunters and described as « inextensible » by their Buryat parents in eastern Baikal, the Hori, who sought to increase their herds while practising certain forms of hunting. But they were herders in the eyes of the Evenk, their Tungus neighbours in the north of Baikal, who wanted to be hunters but kept domestic reindeer. Both tacitly internalised similar principles from childhood, in varying forms and to varying degrees : individual autonomy, emulation, mutuality and solidarity. Everyone was encouraged to find their own way of doing things, to take risks, and to be « unique » everything was an opportunity to challenge, to measure oneself, to compete, without ever letting anyone keep the advantage. Emulation boosted relations while strengthening global solidarity. The changes that accompanied the development of animal husbandry led the Ehirit-Bulagat to only partially adopt the hierarchical principle. In their version of Geser’s epic, the hero is the one who is superior in value, not the one who is superior in status. De longue date, l’environnement forestier de l’ouest du lac Baïkal, en Sibérie méridionale, a abrité de très petits groupes acéphales vivant de chasse, dont des groupes bouriates autochtones, les Ehirit-Bulagat. Ceux-ci sont peu à peu devenus éleveurs de chevaux comme leurs parents mongols, puis agriculteurs comme les colons russes, tout en restant fidèles aux valeurs de la chasse quasiment jusqu’à l’époque soviétique. Ils étaient vus en chasseurs et qualifiés d’« inextensibles » par leurs parents bouriates de l’est du Baïkal, les Hori, qui cherchaient à accroître leurs troupeaux tout en pratiquant certaines ...
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