Reindeer, dogs, and horses among the Tozhu reindeer herder-hunters in the Siberian taiga

• Main Author: Arakchaa, Tayana
• Other Authors: Plattet, Patrick, Koester, David, Schweitzer, Peter, Koskey, Michael
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: reindeer; Russia; Tuva; reindeer farming; reindeer herding; herding dogs; horses; human-animal relationships; reindeer herders; East Siberian laika; Fairbanks; taiga; Alaska
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11122/10268

Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2018 Anthropological studies have typically represented reindeer as the uniquely key domesticated animal species for Siberian people. For Tozhu reindeer herder-hunters, however, such a perspective ignores the important roles of dogs and horses. These species are equally vital and interdependent partners of daily life in the mountainous areas of Tuva where Tozhu people live. Each animal comes with specific characteristics, challenges and benefits that necessitate a multispecies perspective--the reindeer-dog-horse triad of Tozhu hunting and reindeer herding economies. This research completes the picture of how taiga-dwelling Tozhu and the three important animal species co-exist together. It seeks to portray: 1) how the Tozhu reindeer herder-hunters interrelate the role of these animals in hunting and reindeer herding; 2) how their intense crossbreeding of dogs and horses has in turn influenced human-animal relationships; and 3) how humans and animals cooperate with each other to achieve shared goals. An overview of anthropological studies of human-animal relations is presented in Chapter 1 and has revealed that humans and their animals are bound in mutual relations in which humans and animals have reciprocally influenced each other. In discussions of hunting and herding, the basic social concepts of "trust" and "domination," connected to "captivity" and "freedom," have become prominent social concepts for interpreting human-animal relations. In the case of the animals with which Tozhu herder-hunters interact in the taiga, both principles, "trust" and "domination," can be observed, though the widespread idea that animals give themselves to humans is not shared by the Tozhu. Chapter 2 of this thesis provides necessary background on the history of the Tozhu people. Chapter 3 outlines the social organization of reindeer herding and hunting in the Tozhu district of the Tyva Republic and focuses on the history of reindeer herding and hunting during the Soviet and ...