Khants’ Time.

• Main Author: Snellman, Hanna
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Aleksanteri Instituutti, Helsingin yliopisto 2010
• Subjects: khanty; taiga; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/16242

Today, a hundred years after die time when Western scholars rushed to document the traditional ways of livelihood of the peoples of Western Siberia, this area is again of topical interest. Tundra and taiga provide a complex setting for life for the approxi-mately I 9.000 Khants living in the area. The vast majority of the old-growth forests in Europe are located in Northern Russia. In 1998 the Finnish forest industry for the first time expanded its procurement area to the Khanty-Manst area. Yet there is still not enough knowledge of the natural resources of these areas, much less the cultural. It is our duty in the West to ensure that the Khant culture is not destroyed by the West's need for natural gas, oil and wood products. This book is one way of taking a glimpse at the traditional Khant way of thinking and living in harmony with nature. This study is in line with current trends in research concerning time. It is proved that nonliterate cultures are not as non-time-conscious as they have often been presented. The way time and history is measured is just different from the ways the majority use.