Novye Issledovaniâ Tuvy (Sep 2019)
Nomads of the North: mobility and mentality
Abstract
The article presents the author’s field observations made in 2013-2018 in three tundras of Chukotka, Yamal and the Kola Peninsula among the Chukchi, Nenets, Saami and Komi-Izhemtsy. The nomadic technologies of reindeer herders provide mobility in the extreme environment of the Arctic in their multidimensional complexity, from the space-time design of nomads’ camps-caravans to multi-functionality of material things. The nomadic tradition covers a whole array of concepts (or principles), including fused space-time, which, on the one hand, are ultimately practical, and on the other, they deserve a theoretical projection. Unlike the sedentary worldview, where space and time are separated, in nomadic mentality they are inseparable. As the time moves (migrates) across the space, with each month having its own spatial marks, so the space does not exist out of the time. If space and time in sedentary mentality are perceived as objective dimensions of human life, the nomadic fused space-time is subjective and does not move without human participation. Nomadic values favor motion over stasis, action over idleness, and maneuver over waiting. Arctic nomadology contributes to the theory of movement/mobility, which may provide an impact in the humanities comparable to that of the theory of relativity in classic physics.
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