The Nenets

  
  

The Nenets people of the Siberian arctic are the guardians of a style of reindeer herding that is the last of its kind. Through a yearly migration of over a thousand kilometres, these people move gigantic herds of reindeer from summer pastures in the north to winter pastures just south of the Arctic Circle. No-one knows for certain whether it is the reindeer that lead the people or vice versa. What is certain is that fewer places on earth are home to a more challenging environment, an environment where temperatures plummet to -50C and where crossing the worlds fifth largest river as it deep-freezes is just part of the routine. Such a difficult environment unites the people physically through a regimented work ethic, but far more importantly, the Yamal-Nenets are unified by a robust and vibrant culture. It is a culture that has had to survive a turbulent history, from early Russian colonization, to Stalin’s terror regime, to the modern day dangers of a rapacious oil and gas development programme.

The Yamal Peninsula is one of the least famous, but most important, regions of the Russian Federation. With a territory around 1.5 times the size of France, the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District (YNAO) is located in the West Siberian north, just northeast of the geographic border between Europe and Asia above the Arctic Circle. Today more than 10,000 nomads herd 300,000 domestic reindeer on the pastures of the Arctic tundra. Under those pastures are huge gas deposits holding almost a quarter of the worlds known reserves.

There are traces of indigenous reindeer economies on this peninsula hat stretch back a thousand years, but it is recent history that shapes the current Nenets way of life. In 1961 the Soviets collectivized reindeer herds and created several large state farms, or ‘Sovkhoz’, and reindeer herding was organized into teams of Soviet workers known as ‘Brigady’.Subsequently the term ‘Brigade’came to refer to the groups that were formed (animals and people) and each of these brigades had a head-man, or ‘Brigadier’. This is how nomadic herding became part of the soviet economy and how the tundra effectively became an open-air meat factory where the nomads were workers of the soviet agricultural system with fixed contracts and salaries. Few regional administrations changed the national state-farm template, but there were some that were sensitive to the unique needs of the herders. For example, in Yamal there was a less forceful approach to settling women and children and they were (and still are) able to migrate with their whole families across the tundra. After the Soveit Union, the private reindeer economy began to thrive and state farms dwindled. Today, 80% of the reindeer are privately owned by the herders with remaining 20% owned by the current state-farms, most of which today belong to the municipality.

Nenets Life

  
  
   
  
 

The chum is the living space and is made of reindeer skins that are laid over a skeleton of long wooden poles, many of which have a special position in the structure and are not interchangeable. Usually there will be one family per chum and the number of chums will depend on the size of the brigade or camp. During migrations chums are moved every other day among the most mobile herders and the chum sites are chosen based on pasture, relief and ground quality-having a water source nearby is also important, for brewing the number one Nenets beverage, Sri Lanka black tea. After checking the vegetation on a chum site the Brigadier thrusts his reindeer driving stick into the ground exactly where he wants the centre of the chum to be.

Hunting

  
  
  

Hunting and fishing supplement the Nenets way of life. For those with smaller herds, fishing is of particular importance and counts for most of their income. When meat can’t be stored, during summer months, it makes more sense to fish for subsistence rather than to slaughter, at these times the main diet becomes fish, both raw and cooked. During the winter the Nenets fish through ice holes using a large net that is set underneath the ice. When fishing in this way Nenets men can be seen plunging their hands into ice cold water, to warm them up. Traditionally hunting was done with traps and snares but nowadays, with no market for polar fox, hunting is dome more for sport and to add a little variety to the diet. Almost every herder carries a gun that comes in extremely handy for protecting the herd from predators.

The Future

Since the discovery of oil and gas reserves in the 1970 the Nenets have had increasing contact with the outside world and the infrastructure on the Yamal Peninsula has been rapidly expanding. The tundra is now home to several gas worker villages, is covered by thousands of exploration drill sites, and is home to a new railroad connecting Russia to the West. Building infrastructure on a Peninsula of permafrost, bogs and lakes has significant consequences for the Nenets’ indigenous lifestyle that exists on this environment.  

In the face of popular thought about the dwindling state of global nomadic groups the Yamal-Nenets continue to live a vibrant and robust cultural lifestyle. They have adapted to the social, political and natural world around them and although oil and gas poses a huge threat, hope still exists for them.