BALOK AND TENT - NEW DWELLINGS ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE NENETS OECUMENE Cover Image

БАЛОК И ПАЛАТКА - НОВЫЕ ЖИЛИЩА НА ОКРАИНАХ НЕНЕЦКОЙ ОЙКУМЕНЫ
BALOK AND TENT - NEW DWELLINGS ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE NENETS OECUMENE

Author(s): Yuri N. Kvashnin
Subject(s): Regional Geography, Recent History (1900 till today), Social development, Radical sociology , Economic development, 19th Century
Published by: Институт языкознания Российской академии наук
Keywords: Nenets; Kanin tundra; Taz; Yenisei; chum; yurt; balok; tent; adaptation;

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the processes of adaptation of the Nenets to new types of dwellings in the extreme east (in the interfluve of the Taz and Yenisei rivers) and the extreme west (in the Kanin tundra) of their territory in the XX - early XXI centuries. The article analyzes the problems faced by economic workers in the 1930-1980s, trying to replace the traditional yurts by introducing artificially designed tents, wagons, and trailers into the everyday life of northern nomads. The processes of a difficult, but natural transition of the Taz-Yenisei Nenets from the yurts to the Dolgan-type gullies, and the Kanin Nenets into tents designed by the Komi-Izhemtsy are shown. The transition of the Yenisei Nenets to the gullies might not have taken place if not for the construction of collective farms in the North in the 1930s. The Dolgans were the only nomads who lived in the gullies for almost a century before the establishment of Soviet power. None of the peoples who roamed at that time in the immediate vicinity of them replaced the traditional chums with beams. Only the attempts of Soviet workers to voluntarily improve the nomadic life of reindeer herders made this change possible. Gullies proved to be the most acceptable type of housing to replace the yurts. The transformation of the life of the Nenets of the Kanin tundra began in the 1960s-1980s. The Komi-Izhemtsy became the innovators who radically changed the life of the Kanin reindeer breeders. A tent built in the early 1960s by the late 1980s gradually replaced the yurt. The Nenets resisted this innovation for a long time and gave up only because they saw an important advantage of the tent - the absence of the need to slaughter a large number of reindeer and to engage in labor-intensive manufacturing of skins for tires. The main conclusion of the study is that it is only the conservative thinking that for a long time did not allow the Nenets to change anything in their way of life, including the types of dwellings

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 04 (43)
  • Page Range: 35-48
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Russian