Mapping Evenki Land: The Study of Mobility Patterns in Eastern Siberia
Mapping Evenki Land: The Study of Mobility Patterns in Eastern Siberia

Summary/Abstract: In this article the Evenki way of moving is studied with an intention to reformulate the place of movement in modern hunter-gathering cultures. Firstly, the data collected during the fieldworks among two Evenki groups will be presented in a form of special maps carrying information not only about the routes but also various activities. Both groups are cut from each other by a mountain ridge and live in slightly different ecological and social environments, which have a contribution to the difference in their movements. With the one group of horse herders living on the frontier between steppe and taiga and the other group relying on reindeer herding and living deep in taiga, the consequential differences in their mobility routes did not touch the basic patterns in the way their mobility is organized. The second part of the article is devoted to one of this shared basic pattern, the way the Evenki walk by foot. This part is devoted to a comparison between how this cultural practice is understood by Buryats, cattle breeding people, and our own interpretations based on fieldwork materials. The comparing of this two views of outsiders on the one of the most basic and routine practice will give the opportunity to study the relationship between a specific way of moving and hunting. The remained part of the article tracks the interrelations between such aspects of Evenki culture as ways of moving, the idea of self and territory organization.

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