Selection and breeding work in northern reindeer husbandry (to change the development paradigm)

Purpose: Assessment of the current state of breeding and tribal work in northern reindeer herding.Due to the specifics of the content and incomplete dignification, breeding and tribal work in reindeer herding differs from other branches of animal husbandry. In the extreme natural conditions of the area, the interaction of the "genotype environment" has a significant impact on the realization of the genetic potential of the individual. The main selection feature of deer, determining all types of productivity - a living mass, an extremely variable phenotypic parameter, fluctuating in different years, by seasons of the year, by farms, which reduces the accuracy of the assessment of population-genetic parameters. In comparison with other pets, the role of natural selection in the microevolution of the reindeer is more substantial. The breeds of reindems relate to the aboriginal and so far do not have ingenust structures included in the state register of breeding achievements admitted to use. Methods for conducting reindeer tests for distinctness, homogeneity and stability, approved by the Government of the Silvering 24.11.2015, for No. 26-12-06, allows you to identify new types and raise breeding and tribal work in reindeer breeding to a higher level. Its main directions are the study, preservation and management of reindeer genetic resources in order to improve existing and creating new competitive types using high-performance genotyping technologies, accurate phenotyping, bio-information and digital technologies.Creation of methodological platforms and development of technologies that contribute to an increase in the implementation of the genetic potential of breeding forms of animals with improved parameters of economic and useful signs. Development of technologies for a lifetime management of meat quality to obtain high quality and safe food. Formation of a new paradigm of the selection process of creating highly productive forms, characterized by high quality indicators. Transformation of the paradigm "reindeer herding" in the conditions of a digital economy and global changes.

Impacts of climate warming on reindeer herding require new land-use strategies

Climate in the Arctic has warmed at a more rapid pace than the global average over the past few decades leading to weather, snow, and ice situations previously unencountered. Reindeer herding is one of the primary livelihoods for Indigenous peoples throughout the Arctic. To understand how the new climate state forces societal adaptation, including new management strategies and needs for preserved, interconnected, undisturbed grazing areas, we coupled changes in temperature, precipitation, and snow depth recorded by automatic weather stations to herder observations of reindeer behaviour in grazing areas of the Laevas Sámi reindeer herding community, northern Sweden. Results show that weather and snow conditions strongly determine grazing opportunities and therefore reindeer response. We conclude that together with the cumulative effects of increased pressures from alternative land use activities, the non-predictable environmental conditions that are uniquely part of the warming climate seriously challenge future reindeer herding in northern Sweden.

Other Income Sources

In this chapter, we stress the fact that households’ incomes were complex and came together by a mix of activities. To fully understand how households managed their livelihoods, activities other than fishing, hunting, and reindeer herding also need to be considered. Diversification was an active and systematic choice for these households, not something they did occasionally. Some of these activities were for subsistence, some for exchange. What households could produce was to a large extent determined by their main mode of production, which in turn was linked to rights or access to resources. The more engaged users were in reindeer pastoralism, the less time they had to spend on other activities, and the more they traded.

Skolt Sami and industrialization

This article shows how the Finnish state, in connection to international actors, has advanced industrialization, territorialization, and commodification on the Skolt Sami home grounds, and how the Skolt Sami people’s nature-linked livelihood activities have changed or become threatened in connection with these processes. The theoretical starting points of the article sheds light on territorialization and the power practices of the state, and on commodification (i.e. the development of industrial economic features). The three cases of territorialization and commodification discussed in this article are the following: (1) the industrialization of the Petsamo area until1944, (2) the industrialization of reindeer herding from 1995 on, and (3) the Arctic Ocean railroad plan in 2016–2021. The article argues that international factors have significantly influenced the process of state-directed territorialization, which on several occasions has divided the Skolt Sami. Furthermore, the article claims that in the process of commodification, despite having changed, traditional nature-related livelihood activities are important for the continuity of the Skolt Sami way of life. Keywords: Skolt Sami, livelihoods, reindeer herding, natural resources, state, industrialization

Arctic Drama to Sámi Theatre – Cultural Clashes Towards Decolonisation: In Shared Dialogic Spaces

Summary This article deals with the concept of Arctic Drama, which is about how there is a relationship between drama and cultural clashes in the perspective of shared cultures in the northern Scandinavian area, which is defined as arctic in the geographical sense. In this vast area the Sámi people historically and to the present day have been living from reindeer herding in a nomadic lifestyle, giving them a close relationship to nature. Norwegians and Swedes colonised this area historically, especially the coast for fishing.There have been strong cultural clashes since the Viking ages, but colonisation mainly started later by introducing Christianity by force in the 16th century. Since the Romantic age, these ethno-cultural clashes have been reflected in drama and theatre, and some plays by Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun echo these tensions. An independent theatre of the Sámi people as well as of other indigenous people in Greenland and Canada, like the Inuits, would also develop some theatrical strategies based in a dramaturgy that could be described as a “spiral dramaturgy”. Cultural independence has contributed to a decolonisation process, contributing to even out the cultural clashes in theatre and drama, which could be defined as postcolonial towards decolonisation. This article focuses on the area of arctic Scandinavia.

Wealth of nomads – an exploratory analysis of livestock inequality in the Saami reindeer husbandry

Social inequality is pervasive in contemporary human societies. Nevertheless, there is a view that livestock, as the primary source of wealth, limits the development of inequalities, making pastoralism unable to support complex or hierarchical organisations. Thus, complex nomadic pastoral organisation is predominantly caused by external factors, i.e., historically nomadic political organisation mirrored the neighbouring sedentary population's sophistication. Using governmental statistics on reindeer herding in Norway (2001 - 2018), this study demonstrates nothing apparent in the pastoral adaptation with livestock as the main base of wealth that level wealth inequalities and limits social differentiation. This study found that inequality was generally decreasing in terms of the Gini coefficient and cumulative wealth. For example, the proportion owned by the wealthy decreased from 2001 to 2018, while the proportion owned by the poor increased. Nevertheless, rank differences persist over time with minor changes. Especially, being poor is stable: around 50% of households ranked as poor in 2001 continued to be so in 2018. In sum, results from this study indicate that pastoral wealth inequality follows the same patterns as all forms of wealth. Wealth accumulates over time, and because the highest earners can save much of their income (i.e., newborn livestock), low earners cannot. High earners can thus accumulate more and more wealth over time, leading to considerable wealth inequalities.

Sürja traditsioon Põhja-Venemaa ja Siberi käsitöönduses ja rahvakunstis

The article deals with the term “Zyryanskoe” in the traditional designations of the material objects and art technologies among the people who live in the boundary territories with Komi-Zyryan’s. The article considers the ethnographic material that was gathered under the research project “The nomadic ornament: ethnic identity in the ornamental tradition of Izhma and Nenets reindeer herders”. The article is based on the published and contemporary field data. The author supposes that widely spread “Zyryan designations” among the Northern Russian, Nenets and Ob-Ugric people is the result of the high level of development and uniqueness of some traditional technologies of Komi-Zyryan. Also, this article presents recent field data on the ornamental tradition in the technique of decorating fur products among those modern Izhma Komi and Nenets, who live together in reindeer-herding settlements of the Nenets and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. The article discusses the ideas of Komi and Nenets masters about what represents the ethnic and cultural specifics in the artistic decoration of fur products. Also, this article focuses on the question of the reasons for loss of ethnic identity in the modern arts and crafts of the Komi. Special attention is paid to how Komi ethnicity is visualized in modern folk art. Finally the possibility of a correct translation of the ethnocultural heritage in the works of modern masters of Komi Republic is discussed.

A Screening for Virus Infections in Eight Herds of Semi-domesticated Eurasian Tundra Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Norway, 2013–2018

Background: Previous serological screenings have indicated that Eurasian semi-domesticated tundra reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Finnmark, Northern Norway, are exposed to alphaherpesvirus, gammaherpesvirus and pestivirus. Alphaherpesvirus (i.e., Cervid herpesvirus 2; CvHV2) has been identified as the transmissible component of infectious keratoconjunctivitis (IKC). Limited knowledge exists on the presence and prevalence of virus infections in other herding regions in Norway, which are hosting ~67,000 semi-domesticated reindeer and have contact with other species and populations of wildlife and livestock than those present in Finnmark.Methods: Blood samples (n = 618) were obtained over five winter seasons (2013–2018), from eight different herds representing summer pasture districts in Tana, Lakselv, Tromsø, Lødingen, Hattfjelldal, Fosen, Røros, and Filefjell, distributed from North to South of the reindeer herding regions in Norway. Blood samples were investigated for specific antibodies against five viral pathogen groups, alphaherpesvirus, gammaherpesvirus (viruses in the malignant catarrhal fever group; MCFV), pestivirus, bluetongue virus (BTV), and Schmallenberg virus (SBV), by using commercial multispecies serological tests (ELISA). In addition, swab samples obtained from the nasal mucosal membrane from 486 reindeer were investigated by PCR for parapoxvirus-specific DNA.Results: Antibodies against aphaherpesvirus and MCFV were found in all eight herds, with a total prevalence of 42% (range 21–62%) and 11% (range 2–15%), respectively. Anti-Pestivirus antibodies were detected in five of eight herds, with a total prevalence of 19% (range 0–52%), with two of the herds having a particularly high seroprevalence. Antibodies against BTV or SBV were not detected in any of the animals. Parapoxvirus-specific DNA was detected in two animals representing two different herds in Finnmark.Conclusions: This study confirmed that alphaherpesvirus and MCFV are enzootic throughout the geographical reindeer herding regions in Norway, and that pestivirus is present in most of the herds, with varying seroprevalence. No exposure to BTV and SBV was evident. This study also indicated that semi-domesticated reindeer in Finnmark are exposed to parapoxvirus without disease outbreaks being reported from this region.

Vitamins B1 and B2 Status in Indigenous Northerners Leading a Seminomadic and Sedentary Lifestyle

The Komi Republic is one of the regions with large communities of reindeer herders. As a result of the active development of northern territories, the indigenous population is shifting from nomadic to sedentary lifestyle, which is accompanied by significant changes in their traditional way of life and diet. As a result, representatives of the same ethnic group can have different dietary patterns. This paper compares the status of vitamins B1 and B2 between the groups of northerners leading a seminomadic and sedentary lifestyle. Indigenous inhabitants – children (aged 7–17 years, n = 395) and adults (aged 18–57 years, n = 370) – living in the Komi Republic (65–67°N) were examined. The group of reindeer herders consisted of workers of reindeer-herding teams travelling with the herd and their children (either attending boarding schools or living with their families). The control group was represented by indigenous northerners not involved in reindeer herding and permanently living in settlements. The vitamins B1 and B2 status was measured by the activity of vitamin-dependent red cell enzymes. We found a high prevalence of vitamin deficiency (over 40 % for vitamin B1 and over 30 % for vitamin B2) among the indigenous population of the North. The total prevalence of vitamin deficiency among reindeer herders was similar to that in the population leading a sedentary lifestyle; however, severe hypovitaminosis was more than twice as common among the latter. The vitamin status of reindeer herders’ children attending boarding schools and those living with their families during the academic year did not differ significantly from the status of children whose families lead a permanent sedentary lifestyle.