Successful doctoral Dissertation Defense: When we got reindeer, we moved to live to the tundra – The spoken and Silenced History of the Yamal Nenets

Roza Laptander's public dissertation defense took place online on the 29th of  April 2020 at 10 a.m. Finnish time. "In Christianity, at the beginning was the word - in Nenets, at the beginning was silence" (Andrey Golovnev during Roza's defense). How beautifully put by Andrey Golovnev! The director of the Kunstkamera acted as opponent in …

Continue reading Successful doctoral Dissertation Defense: When we got reindeer, we moved to live to the tundra – The spoken and Silenced History of the Yamal Nenets

Fieldwork story Stammler 2: Yamal, hunting for petrol and a wild reindeer

A story about my failed attempt of shooting a wild reindeer, and of a successful hunt for petrol Yarkolana (Nikolay) Khorotetto, spring 2001 This story is dedicated to my friend Yarkolana (Nikolay) Khorotetto, who was tragically found dead (link in Russian) in the tundra, probably killed just after my birthday in 2019. This story takes …

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Fieldwork story Stammler 1: Yamal, participation over observation is a health risk

participation over observation is a health risk This was my first cold night ever in a chum in the Yamal tundra. It's a story of 'lesson learned' early on in my fieldwork practice, that you need not only to be keen to participate in people's life, but also be a good observer for the details. …

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“CCC” – corona, climate change and conspiracy in the Yamal tundra

I have been doing fieldwork with Yamal Nenets reindeer herders for more than 20 years now, and have noticed this year a change in their perception of the changes happening around them, maybe partially reinforced by corona virus. Be it industrial expansion, the icing-over of pastures, outbreaks of diseases, methane holes in the tundra, the …

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