The Nenets word for white cotton grass, livăr” refers to this beautiful, abundant white plant that grows throughout the Nenets tundra. This plant is treasured by both the Nenets and their reindeer. When Ivar Bjørklund first visited the Bolshezemel’skaia tundra in the Nenets Autonomous okrug at the end of 1980s, the Yamb-to reindeer herders gave him the Nenets name Livăr and loved him dearly for his kindness and compassion. In 2001, Professor Ivar Björklund invited me, that time a Nenets student from Yamal, to study at the University of Tromsø and introduced me to the world of anthropology. Since then, I have known him as a teacher and a man who inspired me to look with pride on my Nenets people and inspired me to study their history and contemporary life stories. In October 2025, I met Ivar in Tromsø. We were planning to start new projects and talked a lot about his travels to the Nenets tundra. But now he has passed away so unexpectedly.
Dear Ivar, may your path to the afterlife be littered with cotton grass, and may you find peace and tranquillity there. We will always remember you.
Photo of Ivar Bjørklund is coped from https://uit.no/ansatte/person?p_document_id=42592
Arctic Anthropology 