Greenland’s South: Inuit pastoralists in a rapidly changing Arctic environment

The first thing flying into Kangerlussuaq, Greenland reminds us that this is 'properly' Arctic. For most people who call the North home, the Arctic is further up North from where they live. But for the incomers, the Arctic is appealing! Usually we associate Inuit livelihood with hunting, both terrestrial and sea-mammal, beautiful material culture, handicrafts …

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Reindeer nomadism as profession, lifestyle, passion and love: Sergei Serotetto

русский текст ниже One of the world's most respected reindeer nomads, 1954-2021, mourning for a friend (all photos in this post © by Florian Stammler) Один из самых уважаемых оленводов , друг ушёл из жизни The news from the tundra was a shock: last year we celebrated Sergei Serotetto's 66th birthday together in his chum …

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Long live the tundra nomads!

Just found out from the local news that in the Novyi Urengoy hospital two Nenets elders survived covid-19 and recovered from pneumonia, at the age of more than 100 years! These elders are so tough! I have also had the honour of meeting quite many people over 100 years old in the tundra particularly during …

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Language, silence and climate in Yamal

In spring we were proud to host the world's first anthropological PhD defence in english by a Nenets colleague, Roza Laptander. Now we are happy that she got her first postdoc employment in the big EU Charter project that looks at biodiversity changes, reindeer herding and the climate. We continue working with Roza in work …

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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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