Chukotkan reindeer husbandry in the post-socialist transition

Reindeer herding in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, as in many other regions across the Russian North, has been experiencing a progressive collapse sin ce the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The collapse is typically b lamed on Russia's privatization programme, which broke up collectivized rei ndeer farms into supposedly privatized enterprises. While this process did indeed bring significant changes to the practice of reindeer herding in Chu kotka, this paper argues that a more fundamental issue is the political and economic change at the local level that most likely makes the collapse irr eversible. According to the rhetoric of the new "democratic" framework, the majority rules, and their priorities take precedence. As a result, the ind igenous peoples and their priorities - chief among which is reindeer herdin g - have been squeezed into the political margins. This has been exacerbate d by the development of a relationship of internal colonialism between domi nant urban Russians and village-dwelling indigenous reindeer herders, which has led to greater inequalities between the two groups as the Russians mon opolize both resources and power in the region.