Nenets reindeer herders on the lower Yenisei River: traditional economy under current conditions and responses to economic change

The article is dedicated to the problems of survival and development among the aboriginal peoples of northern Russia in the context of current conditi ons. Data collected in the western part of the Taimyr Autonomous District a llowed us to divide the non-sedentary population of this territory into thr ee groups differentiated by overall way of life, land use and economic "cal endar." These groups are: the nomadic reindeer herders of the tundra (about 250-300 people), the semi-nomadic fishermen-herders of Yenisei delta (abou t 500), and the nomadic herders of the forest-tundra (300-350). The economy and ways of life of the three non-sedentary groups are described. Communit ies whose traditional subsistence base is reindeers have entered a crucial period. In response to the pressure of the dominant society, these peoples have three possible strategics: isolation, passive adaptation and active ad aptation. Only the last strategy can presence their culture, and create a " neoculture". Now, however, passive adaptation predominates. The mutual, bi- directional process of cultural integration needs to reinforce positive asp ects of acculturation and promote active, rather than passive, adaptation. A necessary condition fur this is the appearance among the Nenets of an int ermediate social stratum which maintains close links to nomadic reindeer-hu sbandry and is simultaneously integrated into the dominant society.