Folklore Electronic Journal of Folklore http://www.folklore.ee/folklore Printed version Vol. 61 2015 Folk Belief and Media Group of the Estonian Literary Museum Estonian Institute of Folklore Folklore Electronic Journal of Folklore Vol. 61 Edited by Mare Kõiva & Andres Kuperjanov Guest editors: Aimar Ventsel & Art Leete Tartu 2015 Editor in chief Mare Kõiva Co-editor Andres Kuperjanov Guest editors: Aimar Ventsel & Art Leete Copy editor Tiina Mällo News and reviews Piret Voolaid Design Andres Kuperjanov Layout Diana Kahre Editorial board 2015–2020: Dan Ben-Amos (University of Pennsylvania, USA), Larisa Fialkova (University of Haifa, Israel), Diane Goldstein (Indiana University, USA), Terry Gunnell (University of Iceland), Jawaharlal Handoo (University of Mysore, India), Frank Korom (Boston University, USA), Jurij Fikfak (Institute of Slovenian Ethnology), Ülo Valk (University of Tartu, Estonia), Wolfgang Mieder (University of Vermont, USA), Irina Sedakova (Russian Academy of Sciences). The journal is supported by the institutional research funding IUT22-5, the state programme project EKKM14-344, and the Estonian Literary Museum. Indexed in EBSCO Publishing Humanities International Complete, Thomson Reuters Arts & Humanities Citation Index, MLA International Bibliography, Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, Internationale Volkskundliche Bibliographie / International Folklore Bibliography / Bibliographie Internationale d’Ethnologie), DOAJ, C.E.E.O.L., ERIH (B), Scopus Editorial address: Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore Vanemuise 42–235 51003 Tartu Estonia phone: +372 737 7740 fax: +372 737 7706 e-mail: [email protected] home page: http://www.folklore.ee/folklore All rights reserved © Folk Belief and Media Group of the Estonian Literary Museum EKM Teaduskirjastus / ELM Scholarly Press Estonian Institute of Folklore Authors Design Andres Kuperjanov ISSN 1406-0957 doi:10.7592/FEJF2015.61 www.folklore.ee/folklore CONTENTS Introduction: Drinking and Fun in the Arctic 7 Art Leete, Aimar Ventsel Breaking the Code: Strategies of Alcohol Addicts 11 Tatiana Argounova-Low, Platon Sleptsov The Sooner You Drink It All, the More Time You Will Have 27 Thereafter Kirill Istomin Hangover 47 Joachim Otto Habeck Monolingual and Bilingual Practices: 65 Reversing Power Relations during a Festivity in Pondala Laura Siragusa ‘Do You Respect Me?’ Drinking as a Social Catalyst 89 in the Reindeer Herding Communities of European Russia and Western Siberia Stephan Dudeck How to Enjoy a Teetotal All-Night Party: 117 Abstinence and Identity at the Sakha People’s Yhyakh Eleanor Peers, Stepan Kolodeznikov The Historical-Ethnographic Image of the Drinking Peoples 135 of the North Art Leete METHOD SECTION Ethnographic Research among Drinking Youth Cultures: 157 Reflections from Observing Participants. Daniel Briggs, Ivan Gololobov, Aimar Ventsel Folklore 61 5 DISCUSSION Reflections and Thoughts about the Social and Cultural Role of Alcohol. 177 Natalia Struchkova, Aimar Ventsel RESEARCH REPORT Pentecostals and Charismatic Protestants in the Republic of Komi and 185 Nenets Tundra. Art Leete, Piret Koosa, Laur Vallikivi IN MEMORIAM Ants Viires 193 NEWS IN BRIEF Memory, Remembering, and Legend: Estonian Folklorists’ 10th Winter 195 Conference. Mare Kalda Folklore Collection at the Estonian Folklore Archives in 2014 and 197 President’s Folklore Collection Award. Astrid Tuisk BOOK REVIEWS Reflections on Indigenous Adaptation in Western Siberia.Art Leete 201 From Elf-Tendril to Poison-Harm. Jonathan Roper 203 www.folklore.ee/folklore INTRODUCTION: DRINKING AND FUN IN THE ARCTIC Art Leete, Aimar Ventsel We initiated the Arctic workshops at the University of Tartu, Estonia, in 2010. The first three meetings concentrated on discussing the problems of movement in the North.1 The fourth workshop, Drinking and Driving Is So Much Fun, was held from May 31 to June 1, 2013.2 The progression from one theme to another does not make much sense at first glance. In general, the Arctic region remained in the focus of our forum and the title of the workshop suggests movement, but actually, what is the connection? The title served as an academic provocation and also indicated how the participants perceived it (see, for example, Dudeck 2013: 93). We adopted the idea for our workshop title from the song Drinking and Driving, which was recorded by a British punk band, The Business, in the late 1970s, and became an instant hit among beer-loving punks. The song associated drinking with fun and collective action (to put it mildly), demonstrating that beer-drinking can be evaluated as a process involving positive social meaning. At the same time, the organisers also attempted to initiate discussion about the integration of ambivalent alcohol experiences and narratives into anthro- pological research (ibid.). Therefore, we can say that punks are not the only group of people who believe that drinking is related to the pleasant side of life and is unavoidable in certain situations. The use of alcohol and its social meaning as a topic of research has an impressive history. In Arctic studies, however, alcohol is pri- marily contextualised from the negative side: everybody seems to know that in the Arctic alcohol is related to violence, suicide, decline of indigenous traditions, culture shock, and other misfortunes that result from excessive drinking. The scholar’s task here is to warn of the damage that alcohol causes, and demand restrictive methods to limit access to alcohol. Notwithstanding the scholarly approach to alcohol use, people still continue to drink, an activity primarily associated with leisure time, joyfulness, and celebration. Every scholar who has http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol61/introduction.pdf Art Leete, Aimar Ventsel Vodka. Saidy settlement, Yakutia, Russian Far East. Photograph by Aimar Ventsel 2015. conducted fieldwork in the region knows that alcohol is deeply embedded within many rituals, such as the greeting of an honoured guest, the demonstration of masculinity, or as part of religious ceremonies. This workshop at the University of Tartu was arranged to explore the topic and seek answers as to why people drink in the Arctic, and whether there is anything specific in the use of alcohol that distinguishes this region from others. During the workshop, we examined a wide range of papers that dis- cussed the social, political, cultural and medical meanings of indigenous and non-indigenous alcohol use in the Arctic. Our aim was to discuss how alcohol’s agency is conceptualised in the region, and how these concepts vary in different ethnic, religious, gender and age groups. Also, we were interested in the role of alcohol in field research situations and in how questions of fieldwork ethics are related to this. During the workshop, several papers were dedicated to the analysis of gen- eral problems of alcohol addiction as such, as well as to the history of alcohol 8 www.folklore.ee/folklore Introduction: Drinking and Fun in the Arctic discourses in the Arctic. Particular case studies touched upon the Khanty, Sakha, Nenets, Veps, Finns and Russians’ alcohol-related social issues as well as the ritual context of drinking. Not all of these presentations made their way into this collection; yet, we hope that the specific flavour of the workshop’s intellectual atmosphere is reflected in our special volume. Interestingly, last but not least, this particular workshop gained an un- expected amount of public interest in Estonia. The organisers of the workshop were interviewed by radio stations and newspapers, coverage of the workshop (http://blog.ut.ee/to-drink-or-not-to-drink/) was fourth among the ten most read texts in the blog of the University of Tartu in 2013 (see http://blog.ut.ee/the-top- 10-stories-of-2013/). Despite the long history of academic research on Siberia and the Far East in Estonia, the media and the general public have shown only a limited interest in it. Alcohol, apparently, was the turning point. This gives evidence of how science could, by choosing attractive topics for scientific events, gain more public exposure, as well as further evidence that alcohol matters. NOTES 1 About earlier workshops, see Leete & Ventsel 2011, 2012, 2014. About the 4th Arctic Workshop, see also Dudeck 2013. 2 The workshop and this paper were supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Cultural Theory, CECT) and Estonian Research Council grants IUT34-32 and PUT590. REFERENCES Dudeck, Stefan 2013. Drinking and Driving Is So Much Fun. Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 93–95. Available at http://www.jef.ee/index.php/ journal/article/view/163/pdf_106, last accessed on June 4, 2015. Leete, Art & Ventsel, Aimar 2011. Introduction: World Routes in the Arctic. Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, Vol. 49, pp. 7–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.7592/ FEJF2011.49.worldroutes. Leete, Art & Ventsel, Aimar 2012. Dynamic Discourse and the Metaphor of Movement: Preface to the Special Issue. Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 3–7. Available at http://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/115/pdf_76, last accessed on June 4, 2015. Folklore 61 9 Leete, Art & Ventsel, Aimar 2014. Preface to the Special Issue: Departures and Returns in the North. Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 3–6. Avail- able at http://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/182/pdf_120, last accessed on June 4, 2015. www.folklore.ee/folklore http://dx.doi.org/10.7592/FEJF2015.61.argounova-low_sleptsov BREAKING THE CODE: STRATEGIES OF ALCOHOL ADDICTS Tatiana Argounova-Low, Platon Sleptsov Abstract: The article addresses the problems related to alcohol abuse and its medical treatment called ‘coding’. The treatment by ‘coding’ subjugates alcoholics to a relationship between them and other more dominant agents. Despite such pressure being very powerful, we argue that alcoholics develop their strategies and ways to manoeuvre and manipulate these dominant relationships. The article explains why treatment by coding is often ineffective. Keywords: alcohol, alcoholism, coding, Sakha (Yakutia) INTRODUCTION This article presents a new approach to a problem that has existed for a long time.