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Soiot Herder-Hunters in a Sacred Landscape

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Soiot Herder-Hunters in a Sacred Landscape BEING BETWEEN BEINGS: SOIOT HERDER-HUNTERS IN A SACRED LANDSCAPE A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK By Alexander Christian Oehler MA, University of Northern British Columbia 2016 i Abstract This study is an ethnography of Oka-Soiot human-animal relations in the Eastern Saian Mountains of westernmost Buriatia in South Central Siberia. It follows ten herder-hunter households from their winter residences to their summer camps, describing their year-round relations with dogs, reindeer, horses, and wolves. Although known in Russian literature as descendants of the people who first harnessed and saddled reindeer, contemporary Soiot herder- hunters have shifted their skills to other species. Yet they continue to share with their Tozhu, Tofa, and Dukha neighbours a heritage of hunting, aided by transport reindeer. Historically, all four groups engaged other species alongside reindeer to varying degree. This diversity of animals is particularly magnified in Soiot households as a result of their proximity to Buriat settler pastoralists since the 18th century. In the early 20th century Buddhist ritual practice became widespread among these settlers, affecting also Soiot cosmology. Exploring Soiot relations with 'wild' and 'domestic' animals, this thesis positions domestication as 'ongoing perspectival expansion,' experienced at the intersection of shamanist and Buddhist approaches to sentient beings. The first part of the thesis focuses on how people and animals move between perspectives associated with forest and pasture, as a strategy for life in a shared landscape. It presents the Soiot household as a mirror image of the spirit-mastered household, while contrasting it to the Eurocentric model of the domus. It then shows how interspecies collaboration within the household can lead to perspectival expansion among its members, arguing that such a perspective furthers the recognition of affordances in the landscape. This is followed by a study of shamanist and Buddhist approaches to spirit masters, presenting parallel but non-identical views of the landscape. As the perspective of animals becomes expanded in the human household, so householders' perspectives of the landscape are expanded in their encounter with the ritual domain of Buddhism. While Buddhist ritual practice attempts to domesticate spirit masters, it remains vital to Soiot hunters that the domestication of spirit ii masters remain incomplete, and that reciprocal relations with spirit households are maintained. Part two focuses on proximity between species, introducing dog-human and reindeer- human collaborations. It examines the autonomy of dogs as hunters in their own right, and looks at evolving reindeer herd dynamics and species flux in Soiot households. Part three focuses on the material aspect of human-animal relations, focusing on implements and structures of the household as communicative devices rather than tools of domination. Horses and humans are seen to signal their intentions through roping techniques, while wolves and humans 'read each other' through trap design, den placement, and empathy. Being the first ethnography of Soiot human-animal relations, this thesis offers new knowledge to anthropology by filling a void in south Siberian ethnography, while calling renewed attention to a multi species perspective in Siberia. It contributes to classical debates on the human role in animal domestication, and challenges the division between hunting and pastoralist economies in its presentation of households that engage in both, and for whom the two remain inseparable. iii Declaration Statement I, Alexander Christian Oehler, have composed this thesis. It has not been accepted in any previous application for a degree. It is based upon original research I undertook myself. All quotations are distinguished by quotation marks and the sources of information specifically acknowledged. (A. Oehler) Date: 3. October 2016 iv To Beth, Lars, and Bergen v Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all the people and institutions who have made this research possible. First and foremost, my thankfulness goes out to the herder-hunters of Uro who invited me into their lives, as well as to the administrative staff of Okinskii Raion in the Republic of Buriatia who aided me in conducting this research through their legal and logistical support. I am deeply grateful to Professor Tim Ingold and Dr. Nancy Wachowich, who invited me to conduct this study under the Northern Colonialism strand of The North Theme at the University of Aberdeen, which covered all costs relating to the PhD. I am deeply indebted to the valuable advice and experienced guidance of my supervisors Professor David Anderson and Dr. Robert Wishart of the Arctic Domus project, as well as to the project related ERC funding that covered my field expenses. I would like to thank Angus Pelham Burn of Aberdeen for his generous financial support through an award for Northern Research. I am most grateful to my international colleagues at the Arctic Domus project, as well as the staff and students from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen for their ongoing support and inspiration. My gratitude goes out especially to my Russian colleagues at Irkutsk Politechnical University, Buriat State University, and Tuvan State University who played pivotal roles in obtaining visas and making field connections. I am especially indebted to Dr. Arkadii Davidovich Kalikhman with whom I first traveled to Oka. Finally, I am more than thankful for the patience and support of my wife and our children who have been nomads as a result of this endeavour. vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Declaration Statement ....................................................................................................... iv Dedication .......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. vii Illustration Index................................................................................................................ x Chapter One: Introduction Introduction: From the Sentience of Fish .......................................................................... 1 Research Topic and Motivation ......................................................................................... 4 Field Site and Methods ...................................................................................................... 5 Research Questions and Main Argument ........................................................................ 10 Theoretical Context and Contributions ............................................................................ 12 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................ 21 Chapter Two: On Being Soiot Introduction: Selective Representations .......................................................................... 23 From Early Explorers to the First Anthropologist ........................................................... 26 Samoyed Hunter-Herders and Pastoralists ..................................................................... 29 Oka-Soiot and Oka-Buriat Settlement ............................................................................ 31 Bringing Out the Soiot Self ............................................................................................. 33 Negotiating Identities ...................................................................................................... 35 Between Two Homes ....................................................................................................... 37 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 43 PART I – PERSPECTIVES Chapter Three: Perspectival Expansion Introduction: Descending With Yak ................................................................................. 45 Proximity and Negotiation............................................................................................... 49 Perspectives on the Domus ............................................................................................. 51 Spirit and Human Mastered Households ......................................................................... 53 Crossing Between Households ........................................................................................ 55 Beyond Linearity and Anthropocentrism in Domestication ............................................ 57 A Dialogue of Human and Other Intentions .................................................................... 59 Autonomy, Economy, and Communicative Materiality .................................................. 61 Domesticity and Expanding Perspectives........................................................................ 63 Emerging Affordances and Life Rhythm ......................................................................... 64 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................
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