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Reindeer-Herd Management in Transition
Abstract
This thesis applies certain fundamental principles derived from communications theory and systems analysis and developed by Gregory Bateson and others to a discussion of changes in reindeer-herd management. The following important questions are discussed.
What are the determinants which have been active in the progression from intensive to extensive herding? What were the herding effects of northem-Saami (Lapp) relocation in the early 1900s? What is rational herding, why and how have its principles developed?
These questions will be answered with regard to the historical development of one particular, mountain-Saami, herding unit, Tuorpon.
Part I presents a diachronic analysis of Tuorpon-herding changes. Part II broadens the context to encompass the essential features of Swedish reindeer-herding legislation. In Part III, an attempt is made to bring this material together to explain the variable resistance to and compliance with governmental, rational ideals in Tuorpon.
Essential to this study is the recognition of numerous, hierarchical, resource-consumer relationships, such as grazing/reindeer, reindeer/herders, herders/Saamish society and Saamish society /the Swedish State. Thus, the land available for herding largely determines
the size of the reindeer population, which in tum largely determines the size of the herder population and the extent to which this group can serve as a pillar of the Saamish minority etc. To survive, these relations must be in balance with each other. Certain patterns are uncovered in Swedish herding legislation as this search for balance continues.
... However, other scholars have shown that Sami communities had diverse livelihoods and reindeer husbandry was far from a monoculture. In both contemporary and historical times, Sami communities engaged in various activities, such as fishing, hunting, trapping and farming, as parts of their livelihood (Manker 1947;Arell 1977;Beach 1981;Lundmark 1982;Kvist 1989;Korpijaakko-Labba 1994;Nordin 2002;Nordin 2007;Päiviö 2011). Nevertheless, there is confusion in these previous studies between Sami livelihood and reindeer husbandry livelihood, a confusion that I believe clouds our understanding of Sami history. ...
... A key analytical concept applied in the study is livelihood diversity, based on an understanding built on previous research on reindeer husbandry, especially studies by Nordin (2007) and Beach (1981). 3 Nordin (2007) advocates an understanding of reindeer husbandry as a diverse and complex way of life, not a job or business. ...
... She therefore suggests that subsidiary trades should be included in the economic structure of reindeer husbandry, as an integrated part of reindeer husbandry rather than as mere ancillary trades (Nordin 2007: 102-104). Using historical material, participating observations and conversations with herders from Tuorpon sameby, Beach (1981) demonstrates that hunting and fishing were significant economic aspects of reindeer husbandry during the 1970s (Beach 1981: 354). In addition, historical studies have shown that hunting, fishing and farming were vital parts of reindeer herders' livelihoods during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Arell 1977: 144-180;Stoor 1991;Brännlund & Axelsson 2011). ...
Swedish state policy regarding the Sami from the late nineteenth century onward and studies on Sami history have tended to treat reindeer husbandry as much more important than other livelihoods practiced by Sami communities and families. By comparing livelihood diversity in southern and northern mountain-reindeer husbandry communities in Swedish Sápmi (the traditional land of the Sami people) during the period 1860–1920, this study challenges the notions of Sami as reindeer herders and mountain reindeer husbandry as a nomadic monoculture. The results shows that Sami communities and families exploited diverse natural resources, trades and means of subsistence. The study supports an understanding of historical Sami livelihoods, were reindeer husbandry as recognized as one of various Sami trades and means of subsistence, rather than as the Sami livelihood.
... Lack of resistance toward the system could be interpreted as a legitimation of regulations, but it could also be understood as resignation or internalization of the policies, or a more opportunistic response by individuals to improve their livelihood or strengthen their relative power (Gaventa 1980;Hall et al. 2015). Based on studies of reindeer husbandry in northern Sweden, Beach (1981) shows how traditional Sámi organization and decision-making had been overruled by the national policies. He explains that whether an individual herder or a herding group resisted or complied with the Swedish rationalization measures depended on a number of inter-related factors; e.g., the personal economic flexibility of the herder, his/her desires for herd expansion or stability, and whether he/she was experiencing land-use conflicts. ...
... He explains these shadow societies as "structures of political, cultural, economic, and often religious positioning", which contradict values of the dominant society (Scott 2009, 216). The idea of shadow societies is also discussed by scholars studying reindeer husbandry in Fennoscandia; e.g., Beach (1981) presents Swedish pastoralists' attempts to avoid the governance structures imposed on them, and Laakso (2008) discusses how Finnish pastoralists conduct their practices regardless of regulations. In the case of Norway, Bjørklund (2004, 135) notes that pastoralists adapt to state regulations "by accepting what could be used in their pastoral adaptation and rejecting the rest of the policy and its devices". ...
... She explained that her uncle and another pastoralist wanted to trick the numerators, so "before [the herd] was photographed, NN1 and NN2 gathered half the herd and moved it to the neighbouring valley". Beach (1981) explains that also among the Swedish Sámi pastoralists it was common to let the reindeer scatter extensively throughout the pastures to prevent official counting of the herds. ...
This thesis contributes to the field of political ecology by presenting an empirically driven analysis of the power dynamics between the state and Sámi reindeer herders and the knowledge systems that inform the governance of reindeer husbandry. The phenomenon studied consists of the actors’ competing accounts of what reindeer husbandry is and what it ought to be. This phenomenon is addressed through four research questions:
1. What values and knowledge systems inform the actors’ presentations about reindeer husbandry?
2. What are the actors’ presentations of the ‘proper’ management of reindeer, herders and land?
3. How do the actors influence and claim authority in decision-making concerning reindeer husbandry?
4. How does the state’s governance of reindeer husbandry affect power relations among the actors?
The research was qualitative. The core data have been collected from in-depth interviews and informal conversations with herders and government officials in the 2012–2015 period. One of the case studies of the thesis was based on participatory research. The study has also been informed by direct observations of meetings between the actors and written sources such as government documents, letters between the actors and scientific publications.
The study used a grounded theory approach to conceptualise the information that was collected. It engages the concepts of governmentality, weapons of the weak, politics of belonging and political ontology – concepts that were useful in the analysis of how policies meet practice, and how state regulations affect power relations between the state and herders, as well as within the herding community.
The geographical scope of the study is West Finnmark, in the far north of Norway. This is the largest reindeer-herding region in terms of numbers of reindeer and herders.
For more than a century, the Norwegian state has been concerned that there are ‘too many reindeer’ and ‘too many herders’ in West Finnmark. The state has therefore used regulations and incentives since the late 1970s to rationalise reindeer husbandry to make it economically efficient. Since 1992, sustainability has been an added objective. To make decision-making more effective, new policies were introduced in 2007 to strengthen the aspect of self-governance within reindeer husbandry. At the same time, it also increased the state’s capacity for sanctioning unwanted herding practices. Although the rationalisation policies have been in place for 40 years, government officials state that this objective has not been met. West Finnmark has specifically been identified as a region where herding practices continue to be irrational. At the same time, the region faces an increasing number of land-use conflicts between reindeer herders and other interests such as mining, wind power and hydropower installations, and roads and other types of urban development. The state’s destocking efforts and the land-use conflicts form the backdrop of the study.
The thesis is built on four separate, but interrelated papers. They explore the actors’ narratives about decision-making related to reindeer husbandry, techniques for governing and being governed. The papers also report on the conflicting knowledge systems and competing worldviews that inform the actors’ presentations about ‘proper’ management of reindeer, herders and the land on which reindeer husbandry depends. Further, the papers explore the power structures that affect the actors’ ability to present their accounts and their ability to be understood by society at large. They examine how the actors describe the decision-making processes, explain their own actions, and claim authority.
The study shows that the herders and government officials hold different and competing narratives about destocking and land-use decisions. However, one collective actor – the government officials – holds more economic and discursive power to legitimise its presentation. Thus, their narrative is perceived as objective and rational, while the herders’ counternarratives are labelled subjective and opportunistic. Further, the actors have unequal access to arenas for promoting their stories. The government officials’ narratives are repeated in Parliament and by the media and society; the counternarratives are almost invisible in the public debate. Moreover, the persistent dominant narratives have established an undisputed truth about Sámi reindeer herders – that the herders are overstocking the range to maximise their personal benefits and that reindeer husbandry is a bottleneck for the economic development of Finnmark.
The thesis identifies four ‘techniques of power’ – discipline, neoliberal rationality, sovereign power and truth – used by the state to stimulate ‘rational’ herding practices, together with the techniques of resistance used by the herders to hamper the implementation of the rationalisation policies in West Finnmark. The analysis reveals the forms of resistance that the herders use daily to maintain control of their own livelihoods and practices. A common strategy is to partly adopt and partly avoid state regulations. Individual responses to the rationalisation are determined by personal desires and capacity, as well as relationships with and the behaviour of fellow herders.
The thesis argues that the state governance of reindeer husbandry promotes herding practices that are primarily based on Western knowledge and the Western way of understanding the world. The governance regime is in conflict with traditional Sámi reindeer-herding knowledge and worldviews. Despite 40 years of attempting to transform reindeer husbandry by means of policies, the Sámi worldview continues to influence the herders’ understanding of the relationship between humans, reindeer and nature and how this relationship should be governed. The conflicting knowledge systems and competing worldviews about what reindeer husbandry is and ought to be undermine the identity and rights of the herders.
The state’s attempts to control the Sámi reindeer husbandry skews the power relations between the state and the herders to the benefit of the state, and it creates winners and losers within the Sámi herding community. The Sámi herders’ ability to engage in reindeer husbandry and claim the right to land has become dependent on their success in adapting to a Norwegianised form of reindeer husbandry.
... We will comment on deviations from this under the paragraphs for the three countries. The second part of the 20 th century also was the period when anthropogenic encroachments started to significantly delimit reindeer herding land-use by fragmenting it, typically by hydro power construction, spreading infrastructure, and large scale forestry (Beach 1981). As well, in recent decades by urban peoples' recreation activities, both withdrawing land for recreation sites and cottages as well as creating disturbance (Vistnes 2008,Viken 2016. ...
DOI: 10.1201/9780429489617-1
... Finns have lost 'the lead' because they are an ageing group with limited 'replenishment' from Finland. 11 For Ph.D. dissertations on the problematic and often offensive relation between the state and the Roma, see e.g.,Runcis (1998), Olgaç Rodell (2006,Nafstad (2016), the state and the Sami, e.g.,Beach (1981),Mörkenstam (1999). 12 For texts in English concerning this case, seeJahreskog (1982).13 ...
This paper is a case study of the use of cultural experts, broadly defined as including mediators and academicians with a variety of backgrounds, in Sweden. It draws on data collected through qualitative interviews with cultural experts, by following court cases through legal documents, mass media and other printed material, and by my own experience as a cultural expert. The paper provides a context to the potential application of the concept of cultural expertise regarding the appointment of such experts by lawyers, prosecutors and courts. It analyzes cases concerning the Sami, the Roma and recent immigrants from Africa and Asia. The Sami cases revolve around conflicts with the Swedish state over rights and ownership. The Roma cases revolve around questions of ethnic discrimination. Cases of immigrants from outside Europe consist of individual criminal cases and asylum. I argue that Swedish ideas—and ideals—of sameness and equality have had an impact on the legal cases that I discuss in this paper. While the legal issues in each of these cases differ, the paper argues that they demonstrate a similarity in how Swedish-majority society manages and even creates cultural differences. I conclude by showing the ways culture, rights, and obligations are understood in courts reflect mainstream trends of Swedish society and suggest the need for cultural expertise in the form of interdisciplinary collaboration.
... Критериями классификации обычно выступают технологические особенности ведения оленеводческого хозяйства, в комплекс признаков для выделения типов оленеводства включается также территориальная обособленность, соотносящаяся с конкретной природно-географической зоной [Богораз-Тан, 1932, 1933; Василевич, Левин, 1951; Головнев, 1993, с. 75-106; Клоков, Хрущев, 2004, с. 13]. В западной этнографии наиболее разработанной является типологизация оленеводческого хозяйства по степени контроля оленеводов над оленьими стадами (так называемая шкала интенсивности/экстенсивности) [Beach, 1981[Beach, , 1990. В исследованиях встречаются также имплицитные попытки типологизации оленеводства по этнотерриториальному признаку, находящие выражение в таких понятиях, как «хантыйское оленеводство», «оленеводство манси», «корякское оленеводство». ...
This article raises a problem of reindeer herding types. On the basis of ethnographic flieldwork data the authors compare technological traits and herding techniques of the «classical» Izhma-Komi reindeer herding of Bolshezemelskaya tundra to those observed in the easternmost and the westernmost local groups of Komi herders. This comparison shows significant differences in reindeer herding technology between the groups. This raises questions about the exact content of the term «Izhma Komi Reindeer herding» and about the spheres of its application. The analysis shows that this term can refer to 1) a technological system of reindeer herding that existed among the Izhma-Komi of Bolshezemelskaya tundra in the second half of the 19th century, but currently does not exist anywhere; 2) a certain set of herding techniques, which is used by some, but not all modern Komi reindeer herders as well as representatives of other ethnic groups nomadizing in the same environmental zone; 3) common traits of material, spiritual and normative culture, which can be observed in most (but again not all) groups of Komi reindeer herders, can be related to reindeer herding, but they do not form a part of reindeer herding economy in the strict sense. The third meaning of the term makes the most sense, but it makes the application of the notion rather limited as far as the studies of traditional economy are concerned.
Ever since the 1630s and the discovery of silver ore deposits in the alpine areas of Sápmi, Sweden has nurtured settler colonial ideas in relation to Sápmi and the Sami. The first legal settler colonial tool was the Lappmark Proclamation of 1673. However, the vision of “the land of the future” with mining and agriculture proved to be somewhat of a mirage. A second wave of settler colonial ideas came with the industrial breakthrough. As we are now entering the third era of settler colonial ideas, sacrificing Sami lands, rights, and self-determination seems to be a continued strategy of the Swedish state. Once again, entrepreneurs, companies and politicians project the idea of a “land of the future” onto the north and Sápmi. In this article, I describe this phenomenon, which has been—and still is—based on settler colonial ideas, anopticism and sidelining of the Sami and their historical as well as current land rights.
Ethical evaluation and ethical judgments about animals are traditionally regarded as hopelessly anthropomorphic and even anthropocentric: it is believed that they are based on attributing, without sufficient grounds, human qualities such as free will as well as human values to the animals. This belief, however, is based on an implicit assumption that the logic of ethical judgments about animals is the same as that used in the case of humans. In this paper, which is based on ethnographic data on reindeer-herding nomads of the European part of Russia and of Western Siberia, I demonstrate that this assumption is false. In the case of reindeer herders, ethical judgments about animals are based on detailed knowledge of their behaviour originating from the experience of direct interaction with them. They take into account possible variations of animal behaviour and do not contain any mechanical transfer of human values. Furthermore, in the case of domestic animals, the behaviour introduced by constant interaction with their masters represents a special object of evaluation, which involves ethical assessment of the masters themselves. Therefore, if it can be said that some anthropomorphism is involved here, then it is an anthropomorphism of a special kind, one that is based on knowledge and represents an effective means of learning. The ethical judgments themselves can play an important role in organizing interaction between the herders and the animals and in their mutual adaptation.
Sami adaptation strategies/climate change/global change/Indigenous knowledge
This article explores changing work patterns in the Skolt Sámi reindeer herding community of Sevettijärvi, northern Finland. As a result of the Second World War, Finland lost the original home territory of the Skolt Sámi to the Soviet Union. The Skolt Sámi of the old Suenjel village moved to the Sevettijärvi area in Finland. In this article I present major changes in three areas of this group’s work patterns: 1) combinations of livelihood; 2) forms of cooperation and reciprocity; 3) social constructions of work situations. The main causes of cultural change in the rein-deer herding community have been the mechanisation of reindeer herding and the centralisation of reindeer ownership. In anthropological studies, traditional forms of behaviour have at times been seen as obstacles to economic development. My argument is different: traditional forms of culture – in this case forms of reciprocity – can increase possibilities for economic development. The research data shows that the centralisation of reindeer ownership has decreased the possibilities for economic development in additional forms of livelihood among Skolt Sámi reindeer herders. The number of herders has decreased and the entrepreneurial collaboration is arranged so that there is less and less traditional reciprocity between separate households.
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