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Identity, Domestication, and Family Structure in the Siberian Arctic 1926-1927

David G. Anderson - University of Aberdeen

Introduction: Map of Census Districts at 1.01.1927

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A ‘polar’ population

Iurak shamaness, Turukhansk Territory 1926

A family of ‘Russian’ angartsy

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The Argument• The Polar Census measured households defined

economically and architecturally• These questions often did not match the social and

ecological realities of the Northern landscapes surveyed.

• As a result :– much relevant information was invisible or extremely illegible;– some of the questions were ‘subverted’ by informants with

replies given in an entangled fashion;– some revealing information about households could appear in

unexpected places, for example as information about domestic animals.

• While the tabulated results give a unified picture of the ‘polar’ population, the manuscript sources give insights into a diversity of social structures.

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A complex survey, based on households

D ie t C a rds (2 0 % )S K - С а н и т а р н ы е К а рто ч ки

K in s h ip C a rd s (2 0 % )B P - К а рто чка Б р а чн и х П ар

T ra d in g R e co rdsN O N E d is c o ve re d

S e tt le m e n t In d exS K h - С пи со к Х озя й ст в ев

A rte fa c tsМ узе ун ы е Ко л л е кци и

M a psK A - К ар ты Ко ч е в ия

M e m o ra n daD P - Д ело пр о и зв о дс тво

P u b lish e d A rt ic lesН а уч ны е и зд а н и е

U n p u b lis he d R ep o rtsO T -О тч е ты

P h o tog rap hsA L - А льбо м П е р е пи с но й Э ксп е д и ц ии

D ia rie s & C o rre s p on d e n ceД н е вн и ки Р еги стр а то р ов

S e ttle m e n t R e co rdP B - П о се л е н н ы й б л а нк

A p p e n d ice s to th e S e tt le m e nt R ec o rdD P - Д о по л ь н и те л ь н ы е к по се ле н н о му б ла н ку

H o u se h o ld C a rdP K - По х о зяй ст ве н н ая ка рто ч ка

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• a place where production occurred and where people resided on the census date;

• people expected to be related to each other by blood and described in their relation to a ‘household head’;

• there was a silent expectation that the household head would be male – not stated in the rulebooks

A formal definition of an early Soviet household

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Silences: Matrilineal kinship dynamics

“In Chapogyr’s tent” N.P. Naumov 29-31 March 1927

The Chirinda Church N.P Naumov 1-18 February 1927[woman’s reindeer sled in foreground]

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Gavril - 76600

Mikhail - 41260

Egor - 20105

Ivan Batulu

Khristofor - 24

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Khristofor – 65*

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Sava – 60*1500

Botulu family

Konstantin - 24

14Ivan – 35*

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Konstantin - 18

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The Batulu lineage at Lake Yessei 1926-27 – 3959 reindeer reported

Entangled forms: Reindeer Estates and Extended kinship

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Unexpected Categories: Reindeer Skin Dwellings

Iuraki in their skin lodge at Lapto Sale N.A. Ostroumov May 1927

GAKK 769-1-428-025: Quantities of reindeer skin panels

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Unexpected Categories: Reindeer Skin Dwellings

Of 6000 households in the database reindeer skin panels are recorded for just over half (3182).

The maximum number of panels is 10 and the smallest is one.

Most nomadic families recorded holding 4 panels.

Larger reports of tent inventories are closely associated with a highly nomadic lifestyle, large numbers of reindeer, and likely extended family structures.

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• The household records of the Polar Census illustrate how census instrumentation structure the replies received.

• Nevertheless, clues to alternate forms of family structure persist.

• The Domus, or the domestic space, always implies the arrangement of material items and of architecture as it does people

• Domestic relationships are therefore ’emplaced’ within the survey.

Conclusion: Identity and Domestication

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The State Archive of Krasnoiarsk Territory GAKKThe State Archive of Murmansk Province GAMOThe National Archive of Sakha-Iakutiia NARSThe State Archive of Arkhangel’sk Province GAAOThe State Archive of Sverdlovsk Province GASO

Acknowledgements and Thankswww.abdn.ac.uk/polarcensus