In Sápmi

Well, again, since I’ve blogged, a lot has happened. Firstly, I broke my computer, and I’m still in the process of recovering my photos… I also joined a really cool anthropology field expedition that will go to Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Russia Feb. 12-March 3 to study indigenous land use and ethnicity under conditions of climate change and industrial development. Afterwards I hope to stay in Russia on my own, because I also took a train from Rovaniemi to Helsinki and acquired a 90-day Russian visa in 2 days, which I think must be a record for speed. And in celebration, I took a ferry with my dad (who was in Helsinki by coincidence), to Estonia. For a wonderful weekend, we toured around bogs, forests, and old cities with buildings from every period of the last 1000 years, and learned about how many times the Estonians have been conquered by Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, and Russians. It’s not the Arctic, but it was a fun and productive vacation weekend to learn about post-Soviet development in an old USSR country. Estonia seems to be thriving.

And then I began a quick bus, taxi, ferry, train, taxi, bus, and taxi trip across the Baltic and north through Finland to Kautokeino, Norway, (or wikipedia here) a center of Sami culture and reindeer herding in the center of Sápmi, the red area on the map. I’m really interested in learning about how herding differs in VERY wealthy Norway as compared the mountainous South Siberian forests (Tuva) or European Russian Arctic (Nenets). In Kautokeino I’ve been staying with a schoolteacher whose husband was supposed to bring his deer to the butcher in town yesterday or today, which is why I came so quickly. However, as is usual with Arctic peoples or wild animals, things change, so yesterday I rode behind her brother on his snowmobile while he made his daily check on his reindeer herd, dispersed in meadows across the frozen river. But today he went alone to move his reindeer to a new pasture and cull a sick calf, both of which I would’ve liked to see… Everyone has suggested I need to buy a snowmobile, about which I’m not so confident. We’ll see. I was able to help him butcher two of his reindeer in the snow under the headlight of a snowmobile, since the sun is only up for an hour or two.

I am lucky

In case I hadn't already known.
Today a Saami lady from Norway invited me to help butcher some of her reindeer, and I may have found an opportunity to go to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Russia!

And I skiied for two hours on skis that a Norwegian lent to me. (Within an hour of my arrival in Norway back in December, I went for a walk and met a fellow who not only lent me skis for two months, but also took me that day to an (Ant)Arctic festival commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Roald Amundson's South Pole expedition!). And then I took a wonderful Finnish sauna. At 80-100 deg C, it was a lot hotter than the Russian banya, which reaches only about 40-50 deg C.

I was looking through some photos and found this one of a Greenlandic fisherman going to his boat in mid-September snow. I couldn't resist sharing it. What a place! What a people!

From We are not so big

Happy Holidays!

I've finally returned to the Arctic, to a folk high school that teaches dogsledding, sailing and outdoor life, near Tromso, at 69 degrees. The sun won't rise for another few weeks, but there's a surprising amount of light midday for 2 or 3 hrs. They call it "polar night," meaning the sun doesn't rise, but until you go really far north, it still gets lightish midday. Yesterday I drove my first ever dogsled- 4 hrs in blustery wind by headlamp! It's a fun and FAST way to travel. I clipped a few trees by mistake. Yup, Norway's Arctic has lots of trees, thanks to the Gulf Stream. It also has farms (sheep, cows, strawberries!) and lots of people; Norway is VERY rich and has chosen to maintain a rural population throughout the country. It's only about freezing, so not too cold at all! (It was -30 C the day I left Krasnoyarsk). When I arrived to Norway Dec. 14 I spent a few days visiting friends in Oslo and the holidays with a family near Trondheim . I'd like to return to Russia, so I will hop across the border to northern Finland to speak with researchers about contacts in reindeer herding communities in the Russian north! But first I may watch a sled dog race in Finnmark county, Norway.

I've posted some photos of my time in Tuva, which was 1 week with other researchers making contacts in the Tozhu region and 2 weeks on a hunting and fishing trip (bracketed by a stay with a wonderful family).