Embracing Landscape : Living with Reindeer and Hunting Among Spirits in South Siberia

Examining human-animal relations among the reindeer hunting and herding Dukha community in northern Mongolia, this book focuses on concepts such as domestication and wildness from an indigenous perspective. By looking into hunting rituals and herding techniques, the ethnography questions the dynamics between people, domesticated reindeer, and wild animals. It focuses on the role of the spirited landscape which embraces all living creatures and acts as a unifying concept at the center of the human and non-human relations. CONTENTS List of Figures Preface Acknowledgments Notes on Text and Transliteration Introduction. The Forest Is Watching You PART I. TAIGA EMBRACING ALL Chapter 1. Map of Memories in a Spirited Geography PART II. LIVING WITH REINDEER Chapter 2. Beyond Domestication: Nurturing Control Chapter 3. Seasonal Cycles and Migration in the Taiga Chapter 4. The Reindeer as an Intimate Partner Chapter 5. Our Parents Know Everything Better PART III. HUNTING AMONG SPIRITS Chapter 6. Respecting the Hunt Chapter 7. The Way We Hunt Chapter 8. Luck in Hunting and Divination Chapter 9. Hunting as a Way of Regulating the Relations Chapter 10. Hunting Ban: Struggling in the Native Land Conclusion References Index "Examining human-animal relations among the reindeer hunting and herding Dukha community in northern Mongolia, this book focuses on concepts such as domestication and wildness from an indigenous perspective. By looking into hunting rituals and herding techniques, the ethnography questions the dynamics between people, domesticated reindeer, and wild animals. It focuses on the role of the spirited landscape which embraces all living creatures and acts as a unifying concept at the center of the human and non-human relations"-- Provided by publisher