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This book is an important work for those interested in indigenous arctic peoples. The recently released American edition is intended to provide Western researchers with "concrete information about Siberian subsistence systems and current patterns of transformation among them" (p. xvi). By combining Western theory about human ecology with the long tradition of Russian ethnography in Arctic Eurasia, Krupnik presents a stimulating and provocative hypothesis about the interconnectedness of successful human ecological adaptation in the North. Using case studies of Asiatic Eskimo sea - mammal hunters and Nenets and Chukchi reindeer herders from the mid - 1850s until the 1930s, he rejects the common view that indigenous Arctic societies achieved a state of equilibrium with their environments by controlling their population growth and by conserving natural resources.
In Chapter 2, Krupnik calculates subsistence balances (i.e., the annual consumption demands versus the annual economic production) for five Asiatic Eskimo communities on the Chukchi Peninsula. Together the five communities numbered approximately 1100 people, who made their living by periodically intercepting whale and walrus along the open coast and by hunting seal within defined territories, supplemented by fishing, hunting, and gathering. Annual harvest data indicate that these Eskimos produced up to twice the amount of their consumption needs through seemingly destructive activities, which included overhunting sea mammals and reducing their reproductive population by deliberately taking young calves and pregnant cows. Yet, these practices did not cause their economy to collapse, as it produced large surpluses for trade with the tundra pastoralists.
In Chapter 3, Krupnik calculates subsistence balances for tundra pastoralists by dividing members of one Nenets and three Chukchi communities into classes: small herders (<150 reindeer), mid - size herders (150 - 500 reindeer), and large herders (>500 reindeer). Looked at this way, nearly three - fourths of the population, mostly poorer herders, had a negative subsistence balance. Poorer herders owned more male harness reindeer to overcome the severe transport stress of the Siberian tundra, and did not produce enough meat to feed themselves. They made up the difference through traditional subsistence activities, like hunting and fishing, and by working for wealthy families. Wealthy herders owned more breeding does and slaughtered larger numbers of animals for food, raw materials, and trade. Some Chukchi communities became dependent upon coastal...