The alaas: the interplay between environment and Sakhas in Central-Yakutia

Alaases, thermokarst depressions formed in the permafrost environment of Yakutia (north-eastern Siberia) provide fertile hayfields for the Sakha cattle economy. At this northern latitude, cattle breeding is in particular demand of nutritious fodder, because cows spend an average of nine months in winter-stables. Therefore, alaases are in the focus of Sakha environmental perception. Sakhas not only dwell at alaases, but through their economic activities, they modify and maintain them as well. This process is based on control and domination rather than on procurement of the environment. Villagers in Tobuluk (central Yakutia) consider the areas surrounding their village as controlled islands of alaases (hayfields) in a sea of uncontrolled forest. In this paper, I examine Sakha environmental perception in which landscapes and cardinal directions evoke and define each other and characterise those who reside there. Due to the subsequent transformations of Sakha economy and lifestyle by the Soviet and Russian state administration in the last 100 years (collectivisation, centralisation, and decollectivisation), the way Sakhas interact with their surroundings has transformed radically within the past four generations, causing profound differences in the way generations relate to, interact with, and understand alaases

Pekarik és szellemek : Gondolatok az antropológiai hermeneutikáról

Az antropológia/néprajzkutatás1 ismeretelméletére, hermeneutikájára2 (és azoknak vélt vagy valós krízisére) vonatkozó viták szerencsés módon gyakran vetődnek fel a hazai és nemzetközi szakmai diskurzusokban.3 E viták közül az egyik legjelentősebb a külső és a belső szemlélet, az émikus és az étikus ismeretek közötti átjárhatóság esélyeire kérdez rá időről-időre.4 Ezek a viták akár meddőnek is tűnhetnek, az antropológia lényegi kérdéseire választ adni nem képes kutató kényszerpályájának. A jelen tanulmányban az antropológiai hermeneutika néhány, a „megismerhetőség” és az „átadhatóság” kérdését mérlegre tevő diskurzusának személyes olvasatával kívánok hozzájárulni ahhoz a párbeszédhez, amely a vallási néprajz keresztény paradigmájának lehetőségeire kérdez rá

Klímaváltozás antropológiai szemszögből : Örökké fagyott talaj és nagyjószág-tartás Jakutiában

The paper focuses on the changing perception and use of alaases (i.e. round-shaped meadows in thermocarst depressions) in a Central-Yakutian village community under the impact of global climate change. First, the author provides a brief description of the local cattle economy before collectivisation (1930), pointing out that households used to be located at alaases and they used small and disperse hayfields. Subsequent economic reforms in the Soviet era and decollectivisation in the 1990s distanced villagers from alaases. Therefore knowledge on the alaas ecotope has radically diminished. In the 21st century global warming has changed agriculture in Central-Yakutia. Increase in annual precipitation and in mean annual temperature has resulted in the rapid humidification of permafrost soil and the degradation of hayfields. Three factors expose today’s agricultural production in the village to ongoing climatic changes: low level of self-dependency in agricultural production, undiversified production of unprocessed raw material, and the vanishing concepts of local spiritual ecology. The author argues that anthropological research can effectively contribute to the mitigation of losses in Sakha cattle economy by studying traditional methods of land use and the perception of environment