27.1 (Spring 2003) The Troubled Taiga

Language Endangerment Among the Tofa

For 10 months of each year, the three remote villages in the eastern Sayan mountains of south Siberia where the 731 members of the Tofa Nation live are accessible only by helicopter or small 1950s vintage bi-planes. In the dead of winter, visitors can drive along frozen rivers in an all-terrain truck to reach the villages. The Tofas’ extreme isolation has proved to be both a hardship and a benefit as they struggle with the impending loss of their language.

Hunting for a Solution:Tozhu Wild Animal Resources Threatened by Poaching and Industrial Development

In early March 2000 the two-family herding camp of Viktor Sambuu and Roman Baraan boiled their final scraps of sinewy reindeer meat. The reindeer’s untimely slaughter, forced by a cracked vertebra, was a mixed blessing: The camp desperately needed the meat, but the Tozhu people of the Tozhu District in the northeastern Republic of Tyva were loath to slaughter one, even times of dire need.

Following the White Stag:The Dukha and Their Struggle for Survival

The Dukha are a distinct tribe of Tyvan-lineage reindeer herders who have resided in northern Mongolia's Hovsgol Province since the borders between Russia and Mongolia were officially closed in 1947, at the start of the Cold War. But the true heritage of Dukha ancestry has been deeply etched all across this border region over the course of millennia.

Evenki Reindeer Herding: A History

Contemporary reindeer herding in Siberia varies greatly from region to region, due to influences of different environments, histories, and ethnic characteristics. The Evenki, formerly known as the Tungus, practice taiga-type reindeer herding—also known as Evenki- or Tungus-type herding—in south Siberia’s mountainous zones.

Chinese Dual-Ownership System Remains a Hopeful Model Despite Evenkis' Forced Relocation from Olguya

Until fall 2002, some 30 Evenki families lived in the village of Ôlguya at the northern tip of China’s Inner Mongolia province. While they were not the only Evenki in China, these few Evenki families centered around Ôlguya were China’s only reindeer-herding people.

Publications