Peoples of the tundra
Subtitle: northern Siberians in the post-communist transition
By: John P. Ziker.
Publisher: Waveland Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Prospect Heights, Ill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 197
Subjects: Dolgans -- Russia -- Taymyr Peninsula.; Nganasani -- Russia -- Taymyr Peninsula.; Post-communism -- Russia -- Taymyr Peninsula.
Description: "On ethnographic grounds alone, Ziker's book is a unique and valuable contribution. Despite increased fieldwork opportunities for foreigners in the former Soviet Union in recent years, much of Russia and Siberia remains terra incognita to Western scholars, except for specialists who know the Russian literature.

Ziker's account of the Dolgan and Nganasan peoples of the Ust Avam community is a fascinating analysis of how people adapt their hunting, fishing, and herding not only to the demanding Arctice environment but also to enormous economic and political adversities created in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse.

In this sense, the book fills a gap in the ethnographic literature on Siberia for Western students and, at the same time, serves as a microcosm of the devastating changes affecting rural communities and indigenous peoples generally in a disintegrating former superpower; that is, increasing isolation and a shift to nonmarket survival economies."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-180).