Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

'Ways of knowing' reindeer and caribou in the Circumpolar North
Date: April 1999

This three-year project is designed to compare the local knowledge of Evenki and Dolgan reindeer herders and hunters in the Taimyr Autonomous District of Russia and that of Gwich'in (Dene) caribou¹ hunters and managers in the Gwich'in Settlement Area of Canada's Northwest Territorities. The main methodology of the project involves direct meetings with hunters from each region on each other's lands so that they may compare techniques and philosophies. Meetings will be facilitated with translators. It is hoped that through these contacts the project members will gain a broader view of how concrete observations on the behaviour of reindeer guide social practice and inform worldview. Specifically, the project will investigate the difference (if any) between ways of relating to domestic reindeer and so-called 'wild' reindeer (caribou¹). It is hoped that participants in the project will compare different regimes of wildlife management, co-management, and 'rational management' as practiced in these two settings.