Nenet Facts Total Population 10,000 Arctic Homelands Russian Siberia Origins Asia Languages Nenet Traditional Activities Reindeer herding, fishing, hunting, farming Religion Animistic & shamanstic Did you know? Beginning in the early 1930s, regions of the Russian north underwent a dramatic series of changes. Following Stalin's vision of socialist development, the Soviet government forced Nenet reindeer breeders on to newly established collective farms After ten or more years of Soviet education, Nenet children retained little knowledge of their parent's subsistence economy, family life, and native language. 6.8 million hectares of reindeer rangeland have been polluted by oil seepage and other spills, destroyed by vehicles, overgrazed, or otherwise lost to the Nenet herders.

Nenet People

Arctic reindeer pastoralists, the Nenet people of northern Russia have struggled to maintain their cultural identity in the face of environmental and societal changes. Traditionally nomadic peoples, Nenet people would cover great distances up and down the Kanin peninsula of Siberia, moving from northern tundra pastures in summer to the more protected sub-Arctic taiga in winter. Their culture and technology were well adapted to the herder lifestyle. Social institutions based on clan membership allowed them to share animals and food, unite and divide herds, and make effective use of all nearby resources. Nenets today have to adapt to a changing economy, depleted resources, and state-sponsored assimilation programs which combine to threaten the future of their way of life.

The Nenet people have traditionally depended on sizeable reindeer herds for food, clothing, transportation, and craft-making tools. The extensive marshes and wetlands of the northern tundra and taiga provide excellent summer breeding ranges for reindeer herds. With populations limited mostly by the availability of reindeer moss, herds of domestic reindeer move south along strictly defined passages to the southern tundra, forest tundra, and taiga. In addition to reindeer meat, the Nenet fish the Arctic rivers for cisco, whitefish, herring, Siberian sturgeon, Arctic char, nelma, muksun, Arctic grayling, pike, perch, and smelt. Secondary food sources include moose, common seal, beluga, bearded seal, ducks, geese, snowy owl, and ptarmigan. Marine mammals are a relatively small food source, however.

Traditional culture and spiritual life of the Nenets is based on a spiritual journeys through time and space and different spheres of existence. Nenet beliefs stressed respect for the land and its resources, as many objects in nature were embodied with a type of spiritual consciousness or soul that didn't take lightly to ill treatment. Shamans were a source of spiritual guidance and served as a human link to the spirit world.

A major problem facing the Nenet people and the Russian government is how to assure a sustainable future for the indigenous populations - culturally as well as environmentally. During the Soviet collectivization period in the mid-1900's, many Nenets were forced to abandon their traditional lifestyles and made to live on permanent farms. Children were turned over to state-run schools which eventually led to loss of cultural heritage and serious adjustment problems. Extractive industries such as: mining, and oil and gas production, have had a major impact on the local environment, reducing the productivity of the reindeer industry. Herding now accounts for less than 10% of the region's economy. The migration routes from the tundra to the tundra-forest have been overgrazed, limiting the growth of the herds. Year-round navigation of the Yenisey River and the construction of a pipeline between Messoyakha and Norilsk have made large areas of rangeland inaccessible.