The Nenets also is known as Samoyed, are a Samoyedic ethnic group native to northern arctic Russia, so-called Russian Far North. According to the latest census in 2010, there were 44,857 Nenets in the Russian Federation, most of them living in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District stretching along the coastline of the Arctic Ocean near the so-called Arctic Circle between Kola and Taymyr peninsulas. The Nenets people speak either the Tundra or Forest Nenets languages, which are mutually unintelligible.
In the Russian Federation they have a status of indigenous small-numbered peoples or “little people”.
The Nenets language is on the Samoyedic branch of the Uralic language family, with two major dialects, Forest Nenets and Tundra Nenets. Ethnologue says that in Siberia, most young people are still fluent in Nenets, whereas, in European Russia, they tend to speak Russian. Overall, the majority of native speakers are from older generations. UNESCO classifies Nenets as an endangered language. Some believe that the use of Russian and Komi is due to inter-ethnic marriages.
There are two distinct groups of Nenets sensu stricto, based on their economy: the Tundra Nenets (living far to the north) and the Khandeyar or Forest Nenets. A distinct third group of Nenets (Yaran people) has emerged as a result of intermarriages between Nenets and Izhma Komi people.
The Samoyedic languages form a branch of the Uralic language family. They moved from farther south in Siberia to the northernmost part of what later became Russia sometime before the 12th century.
They ended up between the Kanin and Taymyr peninsulas, around the Ob and Yenisey rivers, with only a few of them settling into small communities like Kolva. Their main subsistence comes from hunting and reindeer herding. Using reindeer as a draft animal throughout the year enables them to cover great distances. Large-scale reindeer herding emerged in the 18th century. They bred the Samoyed dog to help herd their reindeer and pull their sleds, and European explorers later used these dogs for polar expeditions, because they were well adapted to the arctic conditions. Tundra wolves can cause considerable economic loss, as they prey on the reindeer herds which are the livelihood of some Nenets families. Along with reindeer meat, fish is a major component in the Nenets’ diet. Nenets housing is conical yurt (mya).
They have a shamanistic and animistic belief system that stresses respect for the land and its resources. During migrations, the Nenets placed sacred items like bearskins, religious figures, coins, and more on a holy sleigh. The contents of this sacred sleigh are only unpacked during special occasions or for religious rituals (like sacrifices). However, only esteemed elders are allowed to unpack the sacred sleigh. They had a clan-based social structure. The Nenets shaman is called a Tadibya.
After the Russian Revolution, their culture suffered due to the Soviet collectivization policy. The government of the Soviet Union tried to force the nomadic Samoyeds to settle down permanently. They were forced to settle in villages and their children were educated in state boarding schools, which resulted in the erosion of their cultural identity. Many, especially in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug lost their mother tongue and became assimilated. Since the 1930s, a few Nenets have expressed themselves professionally through cultural media. For instance, Tyko Vylka and Konstantin Pankov became well-known painters. Anna Nerkagi is one of the most celebrated Nenets writers. Yuri Vella, though living as a reindeer herder, has become the first writer in the Forest Nenets language.
Environmental damage to the Nenets’ ancestral land is significant due to the industrialization of their land, colonization, and climate change. Because of the expansive gas and oil industry, reindeer pastures are shrinking, and some regions, such as the Yamal Peninsula are overgrazed, further endangering the Nenets way of life. The effects of global warming and climate change on nomadic Nenets reindeer herders have been documented, as certain lands, they need to cross to follow migration patterns are only accessible during winter. Earlier spring melts compounded by the delayed autumn freeze, affect the ability of reindeer and herders to traverse the frozen tundra. Arkhangelsk-based Leonid Zubov has documented how this restricts Nenets people’s access to medical facilities, causing them to wait until the next snow season for medical attention.
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