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4. Notes and Reviews

Review of the publication Arctic Discourses. Edited by Anka Ryall, Johan Schimanski and Henning Howlid Wærp. Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2010, 341 pages.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0010 The article is dedicated to the analysis of alcohol consumption practices within the Koryak ethno-cultural community. The aim of the article is to understand how the reasons for alcohol consumption are explained within the framework of the community. The analysis is based on the ideas of Durkheim’s social theory. The author of the article claims that the practice of consuming alcohol is essentially connected with the more archaic practice of mushroom consumption since both have a grounding in the Koryak perception of the world. The analysed models of behaviour stem from appropriate Koryak epistemology and ontology, which themselves are based on the notion of the ‘other world’ and communication with supernatural entities (spirits). The isomorphism of consuming alcohol and amanita intoxication reflects the inner core of this connection: the Koryak believe that an entity enters the human body and controls their actions. The transition from one type of intoxication to another is accompanied by drastic transformation of the materiality of the consumed product, which, in turn, leads towards social transformations. Such social changes are qualified as anomie by the author of the article. The visual materiality of the amanita mushroom dictated its symbolic anthropomorphism and creation of special rules for the treatment (amanita codex). The physical amorphousness of vodka does not imply the same intellectual work. The author claims that this factor was one of the reasons why the Koryak do not have social regulations about vodka consumption – which leads to mass alcoholism. It is possible that indigenous communities have difficulties in working out the required social regulations because of the complexities surrounding the non-utilitarian treatment of the unusual materiality of vodka.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0012 This article focuses on the recent history and contemporary practice of a kind of traditional tapestry weaving known as smettvev in the rural county of Jølster in mountainous western Norway. Jølster has a rich fibre arts tradition and a rapidly changing society and economy, which make it an exemplary study in material culture as its fibre arts transform to accommodate these changes. This article draws on ethnographic research and interviews with representative practitioners and community members to examine how conceptions about producer and audience identity and the role of this art form in everyday life have evolved in light of changing context. The article furthermore discusses the ways in which the forms and motifs associated with smettvev are being re-appropriated by local contemporary artists working in other mediums, as well as by individuals and institutions who see smettvev as a symbol of local identity and heritage.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0009 Although the notion of responsibility is often invoked by mass-media reports, activists and lay people when discussing alcoholism and suicides, anthropological discussions of this topic seem to deliberately avoid the notion. Based on the example of the Taz Nenets of western Sibera, this paper explores how cross-cultural differences in the notion of responsibility, if approached in a non-moralising way, can enrich our understanding of several aspects of the drinking and suicidal behaviours of native northerners. The Nenets seem to believe that both positive and negative events in their lives happen more due to chance or for highly localised reasons that they do not control rather than being caused by their own informed and wilful actions (external locus of control). Particularly, acts of suicide and binge drinking episodes just happen to people and, therefore, people cannot be held responsible for them. This attitude can be a compensatory mechanism for the flat attribution style observed among Nenets in previous studies. It should be taken into account in programs of suicide prevention and the treatment of alcoholism.

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Book review of the publication Alexander D. King, Living with Koryak Traditions: Playing with Culture in Siberia. Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 2011, 348 pp.

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3. Vol 2 No 2 (2008) /
4. Articles

In this article I try to analyse some aspects of heritage management in the Turya village of the Republic of Komi, Russia. I attempt to demonstrate how the local museum curator, Olga Shlopova, treats her fairy tales, museum exposition and collection of local heritage. My aim is to interpret some dialogue situations between local village people, scholars and officials which indicate how people manage differences in understanding of heritage administration. I presume that local people’s ideas and methods of dealing with cultural phenomena and institutions may obtain their own specific value in the course of culture processes. The question is, how flexible can official cultural specialists be in adapting and reflecting these, sometimes, slightly unconventional approaches. I suppose that an ethical approach helps a researcher to distance him or herself from possible prejudices or, at least, to be more conscious about stereotypes or pre-settled patterns of thinking. Unconditional recognition of an indigenous way of understanding local phenomena also helps a researcher to reach a more culture-specific model of interpretation.

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3. Vol 1 No 1-2 (2007) /
4. Articles

The history of Finno-Ugric Ethnology has already come a considerable way. There have been periods of brilliant discovery as well as periods of stagnation; or, what was worse, periods when what was said depended on what the prevailing conditions demanded. Looking back, we are to some degree able to reconstruct the facts and to follow the development of the ideas that contributed to contemporary studies. The main subject of this paper is the interpretation of mutual understanding between the ethnologist and government in the history of Finno-Ugric studies in Russia between the 18th and 20th centuries.

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The genre system of Udmurt folk songs has been researched by scholars many times. The accumulation and publication of new folklore and ethnographic material requires reconsideration of the general concept and definition. The folklore of northern Udmurtia gives interesting material for the study of the origins of some genres and of their interconnections. For example, the researching of the Udmurt mad’ song genre, which is associated with popular Udmurt and Russian songs today, within the overall context of the Udmurt genre system, and use of comparison materials from the Komi and Ob Ugrians, has lead to ideas about the magical character of this genre and its syncretism (the song fairytale, the song riddle, the song dialogue).

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3. Vol 10 No 2 (2016): Drinking Is Not Just Fun /
4. Editorial

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0006 This special issue of the Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics is composed on the basis of papers presented at the University of Tartu’s 5th International Arctic Workshop, titled Responsibility and Authority in Drinking (May 30–31, 2014). 

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0011 When I conducted fieldwork among the Darhad of northern Mongolia my informants repeatedly asserted that after a good singer’s performance even the most badly intoxicated lad stands still and keeps silent. In this article, I make three points in order to explain why this claim was made. In the first one, I show that the main concern about singing performance at social gatherings is not about revealing the singer’s inner emotional realm but rather about crafting a collective feeling that has the ability to make people temporarily shed their otherness and converge. The problem with drunkards lies in the fact that they are unable to participate and even noisily impede this rite of convergence. The main reason is that they are not sufficiently detached from their own inner realm. I then put the concept of noise in context, arguing that it forms the repulsive pole of a Mongolian sonic continuum. In my last point, I stress the fact that according to Mongolian linguistic ideology, noise brings misfortune to the entire community. That is why good singers must win their battle against drunkards.

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