#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The visit to Norilsk of Andrey Golovnev, director of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), was a continuation of the ethnological examination commissioned by the Association of Indigenous Minorities of Taimyr.
Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor, doctor of Historical Sciences Andrey Golovnev is a world-renowned specialist in the field of anthropology and ethnology of the Arctic. The scientist has been conducting fundamental research on the history of the peoples of the northern part of Eurasia for 40 years. In 1978 he worked in Taimyr. The current visit to Norilsk and Dudinka is a good opportunity to consider the possibilities of using the cultural heritage of the northerners for today’s and future world development.
“The northerners differ from the rest of the world by two, perhaps, the main qualities: power over their own destiny and the art of controlling large spaces”, said Andrey Golovnev. “It is very important now, because the philosophy and technology of movement are the principles and mechanisms of development. The physical world, the virtual world, space, aviation – everything changes. Therefore, turning to private plots related to behavior in space, we open up huge prospects for using the thousand-year-old skills of indigenous people, primarily nomads, for future technologies”.
Andrey Golovnev clarified the purpose of his visit to Norilsk and Taimyr: “It is to offer large companies operating in the Arctic direct cooperation with indigenous communities. Not a patronizing attitude, not building houses for them and providing money, but rather creative, active cooperation. Because the ability of the indigenous people to behave in the tundra deserves engineering and technological developments”.
In Taimyr, ethnographer Golovnev will also focus on identifying territorial enclaves where it is safe to carry on domestic reindeer herding. This is necessary because in the conditions of industrial land development, the indigenous population is witnessing the departure of the wild deer from these places. And the domestic livestock follows it.
Director of the Norilsk Museum Natalya Fedyanina said that in the near future the institution will host an exhibition “about movement, about nomads”.
“Professionally, we are very interested in the scientific and methodological support of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. In what way? Museums in the North are disjointed, there is almost no exchange between them. It is easier to bring an exhibition from Moscow and St. Petersburg than from neighboring cities. The Kunstkamera could act as a scientific and methodological inter-museum center, it would be very valuable”, said Natalya Fedyanina.
Text: Larisa Fedishina, Tatiana Ermolaeva, Photo: Marina Peshkova
