Dolgan - Economy



Subsistence and Commercial Activities . The rural economy is organized into relatively large state units, sovkhozy. Besides facilities for trapping and hunting, fishing, reindeer breeding, and fur-animal farming, each Sovkhoz usually has a hospital, a school, and a farm to supply fresh milk to the kindergarten.

The working groups (Russian: brigady ) of the reindeer breeders of eastern Taimyr, move northward in the summer and southward in the fall, following the traditional routes. These are changed each year, so that the group returns to the original route every fourth year, depending on the condition of the pasturage. Slaughtering of domestic reindeer is done in November, when the herds are located dosest to the settlement. Since the middle 1980s, commercial trade in reindeer horn and certain parts of the reindeer carcasses (for development of biostimulant preparations) has been developed intensively. In exchange, the economic units receive imported manufactured goods and food items.

Land Tenure. All immovable property used by the residents of a settlement belongs to the state economic units or to the councils of various levels of administration. Apartments in the settlements are assigned to families for life. As a very rare exception, a hunter may possess immovable property—for example, a very small house that he built himself at his trapping location. The basic personal property among the Dolgan, as among the Nganasan, consists of portable dwellings, self-constructed or factory-manufactured boats, boat motors and motorized sleds, etc.

Trade. Besides goods available in the settlement stores, there is a system of ordering by mail, from catalogs. Private commercial enterprise is minimally developed among the Dolgan, as is the case among the other small-scale societies of the Taimyr. At present, commercial activity is controlled by the sovkhozy.

Industrial Arts. Formerly each man had to be able to make, out of wood, skin, and fiber, all the basic implements needed in the household, all weapons, and all implements used in the hunt. Even today, in the eastern regions, hunters (trappers) and reindeer breeders have these skills. Blacksmithing is practiced only by a few masters. The younger generation increasingly prefers apartments and factory-produced goods.

The ability to work skins and to make beautiful and warm fur and skin clothing, bedding, and dwelling covers used to be one of the most respect-evoking attributes of a woman. These skills are still preserved among the reindeer breeders. In the settlements there are sewing shops where women make footwear out of reindeer-leg skin. These are decorated with fur mosaic, worsted cloth, and beads. For this, the women receive previously agreed-upon wages.

Division of Labor. Men are engaged for the most part in trapping and hunting, fishing, and reindeer breeding. Women's labor related to these activities consists of providing men with clothing, preparing food, and participating in the processing of the catch. In the settlements men are engaged in heavy labor on fur farms, in construction, in the building of cold-storage units in the permafrost, and in bringing in fuel and water. The Dolgan men, in contrast to the Nganasan, participate more actively in dwelling construction and household tasks. Within the family, there is also division of labor based on age.

Food and Clothing. Venison, fowl, and fish constituted the traditional foods. For winter, the meat and fish were dried. Dishes prepared out of traditional foods are much more varied than among the Nganasan. Bread and flour entered the diet long ago. Some of the traditional foods are eaten either raw or frozen. Today, additional foods are available in stores.

Traditional and permanent winter clothing of reindeer fur is worn on the hunt and in reindeer-herding activities. In a settlement one might see such traditional clothing on small children; adults all wear manufactured clothing. Bright, festive garments, multicolored glass seed beads ( biser ) and metal buttons are worn during winter festivals and on visits to distant places.


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