The Dukha: Mongolia's reindeer herders

10 Pages·1.16 MB·English

by  Wheeler Alan.

LrA
SunvEY
ation of The Mongolia Society
Number Six 1999
.
Feature Section: The First Decade of Democracy in
Mongolia, including special interviews
with Sh. Bíra, R. Burmaa, B. Dash-Yondon, and Kh. Gaamaa
.
Reindeer Herders of Northern Mongolia
Dr. Alicia Campi on Early U.S. Diplomacy in Mongolia
plus Naadam in New York in 2000, news from the WWWeb,
and ü report of the Society's activities in 1999
58 Monsolia Survey
Feature Articles
â,)¡i'¡ rlD¡ rin
The Dukha: Mongolia's Reindeer Herders
By Alan Wheeler
Mongolia's northern most region in Khövsgöl aimag (province) is home to the world's southern
most, and Mongolia's only, group of nomadic reindeer herders whom the Mongols call
Tsaatan---or "reindeer herders."r Although this vanishing people call themselves Dukha, this
fact, as well as other information about them, is scarcely known to most. Of course, there is no
wonder why little is known about this hidden people considering the extreme remoteness of their
mountainous homeland of coniferous forests and patches of tundra, called the taiga. Whenever
travelers wander into Dukha territory, sometimes after days of travel from Ulaanbaatar by plane,
jeep, horse, reindeer and foot, and encounter a camp of teepeeJike dwellings in perhaps the most
isolated part of Mongolia, the scene inevitably evokes images of an untouched culture
reminiscent of that of the Native Americans in earlier days. Yet in spite of their seemingly
disconnected position, the Dukha have indeed experienced the pressures of outside social,
political, economic and ecological forces which have impacted, and are even now shaping, who
they are as an ethnic minority in northern Mongolia. Based on fieldwork done in the summer of
I I would like express my appreciation to both Morten Pedersen and Otto Farkas for their valuable suggestions and
comments on this article. Also, I would like to thânk Solnoi Battulaga for being an incredibly helpful Dukha
informant.
Issue Six 1999 59
Dukha Patterns ol
Movement
Summer Locations
Winler Locations
Su¡n Centers
Adapted from a personal communication from O. Sukhbaatar and a topographical map published by the State Board
of Geodesyand Cartography. Ed. B. Adilberkh (1992).
Khövsgöl aimag
1993 and winter of 1998, this report will give a brief introduction to the history of the Dukha
and a description of their crurent situation.
Aside from a few pages in travel accounts and newspaper clips, little has been written in
English about this small group. The only scholarly works about the Dukha in English have been
written by two Hungarian ethnographers and a Danish anthropologist, specifically Vilmos
Diószegi (1961 ; 1962; 1963), who wrote on the shamanism of the Dukha, Otto Farkas (1992),
who has written observations on the Dukha's economic situation, and most recently, Morten
Pedersen (1999), who has written on Dukha concepts of landscape. In terms of Mongolian
authors, the noted ethnographer, S. Badamkhatan (1960;1962;1996), who passed away this
60 Mongolia Survey
year, has left the only substantial work on Dukha culture to date in his 53-page book
"Khövsgölyn Tsaatqn Ardyn Aj Baidlyn Toim" (1962).
Given the lack of research, and as is the case with many of the world's minority cultures, the
Dukha have been given many different names by outsiders-('Uriankhai," "Tagna Uriankhai,"
"Taigiin irged," and "Soyot" (Badamkhatan 1962:3). Whereas these titles were most common
during the period before the l92l Socialist revolution, by far the most popular and contemporary
ethnonym given to the Dukha today is the Mongolian word for "reindeer herder," or Tsaatan.
According to Badamkhatan, the first written record of the name Tsaatan was in a 1935 issue of
"Ünen" [Truth] newspaper and has been further popularized through the media govemment
documents and mostly by Badamkhatan himself (1962:3).
However, the 36 Dukha families who presently lead a nomadic life in the taiga with their
reindeer herds, as well as those who have settled down in the local sum centets, are ethnically
and linguistically Tuvan and consider themselves to be descendants of the ancient Uigurs. The
term "Dukha" is more than likely a variation of the term "Tuva," which is acfually pronounced
"Dyva" in colloquial Tuvan. Knowing their own heritage, the Dukha find the term "Tsaatan,"
which denotes their occupation, to be offensive as an ethnonym. In fact, the term has been used
at times by neighboring Mongol tribes to mock the Dukha (Farkas 1992:2). Efforts, therefore,
should be made in order to standa¡dizedthe term "Dukha" as an ethnonym, not only in respect to
the Dukha people's self-determination, but also for the sake of accurate scholarship. The use of
the term "tsaatan" to identifi vocation is still beneficial, however, to help make the distinction,
for example, between ethnic Dukha who are settled in the sum center without reindeer or those
who have taken on herding "Mongolìan" livestock and "Dukha tsaatan" who are reindeer-herding
nomads.
Because the nomadic movements of the Dukha are largely determined by the need to pasture
the reindeer in specific areas with sufficient lichen (or "reindeer moss") and by the availability of
game to hunt, they have been known to travel great distances, often without concern for the
borders of a particular sum [county] or even country. Within Mongolia, however, most of the
Dukha reindeer herders have historically carried out their nomadic migrations in the areas of
Ulaan Uul and Renchinlhtimbe sums, until these sums were divided in 1985 by a decree of
parliament to form a third sum called Tsaagan Nuur (White Lake), where most of the Dukha can
be found today. This transnational area, where northem Mongolia borders the Russian Republic
of Buryatia in the northeast and the Republic of Tuva in the west, has had a long history of
hosting not only Tuvans, but other Turkic tribes as well. In fact, many place names in the a¡ea
are Turkic in origin. For instance, one settlement south of Tsagaan Nuur sum center has the
name lved which is probably a variation of the Tuvan word ivi meaning "reindeer." Even the
aimag's namesake, lake KhövsgöI, for which there is no direct translation in Mongolian, is most
'Water
likely a modification of the Tuvan/Turkic words Kök Sug KöL, mearing Blue Lake. And
there is even speculation that the neighboring minority tribe of Mongols known as the Darkhat
may have more Turkic than Mongolic origins @iószegi 1963).
IVhile the 36 reindeer-herding Dukha households of the taiga may present a fairly
homogeneous group at face value, they are actually divided into two groups defined by location,
history and dialect. Geographically, the Dukha are divided into two regions on the northeast and
southwest sides of the Shishigt River, which flows east to west and is one of the main sources of
the Yenesei River. Looking at a map, one ¡vould be more inclined to label them as the "north"
and "south" groups (see map). In everyday conversation, however, the Dukha ascribe their
Issue ,\ix 1999 6l
affiliation to either the l4 households of the
"Zuin Taiga" ("East 1'aiga") or the 16
households of the "Baruun Taiga" ("West
Taiga").
Many of the l9 families of the V/est Taiga
settled within the borders of Mongolia,
specifically in Ulaan Uul sum, during the 1940s
after leaving their home in the Tere Köl area of
Tuva's Kaa Khem region. According to an
interview done in 1993 with Gorshik, the
headman of the West Taiga who recently passed
a.way, the families of the West Taiga came to
Mongolia to flee the ruthless collectivization
taking place in Tuva and to avoid being drafted
into the Soviet Army during World War Two.
'West
So, the Dukha of the Taiga are relatively
nerwcomers to Mongolia.
The 17 households of the East Taiga,
however, have a history in this area going back
at least 200 to 250 years ago, and it is believed
that they originally came from the Bii and Bilem
rivers of Tuva's Todja region. Because the East
Taiga group has a longer history in this area, it
has had to face and adapt to more outside influences, and as a result of their geographical
separation and isolation from "mainstream" Tuvan culture, they have also assumed certain
cultural peculiarities that have ensured their identity as a unique group. In light of the complex
circumstances and unique history of the Eastern Taiga, they seem to be the most intriguing of the
two groups from an ethnohistorical perspective.
Although both groups of the Dukha are the only reindeer herders in Mongolia, they are by
no means unique for the mere fact that they have reindeer. The circumpolar region is full of
reindeer herding cultures, such as the Saami (Lapps) of Scandinavia and the hundreds of
thousands of reindeer herding peoples of Russia and Siberia (e.g. the Nenet, Yakut, Ewenki,
Chukchi, etc.). Even a few Native American groups in Alaska and Canada have turned from
hunting caribou (wild reindeer) to herding reindeer. Yet, there is quite a difference between
reindeer herding of the tundra in circumpolar regions and that of the taiga. Circumpolar reindeer
herders have more of a ranching style of animal husbandry, with herd numbers reaching the
thousands for a single family, enabling them to rely fully on their herds for sustenance and
capital.
The Dukha, however, have historically focused on exploiting the forest by means of hunting
to provide themselves with meat for sustenance and pelts for trading and acquiring goods. Only
on rare occasions did a family slaughter a reindeer for meat, unless they were wealthy, owning
80 or more deer. With a hunting-supplemented economy, it is possible for Tuvans to live on as
few as 10-20 deer per family, while depending on this small herd for transportation and milk.
The Dukha's traditional system of reindeer husbandry, however, has undergone drastic changes
throughout the last half of this century as a direct result of outside forces.
62 Mongolia Survey
During the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in China up to its end in 1911, Tuva was considered a
part of Outer Mongolia and was known as Uriankhai. During this time, the Dukha had the
freedom to migrate within the area which is now divided by the international bo¡der of Russia
and Mongolia. So before the various revolutions, the Dukha were more appropriately citizens of
Íhe taiga. ln 1926-27, however, the border was more firmly established, marking the beginning
of several attempts by the Mongolian government to relocate all "Tsaatan" to their "home" in
Tuva. Almost every family of the East Taiga has stories of how the Mongolian government, in
some cases more than once, sent them and their families or their parents' families to Tuva, where
they waited a season or two and then moved back into northern Mongolia (cf. Farkas 1992: 6).
With this disruption of their nomadic migration patterns, all attempts to relocate the Dukha
must have certainly had a negative affect on the health of their herds. Then in 1956, after finally
rcalizing that the Dukha considered northern Mongolia their home, the Mongolian government
granted the Dukha people Mongolian citizenship and gave them citizen passports. Although this
gesture of the government officially granted the Dukha a "homeland," receiving Mongolian
citizenship brought the Dukha a fresh set of obstacles. As citizens, they were obliged to obey
hunting laws which allowed hunting only during specific seasons. With restrictions on hunting,
and the corresponding lack of meat for food and furs for trade, the Dukha resorted to far greater
reliance on their reindeer for sustenance. With a hunting-supplemented economy, most Dukha
families could sustain themselves with l0-20 reindeer; without it, the Dukha's livelihood was in
jeopardy.
According to several of the older members of the East Taiga, the late 1950s and early'60s
were some of the most difficult times the Dukha have ever experienced. By this time, there were
two camps of "tsaatan" in northern KhövsgöI, the newcomers of the V/est Taiga located in Ulaan
Uul sum and the East Taiga group in Renchinlhümbe sum. Yet, although these two groups were
embraced as citizens, initiatives aimed at encouraging the reindeer economy to develop were for
the most part neglected. Outside of the Dukha, reindeer were generally considered worthless,
wild animals that were
unfit for herding. In fact,
for Mongols, reindeer
simply do not fit the
criteria of "livestock" to
be counted as one of the
tavan khoshuun mal, or
"five snouted animals"
(i.e. horses, camels,
sheep, goats and cattle/
yak) in Mongolian. In
contrast, Tuvan ethno-
semantics allows for
chedi chüzün mal, o r
"seven kinds of animals"
(i.e. horses, camels,
sheep, goats, yak, cattle
and reindeer) in Tuvan.
Because reindeer were
considered a viable econ-
Llsue Six 1999 63
omic resource by Tuvans. more efforts were made there to enhance the industry, albeit after
forced collecti vization.
Reflecting the Mongolian government's lack of- interest in reindeer, in 1956, the government
established the Tsagaan Nuur Brigade Fishery, which fell under the administration of
Renchinlhümbe sum, next to the White Lake in order to tap a profitable resource, as well as to
improve the living conditions of the Dukha. The establishment of the fishery was welcomed by
the Dukha, and because of the difficulties of life, virtually all of the younger Dukha moved down
from the East Taiga to work on the fishery. In 1961 , the government built fourteen stationary
houses next to the fishery for Dukha to settle into. Although socialist development policies
during this time were generally aimed at sedentarizing a part of the nomadic population, there is
no sense that the Dukha felt as if they were being forced to settle down at the fishery.
Before the establishment of the fishery, the few Darkhat Mongols which were living in the
area were mostly located in the Kharamai river area. Since the fishery was originally founded to
accommodate to the Dukha, the government did not allow Darkhat Mongols to settle at the
fishery for at least the first year. But later the Darkhat moved to the fishery in "great numbers,"
according to one Dukha informant. As the population increased in the area and the Tsagaan
Nuur Brigade Fishery grew, the Council of Ministers of the Mongolian People's Republic agreed
to upgrade the fishery to the "Tsagaan Nuur Fishing & Hunting State Farm" in 1972, which once
again allowed the Dukha to hunt on a limited but regular basis.
As a result of the Dukha's hunting skills and knowledge of forest-lore and the reindeer's
ability to out-perform the horse in the taiga, both man and deer proved themselves somewhat
profitable by producing 250-300 sable pelts per year to be sold by the govemment in Russia. In
return, the government provided the Dukha with guns and ammunition during hunting season
and with salaries by which they could buy goods to enhance their living standards and
supplement their diet. In 1979, another "profitable" initiative was implemented by harvesting
velvet antlers to be sold in the Chinese market. But these economic niches were not enough to
gain the full support of the government, which from the 1960s to 1985 still considered reindeer
to be a basically worthless animal. Even today some of the Dukha feel that they cannot trust the
govemment and that the government does not care for them or their interests. This mistrust in
the government was greatly increased when the Renchinlhümbe sum administration ordered the
slaughtering of about half the total number of reindeer during the late 1970s in order to provide
meat to the local school.
Finally, in 1985, parliament made the resolution to consolidate all Dukha and their deer both
from the West Taiga (in Ulaan Uul sum) and East Taiga (in Renchinlhümbe sum) into one new
sum which took the name Tsagaan Nuur. 'With the formation of a new sum, the hunting section
was separated from the fishery, establishing the "Tsagaan Nuur Hunting and Reindeer Breeding
State Farm" to promote hunting and herding for the Dukha. By this time, however, the total
amount of reindeer was at a merc 67I. These low numbers were not only due to the
government's slaughtering spree. Locked within the borders of Mongolia and separated from
fresh gene stock, the herds suffered from poor health due to the inbreeding of the Dukha's
reindeer. So in order to increase the number of reindeer, the government purchased 50 head of
reindeer from Tuva in 1986 which were brought into Mongolia for breeding to replenish the
Dukha's herds.
With the boost in both the genetic condition of the reindeer and the morale of the Dukha, the
late 1980s brought a time of prosperity to the Dukha of both the East and West Taiga groups. By
1990, the total number of reindeer in Tsagaan Nuur sum was already at 1200, and in September
64 Mongolia Survey'
1990 Tsagaan Nuur sum celebrated for the first time a new holiday called the " Mvungan Tsaanii
Bayar," oÍ the Thousand Reindeer Holiday. To commemorate this important holiday, many
families sewed "1000 Tsaa" ("1000 Reindeer") on the door-flaps of theirtepees, demonstrating
their pride. But this prosperity proved short-lived. In the early 1990s, as Mongolia began
experiencing the new found freedoms of democracy and a market economy, many parts of the
country, including Tsagaan Nuur, experienced years of disorder and limited government control
over self-serving capitalist interests. As a result of the ruthless over-exploitation of fish in
Tsagaan Nuur, the Ministry of Nature and Environment closed the Tsagaan Nuur fishery in 1990,
and banned all fishing in the lake for a period of ten years. Thus, without work in the sum
center, the Dukha director of the fishery, with other Dukha families, left the settled life after
thirty years and went back into the East Taiga to herd reindeer.
At first, the Tsagaan Nuur administration maintained ownership of the reindeer and
continued to pay the Dukha salaries for herding the animals. But in 1992,with the entire country
facing an economic crisis, the government could no longer afford to pay salaries to the Dukha
and decided, instead, to lease the reindeer to them, allowing them more freedom to make
personal profit from the animals. From 1992 to W95, more families from the now defunct
fishery continued to move up into the taiga from the Tsagaan Nuur center to try their luck at
herding reindeer. Then in 1995, the government completely privatized the reindeer by
essentially giving each family the same reindeer herd that they were leasing from the government
at the time.
Since 1992, herd numbers have been plummeting at a rate of l8% per year, and as of the end
of 1998, the total number of domestic reindeer in Mongolia numbered at 614 and falling. When
the Dukha are asked what has caused the great decline in their herd numbers, they generally
respond with three main explanations. First and foremost is that, from the outset in 1992, with
both traditional hunting practices and salaries from the state gone, the total number of reindeer
was simply not sufficient to sustain both the Dukha already in the taiga and those moving back
into the taiga after the fishery closed. Presently, out-of-season hunting restrictions are still
enforced, and according to some of the Dukha, even poaching is no longer profitable since many
outside hunters, who are "unskilled in forest-lore, have come and frightened most of the
available game out of the area." Moreover, without salaries or any other source of income to buy
supplementary staples from the sum center, the Dukha have no alternative but to harvest their
reindeer for sustenance.
Secondly, the current condition of the reindeer herds' health has so diminished that most
efforts at increasing reproduction have been unsuccessful, and the average life span of herds has
greatly declined. Most Dukha attribute their herds'poor health to problems such as inbreeding
which continues to take its toll on the animals' well-being, because of the international border
blocking access to fresh stock in Tuva. In addition, although economically profitable in the
short-term, cutting reindeer's antlers in their soft, velvety stage weakens the animal's immune
system, causing them to be more susceptible to infections, diseases, and parasites.
The third explanation most Dukha give for the rapid decline in herd numbers has been non-
human predators. During the socialist era, both bounties and equipment were given for the
pu{pose of exterminating wolves, which were considered a threat to all livestock throughout
Mongolia. But with the disintegration of such subsidized programs and the simple deterioration
or lack of firearms, wolves and other predators have greatly impacted the number of reindeer.
In addition to the crisis of the diminishing reindeer herds, new outside forces are currently
influencing Dukha society. Having capitalized on the fascination of V/esterners with the mystery
Issue Six 1999 65
and uniqueness of the Dukha's reindeer herding culture, both foreign and Mongolian travel
agencies have made the "Tsaatan" a popular tourist stop for those passing through Mongolia. As
a result of tour companies' heavy advertisement of trips to the taiga, including numerous
advertisements on the internet, an increasing number of tourists are visiting the few Dukha
families every summer. But, as one Dukha man said, these are people who "take many pictures
and leave nothing." As is evident in other parts of the world, the tourism industry will inevitably
alter the face of Dukha society. With these increasing intrusions into their lives, it will be
difficult for the Dukha to fuily maintain their uniqueness, the very trait that brings the tourists.
The situation of the Dukha has also caught the attention of many Mongolian national and
international aid and development organizations, which appear to be racing to see who can get
funding to execute their "Save-the-Reindeer-People" project first. Although most of these
organizations propose to somehow restock the Dukha's herds, up to now nothing signihcant has
been accomplished towards stopping the Dukha's herds from vanishing.
In light of their cunent situation, it is obvious that the reindeer-herding culture of the Dukha
is truly at risk of extinction. Whereas many or most of the present difficulties threatening Dukha
culture stem directly from previous outside pressures, it is now ironic that their only hope for
survival as the world's southern most reindeer-herding culture may depend on assistance from
the outside. Fortunately, there are sufficient national and international organizations which
would be interested in providing assistance towards preserving Dukha culture. One would only
hope, however, that such assistance could attain sustainable results through appropriate means.
Regardless, without the tsaa, or reindeer, there will be no more "Tsaatan" in Mongolia, and the
traditional livelihood of the 36 reindeer-herding Dukha families will disappear.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Postscript
After this article was written, a more recent effort toward assisting the Dukha has come about,
which actually exhibits some promise of benefiting the reindeer-herding lifestyle of the Dukha in
a sustainable way. In mid-January, 1999, a Mongolian NGO called the Mongolian Reindeer
66 Mongolia Survey
Fund was established with the stated purpose of helping preserve and promote the indigenous
culture, ecology and reindeer-herding economy of the Dukha people.
Since receiving its registration as a Mongolian not-for-profit NGO, the Mongolian Reindeer
Fund (MRF) has helped the Dukha organize themselves into reindeer-herding co-operatives for
the purpose of empowering them with an organizational structure that',¡¡ill fill the void left by the
fallen collective system, yet maintain private ownership of livestock; distributed two tons of
flour to the Dukha as immediate relief-aid with funding from the American-based Totem
People's Project, of Cultural Survival Inc., with the intentions of providing suppiementary staples
to reduce the Dukha's need to harvest their own reindeer; and is currentþ working with funds
provided by the Australian government, in cooperation with Professionals International, to
facilitate the reconstruction of the Tsagaan Nuur elementary and secondary school which burnt
to the ground this past winter, forcing the Dukha and Darkhat (a neighboring Mongolian ethnic
group) children to meet for class in the local hospital.
Most significantly, the MRF is now making steps toward helping to enhance the present
gene-stock of the Dukha's reindeer by importing up to 100 reindeer from Tofilaria, a Russian
district northeast of Tuva. With major funding from the Canadian government and private
donors in the U.S. through the Totem People's Project, the MRF is currently planning on having
the reindeer purchased and transferred across the Mongolia-Russia border by September 15,
1999. With a large portion of funding for the actual transfer of reindeer already raised, the
MRF's Dukha People's Reindeer Project is still seeking support for facilitating other objectives,
such as, management advancement and planning of reindeer husbandry and sustainable
veterinary care, as well as research and development of appropriate economic activities in
accordance with the aspirations and capacity of the Dukha. For more information on how you
can help, please contact the Mongolian Reindee¡ Fund at: mongol [email protected].
References
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