![\"A](\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/08-05-12-READ-16215.-Edward-J.-Vajda-Yeniseian-Peoples-and-Languages-16216.-Edward-J.-Vajda-Ket-pic-2-210x300.jpg\")
<\/a>A Ket camp in Siberia, tak\u00aden in1929. A pic\u00adture tak\u00aden in Canada\u2019s North West Ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adries in the same year would have been very sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u2026 and Vaj\u00adda pro\u00adpos\u00ades that the lan\u00adguages of both places are related.<\/p><\/div>\n
Only about a 1,100 Ket sur\u00advive today, among whom less than half are flu\u00adent in the lan\u00adguage. Their social con\u00addi\u00adtions are not good, and pres\u00adsures to assim\u00adi\u00adlate into Russ\u00adian cul\u00adture are strong. All the Siber\u00adian native peo\u00adples have been able to recov\u00ader cul\u00adtur\u00adally a bit, since the end of the old Sovi\u00adet regime, but a group with such a small pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion base is in a com\u00adpar\u00ada\u00adtively weak posi\u00adtion com\u00adpared to larg\u00ader groups. They also stand apart from oth\u00ader Siber\u00adian peo\u00adples, and can\u00adnot appeal to any broad\u00ader sol\u00adi\u00addar\u00adity. They are so remote, that few out\u00adsiders have had any con\u00adtact with them. But the infor\u00adma\u00adtion sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion has great\u00adly improved. Vajda\u2019s enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adtic and care\u00adful schol\u00adar\u00adship extends to cul\u00adture and folk\u00adways, as well as to their lan\u00adguage. He obvi\u00adously has great affec\u00adtion for the Ket, and com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcates this in his writ\u00ading. The first book deals not only with Ket, but with the oth\u00ader mem\u00adbers of the lan\u00adguage fam\u00adily that are known to have exist\u00aded, but are now extinct. It\u2019s exten\u00adsive bib\u00adli\u00adog\u00adra\u00adphy shows that there is now much more mate\u00adr\u00adial avail\u00adable to any\u00adone curi\u00adous about the Ket. The sec\u00adond book is pri\u00admar\u00adily a lin\u00adguis\u00adtic analy\u00adsis of Ket, but it also con\u00adtains some ethno\u00adgraphic descrip\u00adtion. This pas\u00adsage caught my eye:<\/span><\/p>\nBefore Stalin\u2019s forced col\u00adlec\u00adtiviza\u00adtion and seden\u00adta\u00adriza\u00adtion of Siber\u00adian native groups in the 1930s and Khrushchev\u2019s con\u00adsol\u00adi\u00adda\u00adtion of the resul\u00adtant Ket set\u00adtle\u00adments into larg\u00ader, mul\u00adti-eth\u00adnic vil\u00adlages in the ear\u00adly 1960s, the Ket rep\u00adre\u00adsented the last island of true hunter-gath\u00ader\u00ader-fish\u00aders any\u00adwhere in North\u00adern Eura\u00adsia out\u00adside the Pacif\u00adic Rim. The tra\u00addi\u00adtional Ket eco\u00adnomic cycle per\u00adhaps offers some\u00adthing akin to a glimpse into the remote pre\u00adhis\u00adtory of the Eurasian inte\u00adrior. In spring, sev\u00aderal Ket fam\u00adi\u00adlies would con\u00adverge to erect their teepee-like birch\u00adbark tents beside the rivers, lakes, and oth\u00ader fish\u00ading sites. Dur\u00ading the intense, brief sum\u00admer heat, some took up res\u00adi\u00addence in large cov\u00adered house\u00adboats, which they maneu\u00advred out into the deep cur\u00adrent beyond the clouds of blood\u00adsuck\u00ading insects infest\u00ading the riv\u00ader banks. Fall and ear\u00adly win\u00adter were a time of wan\u00adder\u00ading, when the group bid farewell to the riv\u00ader and dis\u00adpersed back to the taiga inte\u00adrior. Many sailed up the Yenisei\u2019s trib\u00adu\u00adtaries to reach their tra\u00addi\u00adtional hunt\u00ading grounds. Each fam\u00adily had its own hunt\u00ading trail. The men would jour\u00adney into the for\u00adest to hunt rein\u00addeer, elk, or bear, as well as fur-bear\u00ading ani\u00admals and game birds. Accom\u00adpa\u00adnied by their dogs, hunters trav\u00adeled on foot, each day mov\u00ading a bit far\u00adther from their family\u2019s encamp\u00adment. Dur\u00ading the cold\u00adest months, when day\u00adlight was short\u00adest, hunt\u00ading would vir\u00adtu\u00adally cease and fam\u00adi\u00adlies sub\u00adsisted on their stored pro\u00advi\u00adsions. The entire group wait\u00aded out this cold, dark peri\u00adod in a kind of semi-sub\u00adter\u00adranean dwelling of extreme\u00adly archa\u00adic design. When the days began to length\u00aden again, the hunters resumed their for\u00adays. Leav\u00ading their women, chil\u00addren, and elder\u00adly fam\u00adily mem\u00adbers for suc\u00adces\u00adsively longer peri\u00adods each trip, the men tra\u00adversed long dis\u00adtances on wide, padded skis, drag\u00adging their sup\u00adplies behind them on a hand sled. After the spring thaw, the Ket would reoc\u00adcupy their fish\u00ading sites at the water\u2019s edge. These sub\u00adsis\u00adtence pat\u00adterns, record\u00aded in the ear\u00adly 20th cen\u00adtury, pro\u00advide a view of dai\u00adly life as it must have exist\u00aded before the Turko-Mon\u00adgol pas\u00adtoral\u00adists and Samoyedic or Tun\u00adgu\u00adsic rein\u00addeer herd\u00ading lifestyles came to dom\u00adi\u00adnate every oth\u00ader cor\u00adner of land-locked North Asia.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nI can prac\u00adti\u00adcally smell the snow and the tama\u00adrack while I read this. Any\u00adone with expe\u00adri\u00adence of the Cana\u00addian north would rec\u00adog\u00adnize every ele\u00adment in this descrip\u00adtion \u2014 except for the notable absence of dog-sleds. It is all the more fit\u00adting that a direct lin\u00adguis\u00adtic con\u00adnec\u00adtion between Cana\u00adda and the Ket might exist.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in the mid-1980\u2019s, I became very inter\u00adested in the native cul\u00adtures of Siberia, part\u00adly because they have many sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adi\u00adties with the native cul\u00adtures of north\u00adern Cana\u00adda. I went so far as to cor\u00adre\u00adspond with sev\u00aderal peo\u00adple in Siberia, something \u2026<\/p>\n
Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bs-reading-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8535,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions\/8535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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