Donatas Brandisauskas Leaving Footprints in the Taiga

Annotation

Nowhere have recent environmental and social changes been more pronounced than in post-Soviet Siberia. Donatas BrandiA auskas probes the strategies that Orochen reindeer herders of southeastern Siberia have developed to navigate these changes. "Catching luck" is one such strategy that plays a central role in Orochen cosmology -- luck implies a vernacular theory of causality based on active interactions of humans, non-humans, material objects, and places. BrandiA auskas describes in rich details the skills, knowledge, ritual practices, storytelling, and movements that enable the Orochen to "catch luck" (or not, sometimes), to navigate times of change and upheaval.