From Chum to Apartment: The Rhythmograms of Women’s Everyday Life Among the Nenets

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2025-3/141-158

Authors

Keywords:

Nenets, women's everyday life, rhythmograms, new nomadism, nomadism, sedentary life, space

Abstract

The article examines the transformation of all spheres of women's everyday life during the transition from living in a chum to living in an apartment (not an evolutionary shift, but the seasonal rhythm of semi-nomadic life). Through a comparative analysis of two women’s rhythmograms — Tatiana Soboleva in the tundra and Margarita Taiborei in the village, changes in the living space organization, economic practices, and social communication are revealed. Semi-nomadic life leads to a redistribution of activities, a transformation of the objective world, and an adaptation of traditional practices to new conditions. In the village, women face the need to combine their usual reindeer herding and housekeeping activities with the new opportunities and requirements of settled life. Social ties become more diverse and mediated by technical means, the range of social and virtual contacts expands. However, some traditional values, such as the importance of family ties and support for the native language, persist. The author concludes that the adaptation of the Nenets to a settled and urban life is a complex and multifaceted process, involving both the development of new practices and opportunities, and the preservation of traditional cultural elements in new conditions. Women play a key role in this process, ensuring the continuity of generations and the sustainability of the Nenets culture in an ever-changing world.

Author Biography

  • Tatiana Kisser, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences

    Kisser, Tatiana S. — Deputy Director, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences) (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). E-mail: tkisser@bk.ru ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9246-2787

    For citation: Kisser, T. S. 2025. From Chum to Apartment: The Rhythmograms of Women’s Everyday Life Among the Nenets. Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 3: 141–158.

    Funding: The study was funded by the Russian State Foundation, project number 24-78-00166 (https://rscf.ru/project/24-78-00166/).

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Published

23.09.2025

Issue

No. 3 (2025): Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik antropologii)

Section

Traditions and Modernity