Ashild Kolas

Reclaiming the Forest: The Ewenki Reindeer Herders of Aoluguya Ashild Kolas

Marc Notes: The reindeer herders of Aoluguya, China, are a group of former hunters who today see themselves as 'keepers of reindeer' as they engage in ethnic tourism and exchange experiences with their Evenki neighbors in Russian Siberia. Though to some their future seems problematic, this book focuses on the present, challenging the pessimistic outlook, reviewing current issues and describing the efforts of the Ewenki to reclaim their forest lifestyle and develop new forest livelihoods. Publisher Marketing: "This is an exciting, finely crafted edited collection which focuses on a group of Ewenki who are poorly known in the English language literature . . . The volume is evenly balanced with both academic and literary contributions by local Ewenki authors." . David Anderson, University of Aberdeen "This book is a valuable contribution to the anthropology of northern Eurasian peoples. With contributions by Western and Chinese anthropologists, along with contributions by Ewenki reindeer herders themselves, the book is a comprehensive and innovative presentation of the history and lifeways of the Ewenki of Aoluguya." . John Ziker, Boise State University The reindeer herders of Aoluguya, China, are a group of former hunters who today see themselves as "keepers of reindeer" as they engage in ethnic tourism and exchange experiences with their Ewenki neighbors in Russian Siberia. Though to some their future seems problematic, this book focuses on the present, challenging the pessimistic outlook, reviewing current issues, and describing the efforts of the Ewenki to reclaim their forest lifestyle and develop new forest livelihoods. Both academic and literary contributions balance the volume written by authors who are either indigenous to the region or have carried out fieldwork among the Aoluguya Ewenki since the late 1990s. Ashild Kolas is Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, and has authored two books and numerous articles, mainly on Tibetan identity and cultural representation. She carried out fieldwork in Aoluguya in 2008 and 2009, conducted under a project on "Pastoralism in China: Policy and Practice" funded by the Research Council of Norway. Yuanyuan Xie is Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. She carried out a year-long fieldwork in Aoluguya in 2003-2004, just after the resettlement and is working on a research project about the Aologuya Ewenki funded by the Chinese National Social Science Foundation."