Running with Reindeer - book

Running with Reindeer, by Roger Took (Westview Press, 2004)

The subtitle of this book, Encounters in Russian Lapland, sums it up pretty well. There is no single theme to this book, It describes a series of encounters the author had while spending time in the extreme northwest of Russia during the 1990’s. As there is no single theme, the book is part travelogue, part ethnography, part sociology, part geography, part history, part about tourism and angling, and, finally, a report on environmental conditions in that remote part of the world.

Roger Took is an art historian and museum curator, an active member of the Royal Geographic Society, but more fundamentally, a man in the best tradition of English naturalists. He apparently wanted to wander in Russian Lapland partly just to see and explore it, and partly because he wanted to try to reconstruct the aboriginal culture of the Sami Reindeer herders as it was before the Russian development of the region.

The book begins with a brief account of running with (herding) reindeer but after that it becomes a record of his encounters with the Sami, as they exist today, and with other interesting characters he meets along the way, especially in the area surrounding the city of Murmansk, but also in the little-known hinterlands. It is clear that in their heyday the Sami people lived in a cold and difficult land, but also one blessed with animal and other resources in abundance. Their reindeer numbered in the thousands and the salmon ran so thickly they could easily catch and preserve all they wanted. There was wildlife in generous supply providing a trade in furs that was easily exploited. Of course all this changed when the area became of serious interest to the Russians just before and during the Second World War. Many of the Sami were ordered to leave their homes and make room for military installations, mines, and hordes of laborers engaged in constructing the gigantic submarine base at Murmansk and other nearby areas. This led to a period of very hard times for the Sami and others in the region, from which they did not recover economically until the late 1990’s and early 21st century. They will never recover culturally. Most of the young people have no knowledge of life outside in the vast territory outside of Murmansk.

This book confirms for me one of what I believe is the most interesting things about the human condition. It seems there is no culture, no area of the world, where a stranger can visit and not find acceptance. This seems to be true even of the most primitive cultures on record. Anthropologists and others almost invariably manage to establish rapport and even friendships with people from the most “primitive” parts of the world, from New Guinea to South America to Africa to wherever. There may be rare exceptions to this successful human enterprise but usually, even after initial hostilities, satisfactory contact is made. Took spoke Russian, although far from fluently, but he made friends along the way that often went out of their way to help him and make him as comfortable as they could. As he wandered sometimes in areas that were closed to outsiders he had to avoid the authorities if possible, and this was usually accomplished with the help of friends he made along the way.

Towards the end of the book Took reports on the growing tourist industry, primarily for fishing and skiing that has grown up in the area. Very expensive fishing trips occur with wealthy fishermen from the West as well as Russia itself paying large sums to fish for Atlantic salmon during the immense runs of those fish. The recent successes in the area, and the important improvements in the well-being of the Sami and others, are unfortunately offset by the incredible environmental damage that has been done and the alcoholism that seems to be widespread. Took describes the deterioration of the huge submarine facilities, with rusting and damaged nuclear subs tied up to docks and dangerously neglected. He also reports on the dumping of contaminated waste and nuclear materials into the Barents Sea and pollution drifting over Sweden and Norway. As he describes it, it is a scene of such incredible waste and degradation it may be doubtful the area will ever recover from it, just another instance of humans carelessly and stupidly fouling their nest. There is a great deal of information in this work, some of it of considerable importance.

Through his interviews with elderly Sami who remember how it was before the great changes that occurred, and also through the discovery of some incredible rich and informative petroglyphs, Took was able to get a reasonable picture of an unusual way of life based primarily on reindeer herding, fishing and trapping, a way of life, like so many others, now gone forever.