Paper short abstract:

The presentation examines the range of products purchased by nomadic reindeer herders in the Iamal tundra, according to the census forms of the first third of the 20th century

Paper long abstract:

The report presents the result of work with household censuses of the population of the Iamal North in the 20s and 30s years of the 20th century. Several censuses in the Northern areas were the result of the state's close attention to the nomadic peoples and purposeful work on their inclusion into a single socio-economic and political space of the country at that period. The survey recorded a variety of information, including what foods each nomadic family bought and how much. Despite the self-sufficient nature of the nomadic economy and self-sufficiency in food products through reindeer herding, hunting and fishing, purchased food products such as bread, salt, sugar already played a big role in the life of nomads at the beginning of the 20th century. Household did not began to move to the summer pastures without a stock of products bought at trading posts (factiriia). Products were purchased with the money that the nomads had at that time, for the delivered products of reindeer breeding, hunting and fishing. The state took various measures to force reindeer herders to buy more, and not only consume the products of their household.