LORDS OF THE MONGOLIAN TAIGA: An Ethnohistory of the Dukha Reindeer Herders

Abstract

Tucked away in the northernmost district of Mongolia is a small group of approximately thirty reindeer-herding families who call themselves the Dukha. For centuries unknown to the Western world, the history and culture of the Dukha have remained largely a mystery. Significant works on the Dukha's history are rare at best in Western literature and basically nonexistent in English. According to the Finnish ethnographer and linguist Juha Janhunen's brief description, the Dukha "can probably be regarded as the most 'primitive' reindeer people presently living." Moreover, "creating a maximally complete recording of their life, as it still continues today, is one of the most urgent tasks of North Asian ethnography" (1983: 76). While a "maximally complete" record of the Dukha's life is beyond the scope of this thesis, the aim here is to provide a concise ethnohistory of the Dukha with a specific focus on their reindeer-herding populace so as to create a basis for future research.