Kirill Istomin

Kirill Istomin is an anthropologist, whose main research interest is reindeer herding and reindeer herding peoples of Eurasia. He obtained his “candidate of science” (Ph. D. equivalent) degree from the Institute of Anthropology, Russian Academy of Science in Moscow in 2004 for a research on ecology and reindeer herding techniques of Izhma Komi reindeer herding nomads of the north of European Russia. Later he performed several large research projects on cognitive skills and mechanisms used by reindeer herding nomads for spatial navigation in tundra and for deciphering and predicting reindeer behavior.  The interaction between reindeer and humans in the framework of nomadic pastoralist economy is the topic that fascinates him most and he has published extensively on it in such high-ranking academic journals as Human Ecology, Current Anthropology, Nomadic Peoples. However, he has done some research on topics more usual for social science such as human migrations between northern and southern areas, spread of technological innovations in tundra and the conflict between native northerners and oil and gas extracting industries in Russia.   

Currently he is working part time at the University of Hamburg as member of the Charter project, work package 3: SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF ARCTIC ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES, project leader prof. J. Otto Habeck.

https://www.charter-arctic.org/work-packages/work-package-3/

Recent publications (2021):

Book:

Istomin, Kirill V. and Mark J. Dwyer. 2021. Reindeer Herders’ Thinking: A comparative research of relations between economy, cognition and way of life. Fürstenberg/Havel: Verlag der Kulturstiftung Sibirien.

An electronic version of this book is available at https://dh-north.org/publikationen/reindeer-herders-thinking/en

Articles:

Istomin, K. V. 2021. “Who would want to lay down into the permafrost?”: an attempt to explain differences in migration rates, strategies and attitudes in two Russian northern cities. Acta Borealia 38 (2), Pp. 104-130

Kirill V. Istomin. 2021. “All'improvviso gli è successo un episodio di alcolismo”: locus di controllo, concetto di responsabilità, alcolismo e suicidio nella regione di Taz, Distretto Autonomo Yamal-Nenets. // IL POLO. LXXVI-2, Pp. 9-2

Forthcoming:

Istomin Kirill, Roza Laptander and Otto Habeck. 2022. Reindeer Herding Statistics in Russia: issues of reliability, interpretation, and political effeсt. Pastoralism, in print.

For CV and earlier publications see: https://eusp.org/people/kirill-istomin (in Russian)