Multispecies Relations in Nomadic Society: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.2.20Keywords:
multispecies kinship, Tuva, horse, animal agency, social landscape, responsible guesting, reviewAbstract
The article presents an analysis of the monograph by anthropologist V. Peemot, The Horse in My Blood: Multispecies Kinship in the Altai and Sayan Mountains, published in 2024 by Berghahn Books. The monograph examines how Turkic-speaking populations of the Sayan-Altai region construct their relationships with native landscapes and horses, which are perceived as part of an extended circle of kinship. The author describes how these relationships are enacted in everyday practices, rituals, and lived experiences of coexistence.
The reviewers pay particular attention to the phenomena described by V. Peemot, including multispecies kinship, animal agency, and the social animacy of the landscape. These vectors are selected due to their significant scholarly relevance, as they remain insufficiently developed and methodologically underexplored within contemporary Russian ethnography. The authors emphasize Peemot’s argument that the concept of multispecies kinship implies a departure from traditional economic and symbolic interpretations of animals, instead revealing a stable co-existence of humans and horses as subjects within kin relations.
According to the reviewers, the author rightly assigns considerable importance to the category of “cher törel” as a local form of animistic ontology, in which mountains, rivers, and pastures are perceived as animate relatives participating in the fate of the kin group. It is noted that attention to this category expands the analytical framework of Russian ethnography by enabling the inclusion of landscape within systems of social relations. A particular strength of the monograph is identified in the author’s engagement with the concept of “aaldaar”, interpreted as an ethical foundation for field research. The advantages of this approach, especially its depth of immersion, are discussed, while also highlighting epistemological risks associated with the potential subjectivization of research material.
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For citation:
Makarchuk I. Yu. and Mamysheva E. P. Multispecies Relations in Nomadic Society: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches. New Research of Tuva, 2026, no. 2, pp. 320-331. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.2.20
Author Biographies
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Ivan Yu. Makarchuk Siberian Federal University
Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor, Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Siberian Federal University.
Postal address: 79 Svobodny Pr., 660041, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
E-mail: imakarchuk@sfu-kras.ru
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Elena P. Mamysheva Siberian Federal University; Tuvan State University
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Professor at the Department of Russian History, World and Regional Civilizations, Siberian Federal University;
Professor at the Department of Theoretical, Public and Law Disciplines, Tuvan State University.
Postal addresses: 79 Svobodny Pr., 660041, Krasnoyarsk, Russia; 36 Lenina St., 667000, Kyzyl, Russia.
E-mail: sozor@mail.ru
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