Cultural Landscapes in Colonial Siberia: Khanty Settlements of the Sacred, the Living and the Dead

Abstract

This article investigates parallel 'readings' of the taiga landscape of western Siberia. Its main concern is an examination of the complex cultural landscapes inhabited by indigenous Eastern Khanty hunting fishing and gathering communities. Symbolic meanings given to the local topography through the routine and ritual practices associated with semi-nomadic lifestyles, visits to cemeteries and the veneration of a hierarchical network of sacred sites. On a broader historical level the article considers the inherent and increasing contradictions between these indigenous cultural landscapes and the changing resource extraction policies of the Russian state.