Ethnoecological assessment of the impact of industrial development on the traditional natural management of indigenous peoples of the north: Theoretical and methodological approaches

Abstract

Integration of the materials of ethnoecological expert surveys on the impact of industrial development on the traditional natural management of Northern peoples accumulated by the authors permitted to discuss some theoretical provisions. Ethnoecological assessments make the core of a wider concept, i.e., ethnological assessments, which, together with ethnoecological ones, may also cover social and cultural issues. The object of ethnoecological assessments is the ethnoecological system consisting of a traditional ethnic community (TEC) and the ethnocultural environment (ECE), and its subject is the interaction of the TEC and ECE with the regional environment. In the course of assessments, the ECE is actualized: the “mental layers” of the cultural landscape are “deciphered.” Another task of ethnoecological assessments is the estimation of ethnocultural security. The latter is defined by a matrix of risks of the ECE state (passive security) and TEC creative potential (active security). The creative potential represents the TEC capability to form new traditions based on old traditions and innovations.