Security strategies of indigenous women in Nenets Autonomous Region, Russia

ABSTRACT This paper discusses different strategies used by indigenous women seeking social security in Nenets Autonomous Region, Russia. Social security is understood as state provision as well as cultural institutions and efforts of individuals to overcome insecurity. One case describes the history of a woman who after the loss of her husband resorted to a traditional solution: she moved in to join the household of the deceased husband’s brothers in the tundra. In the second case, a woman leaves her baby in a orphanage for a few months. This latter strategy shows how women are able to preserve a high birth-rate while sustaining a tundra-based life. Even though these choices are seen within the dichotomy of tradition and modernity, which is central to existing ethnographies, this paper attempts to take the analysis further. I apply anthropological insights about care as a process that reveals social bonds, group belonging and identity in different settings, from the more intimate ties within kin groups to large-scale social systems such as state institutions. My goal is to contribute to the study of the interconnectedness among bonds, relations and affective landscapes on different levels – from mother–children bonds, to the nuclear family to community and state institutions.