CULTURAL RESOURCE INVENTORY AND ASSESSMENT OF THE PROPOSED YUGANSKIY KHANTY BIOSPHERE RESERVE (2000-2001)

Sponsor: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Grant No. Proposed and Under Consideration

Goals. The present proposal aims to complete the scientific work necessary for the development of a co-management plan compatible with Khanty interests for the cultural and natural resources in the protected area [hereafter OOPTTP] proposed by and for the Yuganskiy Khanty. This project provides for an inventory and assessment of cultural resources in the Yuganskiy Khanty community necessary to supplement the inventory of traditional economic resources and practices completed in the previous project, "Ethnoecological Survey of the Proposed Yuganskiy Khanty Biosphere Reserve."

Objectives of the present project are to:

o Determine the genre system of verbal folklore, representative examples of all extant major narrative and song genres, comparison with historical sources and
collections to assess deterioration of traditions, identification of community-recognized masters

o Inventory of all major extant material culture craft traditions, comparison with ethnographic literature to assess alterations in traditions, identification of community-recognized masters

o Record the broad outlines of oral history of the Yuganskiy Khanty community

o Document winter hunting lifestyle and Identification of Khanty beliefs and values associated with hunting

o Complete of the first archaeological survey of the Yugan basin.

o Provide the Khanty Community with Inventory and Assessment Reports of Cultural Resources in the following categories: Archaeological Resources, Craft Traditions, Verbal Folklore, Sacred Places and Ritual Practices

o Provide the Khanty Community with useful models of how indigenous peoples elsewhere incorporate cultural resources into co-management regimes

o Integrate Cultural Data with Ethnoecological Survey Data, Acquire Necessary Base Layer Imagery, and Map Cultural Resources in GIS form

Taken together, this project and the previous one will provide a comprehensive representation of the cultural and ecological conservation issues which will be the focus of the co-management plan governing the administration of the proposed protected area.