Саами Кольского уезда в XVI−XVIII веках. Модель социальной структуры

Abstract

The Kola uezd Sámi in 16th – 18th centuries: Model of the social structure. The target of this research is to reconstruct the social structure of the Kola uezd Sámi in 16th – 18th centuries. This research in its base contains the systems approach and is interdisciplinary. The specified target is ethnological and it determines the circle of questions that the source give answers to. The sources, on the other hand, are historical and often contain mass material. Thus, the methods of working with the sources are closer to the quantitative methods of social history and historical demography. In order to correctly understand the “answers of the sources” and in order to process them, we have also used methods of the source criticism and historical anthropology. The work with the spatial reflection of the model was based on the methods of historical geography. The “source answers” that were obtained as the result have been interpreted using ethnological and sociological methods as was needed. The general method of the whole research was modeling. The first chapter entitled “The Sources” contains information about the sources used and the methods of their processing. It examined the state of the source base, analyzed the typology of the sources and their informational content. Different censuses were used as the main sources. Thus the chapter describes in detail all the census of the Kola uezd in the pertaining period. The second chapter entitled “The Methods and Procedures” offers methods of building a model on the basis of empiric material extracted from the sources available: a complicated, open dynamic system and its social structure as the subsystem. The building material for the model was information, which was processed using mathematical logic. The set lies in the base of any system description. Thus it was suggested to regard the Kola uezd Sámi society as a dynamic set that possesses inside structure. As a matter of fact this inside structure constitutes the social Sámi groups of this study. The types of these institutes have been examined as the subset. A base containing 6627 records containing personal information has been created in order to process the information. As the main method of modeling the censuses were used as the average crossection of the society. The creation of these links between the “crossections” (the censuses information) is, in fact, the modeling of the dynamic. The content of this procedure consists of uniting the information from different sources into a model. It implies identification of the information about objects/phenomenon contained in different volumes. This specific procedure is the technological backbone of the whole research. We offered identification techniques for three types of objects/phenomenon: people, geographical objects and groups. As a result of this work, out of 4502 records of male fixed in siidas that were recorded in the censuses in the period from 1678 to 1763, 2133 male fixed in siidas were traced. The placenames that were mentioned in our sources were identified with geographical objects and depicted on the map using GIS. As a result of the conducted procedure of graphical identification 327 objects have been presented. In the book practically all groups of Sámi in the 16th – 17th cc. that were mentioned in the sources have been identified. Since these groups in the sources were connected to certain geographical objects, it was possible to map their areas. In the chapters described a cognitive model has been developed. The third chapter, entitled “The Social Structure” was devoted to filling this model with empiric material and thus creating a substantial model. This chapter examines the main researched elements of the Sámi society: siida, patriline, family unit and vezha. The examined elements were presented in dynamic form and in view of the regional specifics. On the basis of these materials the dynamic of the population numbers of the Kola uezd Sámi in the researched period has been researched. This allowed to make a range of conclusions about the social processes. The allocation of the Sámi groups and their areas have mostly remained unchanged throughout the time period in question. It leads to the conclusion about the existence of a system of allocation of the siida. Siida, nominated as the “pogost”, was a very stable institute. The documented length of the existence of some these social units are more than 400 years. In the time period in question Sámi did not tie the origin of the siida with certain people. Siida was a unity of people connected with the area of their habitat. During this whole period the taxation policy influenced the strengthening of the role of those siida who acted as the group subject to taxation. The male population of the siida was quite stable. From generation to generation most of the men mostly remained in the same siida. The social importance of the patriline at the time in question was expressed in the performance of land inheritance functions in certain areas. In the Sámi society the dominating tendency was for the newlyweds to settle in the siida of the husband, but separately from the parents. Most of the family units, in their composition, were similar to the nuclear family. Family units were not just groups of close relatives, but a minimal social-economic elements, that could be temporary. Personal composition of the vezha, dwelling site did not form according to the patrilineal principal. It included family units created by representatives of different patrilines. In most siida vezha was not a stable social element. As a result of the tax reform of 1678/79 vezha was set equal to the Russian dvor (house with household) and became subject to taxation. This led to further decrease of importance of the vezha collective body. Thus we see that the model of the social structure was created, and the goal set before the research was reached. Such factors as stability of the vezha composition and the size of the family unit together can be interpreted as indirect evidence of economic specialization. This analytical method in combination with the dynamics research of the population size made it possible to make hypothesis about social transformations of the Sámi society during the time in question. The construction of such hypothesis is evident of that our model can answer the questions outside of the basic empiric material. It points to the multipurpose quality of the methods used.