Reindeer herding among the chuckchi and lapps
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Anthony Leeds and Robert Paine both examine the social institutions associated with Reindeer Herding. Leeds examines herding among the Chuckchi people on the tundra and focuses mostly on the significance of the size of the herd. Paine looks at herding among the Lapps but focuses more on the social institutions associated with herding, and their affects on the people.
Leeds, in his examination of herding, focuses on specific customs and practices of the Chuckchi that surround the practice of herding. He begins, however, by describing minimum and maximum herd size, and why size is so significant. He maintains that a herd must remain within a specific size range in order to ensure the survival of its owners. According to Leeds, the size of the herd can mean life or death for the Chuckchi people, and that is why he focuses mainly on herd size, and customs involved with maintaining and increasing herd size.
If the number of reindeer in a herd drops too low, the entire family will most likely die, and therefore it is important that the Chuckchi developed numerous successful methods for increasing the number of reindeer in the herd.
The first method Leeds mentions is herd aggregation. This is a method in which a few men with small herds combine their herds to make one big herd...